STUDIO: Warner Brothers
RELEASE DATE: September 16, 2008
STARRING: Emile Hirsch, John Goodman, Christina Ricci, Matthew Fox, Susan Sarandon, Hiroyuki Sanada, and Paulie Litt
WRITTEN BY: The Wachowski Brothers
DIRECTED BY: The Wachowski Brothers
FEATURES: Spritle In The Big Leagues - Tour The Movie Set With Paulie Litt
Speed Racer: Supercharged!

One of the snarkiest traditions in the movie industry is seeing which of the big-ticket, uber-budgeted summer movie franchise starters is inevitably going to crash and burn, perhaps taking a few studio execs down with it as it spirals into the ground. For every Jurassic Park, there's a Last Action Hero. For every Men in Black, there's a Wild Wild West. And, strangely enough, this year, the extreme ends of the summer box-office ying-yang happened to just one studio, Warner Brothers. For, in 2008, we learned that for every Dark Knight, there's a Speed Racer, which is a damn shame because, despite some undeniable flaws, the Wachowski Brothers' ode to '60s Japanese anime was one of the most underrated, oddly enjoyable romps of the year. Let me say this upfront - yes, the movie has issues, but none of them were fatal and the movie flat-out did not deserve the critical drubbing it received. Maybe Speed's failure can be attributed to a mixture of pent-up audience anger over the confusing cluster****s that were the Matrix sequels and perversely bad marketing, but, assuming that, like most of the world, you didn't catch Speed Racer in the theatre, it's definitely worth a try on DVD - even though the DVD itself isn't very impressive.

Perhaps we should've expected a bare-bones Speed Racer DVD for two reasons. First, big studio flops normally either get a). an anemic DVD (since why would the studio want to waste more good money after bad?) or b). an overloaded 2-disc set in the hopes that the disappointing box-office take can be made up for on DVD. Warners definitely went with option a). for Speed Racer, so, if you were a fan of the movie, I'd definitely suggest holding out for the hope of a better future release. The picture quality and sound are sharp, but nothing to write home about. True aficionados of the Wachowskis' gorgeously kitschy live-action anime-design - which might stand as my favorite production design of the year so far - are probably better off waiting for an eventual Blu-Ray re-packaging. The current widescreen disc only had two admittedly well-produced featurettes, but that's it - no trailers, no deleted scenes, no nothing. Granted, I wasn't exactly expecting the skittish Wachowskis to record a commentary, but the level of cheapness of the special features on this DVD almost feels spiteful. The tone of the featurettes are very interesting - they're definitely made with a Disney Channel audience in mind - and really speak to perhaps THE fundamental problem with Speed Racer - it doesn't know its audience.

Is Speed Racer a movie made for kids or is it a movie made for 20-to-40-year-old former kids who grew up watching old-school anime in the '70s and '80s? I'm not entirely sure the Wachowskis know. On the surface, the movie is definitely aimed for a tween viewer, which is kind of charming considering how over-serious and staid the Matrix sequels got. Maybe the best thing about Speed Racer is that it proved that the Wachowskis are trying to have fun again, which is something the final chapters of the Matrix trilogy desperately needed. And how can you not have fun with a story like Speed Racer? Set in a crazy anime-inspired world, Speed (Emile Hirsch) is a race-car protégée, the latest in a long-line of diesel-powered gearheads from the family behind Racer Motors, led by Pops (John Goodman) and Mom Racer (Susan Sarandon). The family is still reeling from the apparent death of Speed's older brother Rex (Scott Porter), who died under strange circumstances, disgracing his family name, but Speed's burgeoning success on the race-track has brought him to the attention of Mr. Royalton (Roger Allam), head of Royalton Industries and one of the major corporate sponsors behind organized racing. When Speed turns down the slimy Royalton's offer of sponsorship, the mogul tries to destroy the Racer family, and Speed's only hope is teaming up with the mysterious Racer X (Matthew Fox) and the authorities to take down the evil industry barons trying to fix the racing industry. Fortunately, Speed's got his crazy-hot girl-Friday Trixie (Christina Ricci) and trouble-making Spritle (Paulie Litt) and Chim-Chim watching his back along the way.

It's a simple story, perfect for kids, and, when the Wachowskis keep things simple, the movie works beautifully. The dynamics in the Racer family are handled terrifically, and Goodman and Sarandon bring so much honest emotion to their cartoon-inspired roles that it really makes you marvel at the power of casting. The race scenes are consistently the best part of the movie, though I understand some critics' complaints about them being repetitious. However, I think the four main races - Speed's ascent, fall, struggle back into the game, and eventual dominance - are masterfully orchestrated and do a great job of building the movie to a crescendo. But whenever the movie leaves the Racer family or the race-track, boy, does it ever grind to a halt. The Wachowskis' big mistake is over-explaining, particularly when it comes to the conspiracy behind race-fixing, which is easily the least interesting part of the movie. We don't want to hear Royalton go on and on about the history of race corruption or company merger plans or Racer X trying to build a legal case against Royalton. All we need to know is "racing is corrupt and they're not being nice to Speed." That's it. It makes no sense why the Wachowskis believe that their audience can deal with flying cars and monkey sidekicks without any explanation, but they somehow need a primer on how race-fixing affects stock prices. It's a ludicrous mistake, perhaps the mistake that killed the movie, and it directly affects the other cardinal sin of Speed Racer - it is far, far too long to be a kid's movie. If the Wachowskis were really making this movie for kids, they should've cut Speed down to a lean 100-110 minutes. If they were making it for anime-obsessed hipsters, they should've amped up the swearing and fighting and cut out most of the Spritle shenanigans. But the Wachowskis didn't pick a target audience and the movie suffered for it.

It's a real shame too, because there's so, so much good in there. I missed Speed Racer at the theatre, but I so enjoyed everything about the Racer family and the actual races that the movie probably ranks near the top of my pleasant surprises of the year. The DVD is pretty underwhelming - if it was a full-on kid's movie DVD, it should've had much more kid-friendly content, games, and more; if it was made for adult anime fans, there should've been way more behind-the-scenes content - but, regardless, you might be surprised how much you actually dig one of the biggest flops of the year.