Rob (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} robyrt) wrote,@ 2008-05-16 14:12:00 |
|
Movie Review: Speed Racer
This movie is like watching C-SPAN inside an arcade: a movie where the immaculate CG background, a vertiginous retro-future wonderland, is roughly ten times better than the tepid live-action foreground featuring B-list actors doing their best to make the movie campy instead of awful.
It's difficult to recommend a movie with 45 minutes of pure, andrenaline-filled awesomeness (the speedy races) and 90 minutes of the worst script since Attack of the Clones. It's exactly the kind of movie my dad loves: memorable and even thrilling moments, plus plenty of opportunities to take a nap.
Where Iron Man takes a boring franchise and makes it postmodern and thought-provoking, while preserving the cool parts, Speed Racer takes a boring franchise and makes it awkward and cryptic, while preserving the cool parts.
There is one circumstance in which watching this movie is encouraged: on a home theater system. Powerful speakers and a big screen are necessary for some of the amazing spectacle and gripping action moments, and the DVD remote is necessary to prevent all 5(!) occurrences of Mom saying "I'm proud of you." Theoretically, winning EVERY RACE IN THE MOVIE should be its own reward.
This movie is like watching C-SPAN inside an arcade: a movie where the immaculate CG background, a vertiginous retro-future wonderland, is roughly ten times better than the tepid live-action foreground featuring B-list actors doing their best to make the movie campy instead of awful.
It's difficult to recommend a movie with 45 minutes of pure, andrenaline-filled awesomeness (the speedy races) and 90 minutes of the worst script since Attack of the Clones. It's exactly the kind of movie my dad loves: memorable and even thrilling moments, plus plenty of opportunities to take a nap.
Where Iron Man takes a boring franchise and makes it postmodern and thought-provoking, while preserving the cool parts, Speed Racer takes a boring franchise and makes it awkward and cryptic, while preserving the cool parts.
There is one circumstance in which watching this movie is encouraged: on a home theater system. Powerful speakers and a big screen are necessary for some of the amazing spectacle and gripping action moments, and the DVD remote is necessary to prevent all 5(!) occurrences of Mom saying "I'm proud of you." Theoretically, winning EVERY RACE IN THE MOVIE should be its own reward.
