Oh, how I wanted to like Speed Racer. I remembered those years in the mid-seventies when the theme song announced the beginning of a show filled with racing, chases, fights, comedy, and a little bit of love. To give the Wachowski brothers a little bit of credit, their script and directing captured beautifully the style and action of the classic anime. It’s too bad they didn’t add a decent story.

With the Summer Blockbuster season of 2008 in full swing, Speed Racer spins the wheels of the typical action film in every bad way possible. I actually lost count at the number of times I actually rolled my eyes — I think they were moving faster than the iconic Mach Five at some points.

Speed Racer stars Emile Hirsch in the title role (that was rumored to have been offered to Charlie Sheen at one point). I really don’t know how Hirsch managed to pull it off, but his Speed was actually more two-dimensional than the original cartoon. A true accomplishment. John Goodman, no stranger to cartoons-turned-into-bad-movies, fills the very large shirt of Pops Racer, and probably has the best and most sentimental lines of the film. Trust me, that’s not saying much. Read more »

I would have thought that by now, that fimmakers would have realized that it’s not just fantasy that moviegoers are interested in watching. It’s good fantasy.

After all, we’ve seen just how stellar The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter series have been. Whether we spent the time following the quests of Frodo or Harry, the world has seen its fair share of diminutive heroes. Indeed, we weren’t limited to the small or the young to have that kind of quality storytelling. Other recent triumphs include the stellar Stardust and the sublime Pan’s Labyrinth.

Unfortunately, though, something got lost in the mix when Christopher Paolini’s brilliant Eragon got adapted for the big screen into little more than a celluloid cesspool. I suppose the fact that I’ve never read any of the Seeker novels by Susan Cooper is a blessing in that I’m not going into the film with any sense of expectation. Read more »