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Speed Racer
Possibly fun for kids who like having chunks of CGI vomited at them
What was good?
Some of the wry retro 60s feel was well handled in a day-glo way.
The strange marriage of flappy-mouthed old-school anime and salt-on-eggs americana became a bit cloying at times tho. And what the kids made of the strive-against-capitalist-b*stards plot is anyone's guess. (They mainly seemed to like the shouty 'john belushi' kid and his ape sidekick).
Why it was bad?
On the whole, this was a well-intentioned revamp/homage to a daft cartoon - but one that didn't need to be made. Coz it doesn't work. This stuff needs to be episodic, like the original, or it just swamps the young minds it's supposed to appeal to. The races are the key example. In line-drawn form the rapidly interspersed 'narrative' of racing carnage still works - coz your brain is engaged in interpreting the relatively sparse visuals. With the CGI incarnation you get a lump of preformed blur that is mercilessly proceeded by the next before any part of your mind can get much of a handle on what's going on. It just becomes an unremitting succession of 'who cares' chaos.
Perhaps the Wachowski's should stick to what they've been good at (creating adult carnage and wearing half a dress). Ach well.
Killer fact: 'Racer X' looked like Ben Affleck in DareDevil. This film will fail.
Possibly fun for kids who like having chunks of CGI vomited at them
What was good?
Some of the wry retro 60s feel was well handled in a day-glo way.
The strange marriage of flappy-mouthed old-school anime and salt-on-eggs americana became a bit cloying at times tho. And what the kids made of the strive-against-capitalist-b*stards plot is anyone's guess. (They mainly seemed to like the shouty 'john belushi' kid and his ape sidekick).
Why it was bad?
On the whole, this was a well-intentioned revamp/homage to a daft cartoon - but one that didn't need to be made. Coz it doesn't work. This stuff needs to be episodic, like the original, or it just swamps the young minds it's supposed to appeal to. The races are the key example. In line-drawn form the rapidly interspersed 'narrative' of racing carnage still works - coz your brain is engaged in interpreting the relatively sparse visuals. With the CGI incarnation you get a lump of preformed blur that is mercilessly proceeded by the next before any part of your mind can get much of a handle on what's going on. It just becomes an unremitting succession of 'who cares' chaos.
Perhaps the Wachowski's should stick to what they've been good at (creating adult carnage and wearing half a dress). Ach well.
Killer fact: 'Racer X' looked like Ben Affleck in DareDevil. This film will fail.