Speed Racer (film)

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Speed Racer

Theatrical poster
Directed by Andy Wachowski
Larry Wachowski
Produced by Joel Silver
Grant Hill
Andy Wachowski
Larry Wachowski
Written by Andy Wachowski
Larry Wachowski
Starring Emile Hirsch
John Goodman
Christina Ricci
Susan Sarandon
Matthew Fox
Music by Michael Giacchino
Cinematography David Tattersall
Editing by Roger Barton
Zach Staenberg
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date(s) Flag of Germany May 8, 2008
Flag of the United StatesFlag of the United Kingdom May 9, 2008
Running time 135 min.
Country United States
Language English
Budget $120 million[1]
Official website
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile
Hirsch and Ricci at the Tribeca Film Festival premiere.
Hirsch and Ricci at the Tribeca Film Festival premiere.

Speed Racer is a 2008 film that is a live action film adaptation of the 1960s Japanese anime series Speed Racer. The film is written and directed by the Wachowski brothers, who also serve as co-producers. The film has been in development since 1992, changing writers and directors until producer Joel Silver and the Wachowski brothers collaborated to begin production on Speed Racer as a family film. Actor Emile Hirsch was cast as Speed, the hero of the animated series, and Christina Ricci portrays Speed's girlfriend, Trixie. Speed Racer was shot between June and November 2007 in Potsdam and Berlin, Germany at an estimated budget of $120,000,000.[2] Speed Racer premiered on May 3, 2008 as the closing film at the Tribeca Film Festival,[3] and was released on May 9, 2008.

Contents

[edit] Synopsis

Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch) is an 18-year-old whose life and love has always been racing. Racing is "in his blood": his parents, Pops (John Goodman) and Mom (Susan Sarandon), run an independent business building racecars, and his brother, record-setting racer Rex Racer (Scott Porter), was killed in Speed's childhood in the running of the Casa Cristo, an incredibly intense cross-country racing rally notorious for rough and foul play. Before his death, Rex was rejected by his father for his choice to run the Casa Cristo, and publicly defamed for appearing to cheat underhandedly in a race. Now, Speed Racer is quickly sweeping the racing world with his artistic skill, driving the "Mach 5" of his father’s design, but remains interested only in the art of the race and the well-being of his family. When Mr. Royalton (Roger Allam), owner of conglomerate Royalton Industries, offers Speed an astoundingly luxurious lifestyle in exchange for signing to race with him, Speed is tempted but declines, knowing that his father would never wish Speed to sign with the very power-hungry corporations he so mistrusts. When Speed refuses Mr. Royalton’s offer, Royalton reveals that top corporate interests, including Royalton, are fixing races and cheating to gain profit, and then threatens Speed’s career success and very life when he still does not agree to sign on. When Royalton later proves ready to make good on his threats, Speed teams up with his girlfriend Trixie (Christina Ricci), his one-time rival, Racer X (Matthew Fox), and shifty racer Taejo Togokhan (Rain) to enter the Casa Cristo – known as "The Crucible" – in part of a plot to uncover the treacheries of Royalton and save the Racer business. Despite his father’s initial anger at his racing in the Crucible, his family eventually joins up as well, as Speed overcomes Royalton’s brutal team and many seemingly-unsurpassable obstacles to win the Casa Cristo, and, finally, the Grand Prix, returning racing to its true purpose and exposing Royalton’s corruption. [4] Furthermore, it is revealed to the audience at the movie’s end that Rex did not really die (and also did not cheat), but instead underwent plastic surgery to reemerge as Racer X, helping his younger brother finally save his family and his sport.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Project history

In September 1992, Warner Bros. Pictures announced that it held the option to create a live action film adaptation of Speed Racer, in development at Silver Pictures.[19] In October 1994, singer Henry Rollins was offered the role of Racer X in the film.[20] In June 1995, actor Johnny Depp was cast into the lead role for Speed Racer, with production slated to begin the coming October,[21] with filming to take place in California and Arizona.[22] The following August, Depp requested time off to the studio for personal business, delaying production.[23] However, due to a high budget,[24] the same August, director Julien Temple, who was attached to direct Speed Racer, left the project. Depp, without a director, also departed from the project. The studio considered director Gus Van Sant as a replacement for Temple,[25] though it would not grant writing privileges to Van Sant.[26] In December 1997, the studio briefly hired director Alfonso Cuarón for Speed Racer.[27] In the various incarnations of the project, screenwriters Marc Levin, Jennifer Flackett, J. J. Abrams, and Patrick Read Johnson had been hired to write scripts.[28]

