For movie night this past week, with the ‘Lost’ premiere siphoning off anybody that might have even come, we decided to watch Speed Racer.  This movie is definitely soft science fiction, but I am compelled to share it with the world.  For one, because this is one of the most visually delightful movies I’ve ever seen, I mean talk about eye-popping cornucopia of colors that makes the soul of your retina cry to death with uncontrolled blissful joy.  It certainly didn’t hurt that this Blu-Ray transfer is easily the most vibrant I’ve come across (and I’ve seen plenty).  In fact, I know my TV doesn’t express the truest of color ranges, so this movie made me want (even more) a top of the line HD set just so I could get that extra bit of color out of Speed Racer.

Oh Trixie! Oh Speed!

Of course part of the reason this movie looked so good, was because it was directed by the Wachowski brothers.  They did the Matrix as well as V for Vendetta, both movies that blew my mind (not the last two Matrix movies).  Part of the reason we watched this movie was because Pcen (HA!) lauded the editing so much.  Laud away!  The race scenes were put together perfectly and unlike the CG throw-up entitled Transformers 1 and 2, I never felt lost trying to follow the insane amount of cuts.  Except once, but even then it was still followable.

Speaking of CG, this film had it everywhere.  Not everywhere in an annoying sense (ie Star Wars prequels), because the graphics weren’t attempting to be anything other than vibrant CGI.  That might be why a lot of people didn’t like this movie, it was sort of campy and juvenile in parts, FX as well as script wise.  Of course, anyone who watched the original Speed Racer series would completely understand, and even enjoy, the cheesy nature.  Which I did of course!

After the movie was over, I felt like I actually had enjoyed myself while watching it.  Which hasn’t happened in a long while.  Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen good movies lately and liked a lot of them.  But think of those movies you literally have fun with and genuinely make you smile.  If you’re able to check your skepticism at the door and bring out your inner child, this movie is just like being at Disneyland for the first time ever.  With this movie, I learned once again not to judge a movie before you see it, you never know what sort of experience you can have with a piece of cinema once you give it a chance.

One last thing, I loved the characters.  Speed was the perfect amount of cool, Trixie had it goin on (Christina Ricci), Mom and Pops Racer, played by Susan Sarandon and John Goodman, filled out their roles great.  Racer X (Matthew Fox) was wonderfully mysterious, and the bad guys were that great old school kinda bad.  This isn’t just a kids movie, it’s got plenty for people to love.