Viewing Single Post From: I have seen Speed Racer

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Viewing Single Post From: I have seen Speed Racer
afterlife	May 9 2008, 10:37 PM
Kung-Fu Starfish Posts: 2,311 Group: Members Member #1 Joined: April 9, 2006	Just came back from seeing it...and well, where to start... FIRST UP: My Rating 3.5/4 Why? I'll be absolutely honest. I went to see this movie mostly because I liked the anime even though I was losing hope for it to be good. I was somewhat thinking that I'd end up with the same opinion I had on Transformers, a movie I loved for being a fan of the show but that I knew it didn't really work as a movie (I give Transformers a rating of 2/4). What makes Speed Racer different? Transformers was a movie that tried to be serious and well, standard. That way it would appeal to the masses and make millions of dollars. However, you CAN'T make a serious action movie out of something as campy as Transformers. That's where Transformers failed, it didn't choose the right tone for the kind of characters, story and dialogue that it had, so we ended up with a movie that tried to be a standard action movie with lines like "I'm never giving you this AllSpark!", "You're a soldier now!" or worst of all: "at the end of this day, one shall stand, and one shall fall!". But let's talk about Speed Racer. A movie that did right the first thing it needed to do. It chose the right tone. The Wachowski brothers knew they were making a movie based on a campy, over-the-top anime with campy, over-the-top characters and campy, over-the-top dialogue. They needed to think of how something like Speed Racer could work in the real world and they went for the common sense conclusion that it just couldn't work in the real world, so they decided to make a campy, over-the-top movie. As an adaptation, I wouldn't be exaggerating if I say that this is the most faithful adaptation of basically any non-book media that I've seen. Of course, it needed to be remodeled a little bit. The tracks in the anime were nowhere as strange as the ones in the movie, but that's because the anime was from the 60's. However, at the time of its release, the anime created the same feeling on the viewer as the movie does now. As a movie, Speed Racer is well directed, well shot, well acted, well written and most of all well edited. Don't confuse cheesy lines with bad writing. Like I said, since the movie has the right tone, the Wachowskis knew that they would add as many cheesy lines as they wanted. It is well written because first of all, it doesn't abuse of cheesy lines (like Batman & Robin did) and because of the story, the message and the actions of the characters. I was more than impressed with the movie's message. It might give a little more importance to the anti-corporate message than the anime did but the message of family values is kept completely intact. In fact, the anti-corporate message is a big plus for this movie as it gives something for the not-so-young viewers to think about. About the editing, well, I haven't seen a movie with such good editing in a while. It makes the movie keep an insanely fast pace and in some scenes, it helps to add humor (like in the fighting scene in the mountains). The cinematography is also out of this world. Apparently, it's the movie's visual style that's keeping a lot of people away from it, but I think its nothing less than revolutionary. So revolutionary that I think it's ahead of its time and that's why the film is getting so much hate. Who can enjoy Speed Racer? Anyone with an open mind for something different in movies. It is definitely unlike anything that's EVER been done even in a movie of its kind. But most of all, if you're an anime fan, I guarantee YOU WILL LOVE THIS MOVIE. I don't think there will be any otaku disappointed with the visuals as a lot of the action AND the humor is 100% anime style. You will see in this movie some of the things you thought were only possible in Japanese animation. It is the ultimate Car-Fu show. Speed Racer is to car racing what Dragonball is to martial arts or what Captain Tsubasa is to s*ccer. Like it has already been said, Speed Racer is pure LIVE ACTION ANIME and I think it sets the standard for future live action anime adaptations.


I have seen Speed Racer · Speed Racer Live Action Movie