In September 2000, Warner Bros. Pictures and producer Lauren Shuler Donner hired writer-director Hype Williams to take the helm of Speed Racer.[29] In October 2001, the studio hired screenwriters Christian Gudegast and Paul Scheuring for $1.2 million split between them to write a script for the film.[28] Eventually, without production going underway, the director and the writers left the project. In June 2004, actor Vince Vaughn spearheaded a revival of the project by presenting a take for the film that would develop the characters more strongly. Vaughn was cast as Racer X and was also attached to the project as an executive producer.[24] With production never becoming active, Vaughn was eventually detached from the project.[30]

[edit] Production

The Mach 5 (shown on display at the 2007 Comic-Con International), is designed to be driven, but was hung from a crane for the film's sequences and have its motoring effects computer-generated.
The Mach 5 (shown on display at the 2007 Comic-Con International), is designed to be driven, but was hung from a crane for the film's sequences and have its motoring effects computer-generated.

In October 2006, directors Larry and Andy Wachowski were brought on board by the studio to write and direct Speed Racer. Producer Joel Silver, who had collaborated with the Wachowski brothers for V for Vendetta and The Matrix Trilogy, explained that the brothers were hoping to reach a broader audience with a film that would not be rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America. Visual effects designer John Gaeta, who won an Academy Award for Visual Effects for the Wachowski brothers' The Matrix, was brought in to help conceive making Speed Racer into a live-action adaptation. Production was set to begin in summer 2007 in European locations for a summer 2008 release.[31] In November 2006, the release date for Speed Racer was set for May 23, 2008.[32] Producer Joel Silver described Speed Racer as a family film in line with the Wachowski brothers' goal to reach a wider audience.[33]

In February 2007, the Wachowski brothers selected Babelsberg Studios in Germany to film Speed Racer.[34] In the following March, Warner Bros. moved the release date of Speed Racer two weeks earlier to May 9, 2008.[35] The studio received a grant of $12.3 million from Germany's new Federal Film Fund, the largest yet from the organization, for production of Speed Racer in the Berlin-Brandenburg region.[36] The amount was later increased to $13 million.[37] Filming commenced on June 5, 2007 in Berlin,[33] and was shot entirely against greenscreen,[38] lasting 60 days.[15] The Wachowski brothers filmed in high-definition video for the first time.[39] With the camera, the Wachowskis used a layering approach that would put both the foreground and the background in focus to give it the appearance of real-life anime.[40] The film will have a "retro future" look, according to Silver. The Mach 5, the vehicle driven by the protagonist Speed, was an actual vehicle.[14] Filming completed by August 25, 2007.[41] The Wachowskis purchased the rights to the sound effects and theme song of the television series for use in the film.[40]

[edit] Animal abuse on set

Animal rights group PETA claimed that a whistleblower on the set of Speed Racer reported that a chimpanzee used in the production was beaten after biting an actor.[42] The incident was confirmed by the American Humane Animal Safety Representative on the set, who reported that the stand-in for the Spritle character was bitten without provocation. The AHA representative also reported that “toward the end of filming, during a training session in the presence of the American Humane Representative, the trainer, in an uncontrolled impulse, hit the chimpanzee.” The AHA Film Unit referred to this abuse as “completely inexcusable and unacceptable behavior in the use of any animal.” The AHA has rated Speed Racer “Unacceptable.”[43]

[edit] Marketing

Further information: Speed Racer (2008 video game)

The film was backed by multiple promotional partners with over $80 million in marketing support. The partners include General Mills, McDonald's, Target, Topps, Esurance, Mattel, and LEGO. The film also received support from companies outside of America in an attempt to attract international audiences. With early support before the film's release, the studio provided 3d computer models of the Speed Racer vehicle Mach 5 to the companies so they could accurately render the vehicle in their merchandise. Warner Bros. is aiming to garner enough attention for Speed Racer so it would spawn sequels.[44]

Mattel will produce toys based on the film through several divisions. Hot Wheels will produce die-cast vehicles, race sets and track sets. Tyco will produce remote-controlled Mach 5s and racing sets. Radica Games will produce video games in which players can use a car wheel. The products will become available in March 2008.[45] Also, The LEGO Company will be producing 4 LEGO sets based on the movie.[46] As part of the General Mills promotional tie-in, during the 2008 Crown Royal Presents the Dan Lowry 400, part of the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup season, the famous #43 Dodge Charger of Petty Enterprises was transformed into a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series version of the Mach 5, driven by Bobby Labonte.

Warner Bros. self-published a video game based on Speed Racer, which was released on May 6th 2008 on the Nintendo DS and Wii, and will be released on November 8 2008 for the PlayStation 2.[47] The original music for the Speed Racer video game was written by Winifred Phillips and produced by Winnie Waldron.[48] The game was released on the Nintendo DS and Wii in May with the film's theatrical release and will be released on the PS2 in the fall to accompany the film's DVD and Blu-ray release. Due to a short development schedule, the studio chose not to develop games for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.[49]

[edit] Soundtrack

Main article: Speed Racer (soundtrack)

[edit] New Theme Song

In addition to the orchestral score, WB added an updated version of the "Go, Speed Racer, Go" theme song which plays during the end credits. Produced by Ali Dee and Jason Gleed, performed by Ali Dee and the Deekompressors. The film version has sections in English, Japanese, French, Portuguese, and Spanish.

[edit] Critical reception

Speed Racer has received generally negative reviews from film critics.[50] Rotten Tomatoes reported that 36% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 160 reviews.[51] At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received an average score of 37, based on 37 reviews.[50] The movie received an average score of 56.7% from 64 film critics according to Movie Tab.[52]

Todd McCarthy of Variety called the film "pure cotton candy [but] too sweet and pretty for young people to resist". He said that the target audience of families and children should be amused, but that others might think the film "a cinematic pile-up", citing its implausibility and the lack of identifiable peril in the driving sequences. McCarthy noted that no expense had been spared on the effects, saying that viewers with an interest in CGI innovations would be "in a corner of heaven", but that the frame sometimes resembled "nothing so much as a kindergartner's art class collage". He had praise for the cinematography and the "playful and busy" musical score. He also said that even if not much was asked of them "other than to look alert and driven", the cast was "very good for this sort of thing", and Roger Allam made "a delicious love-to-hate-him villain".[53]

Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter said that the visual effects were "stellar", but that unlike Pixar films which are aimed at as broad an audience as possible, Speed Racer "plays very young" and "proudly denies entry into its ultra-bright world to all but gamers, fanboys and anime enthusiasts." He said that story and character were "tossed aside" to "focus obsessively" on the action sequences. He called the number of races "wearying", saying they "all look alike no matter what the backgrounds," though indicating that "each race happens in a completely different environment." He also notes the ineffectiveness of "chimpanzee tricks, kid-brother high jinks, Ninja martial arts by the whole family and a raft of vicious yet harmless villains" to make the long story sequences more bearable.[54]

Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune described Speed Racer as "buoyant pop entertainment focused on three things: speed, racing and retina-splitting oceans of digitally captured color" that takes place in "a freshly conceived visual universe." He says that "the Wachowskis respect the dynamism of the original drawings, while carving out their own middle ground between computer animation and live action. They respect also the themes of honor, dishonor, family loyalty and Visigoth-inspired barbarism behind the wheel." The cast is praised as being "earnest" and "gently playful." However, he notes that "the film runs an overgenerous two hours and 15 minutes, and it sags in its midsection" with unnecessary dialogue.[55]

Anthony Lane of The New Yorker said the film was "of no conceivable interest to anyone over the age of ten" and that the convoluted plot was "barely worth unpicking". Noting the "lollipop hues", Lane questioned how the film could still end up "bleached of fun", and concluded that the answer was with the theme first mooted by Wachowskis' in The Matrix that "all of us, whether we know it or not, are squirming under the thumb of dark controlling forces." In Speed Racer, Lane argues, this comes in the form of villain Royalton, who "vows to crush [Speed] with 'the unassailable might of money.'" Citing the Wachowskis' involvement in V for Vendetta (2005), Lane said Speed Racer was not as "criminally poor" as that film, but that it was "more insidious". He concluded: "There’s something about the ululating crowds who line the action in color-coordinated rows; the desperate skirting of ordinary feelings in favor of the trumped-up variety; the confidence in technology as a spectacle in itself; and, above all, the sense of master manipulators posing as champions of the little people. What does that remind you of? You could call it entertainment, and use it to wow your children for a couple of hours. To me, it felt like Pop fascism, and I would keep them well away."[56]

Glenn Kenny of Premiere describes Speed Racer as "one of the most genuinely confounding films to come along in years." Depending upon the viewpoint, he said, it was either "the most headache-inducing" children's film of all, or the most expensive avant-garde film ever made. He cited the film's time-shifting narrative and multiple storylines in the early stages as evidence of its "radicalization of film language" and said the movie was "likely to inspire even more heavy thinking on the part of cultural theorists than The Matrix did" because of its "blatantly anti-capitalist storylines" and being "a picture that changes the rules of its universe strictly according to its creators' whims." The radical techniques used to tie multiple storylines together, while "impressive to behold," Kenny said, "yields heretofore undreamed of levels of narrative incoherence, but hey, not every experiment succeeds." Kenny praised the film's look, saying the "cheez-whizziness" that others had criticised was "precisely the point". He also said the supporting characters in the race scenes were "brought to life by the Wachowskis with a cheeky relish."[57]

Jim Emerson, editor at the Chicago Sun Times, gave the film 1 1/2 stars out of four and wrote that Speed Racer "is a manufactured widget, a packaged commodity that capitalizes on an anthropomorphized cartoon of Capitalist Evil in order to sell itself and its ancillary products."[58]

[edit] Box office performance

In its opening weekend, the film grossed $18,561,337 in 3,606 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking third at the box office behind Iron Man (in its second weekend) and What Happens in Vegas... (a new release).[59] In its second weekend, the film grossed $8,117,459 and ranked #4 at the box office. The results were well below studio expectations, given that production costs of Speed Racer are estimated to be well over $100 million USD.[60] Despite the low box office numbers, Warner Brothers remains optimistic about sales of associated products ranging from toys to tennis shoes. "We're still going to do very well with Speed Racer," says Brad Globe, president of Warner Brothers Consumer Products, acknowledging "a giant movie would have made it all a lot bigger."[61]

[edit] Sequel

The Wachowski brothers and Joel Silver reported that they are discussing plans for a sequel, and that the next movie will probably be shown in 3D. [62]

[edit] References

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  2. ^ Box office / business for Speed Racer, retrieved May 8, 2008
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  5. ^ a b Ben Lyons. "Extreme Sneak Peek: Speed Racer Is Cast, Gassed Up and Ready to Go Go Go!", E!, 2007-05-11. Retrieved on 2007-05-12. 
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  9. ^ Stacy Dodd. "Nayo Wallace", Variety, 2007-07-11. Retrieved on 2007-07-13. 
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  13. ^ Stacy Dodd. "Scott Porter", Variety, 2007-06-03. Retrieved on 2007-06-04. 
  14. ^ a b Scott Bowles. "First look: 'Speed Racer's' demon on wheels", USA Today, 2007-05-31. Retrieved on 2007-05-31. 
  15. ^ a b Josh Horowitz. "Emile Hirsch Talks About Singing Karaoke With Lindsay Lohan, Heading 'Into The Wild' With Sean Penn", MTV, 2007-10-24. Retrieved on 2007-12-24. 
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  17. ^ Stacy Dodd. "Christian Oliver", Variety, 2007-07-08. Retrieved on 2007-07-09. 
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  19. ^ BPI Communications. "'Speed Racer' to become a film", Chicago Tribune, 1992-09-03. Retrieved on 2007-01-12. 
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  29. ^ Michael Fleming. "Hudlin to service 'Sarah'", Variety, 2000-09-19. Retrieved on 2007-01-11. 
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  42. ^ PETA not monkeying around with ‘Speed Racer’
  43. ^ Speed Racer Review
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  45. ^ Warner Bros. Consumer Products. "Mattel on Board for Speed Racer & The Dark Knight", SuperHeroHype.com, 2007-06-19. Retrieved on 2007-06-19. 
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  47. ^ Chris Morell, "Speed Racer: The Matrix creators spawn the next Speed Racer game," GamePro 235 (April 2008): 38.
  48. ^ Allgame.com. "Speed Racer: The Videogame>Credits", Allgame.com, 2008-05-11. Retrieved on 2008-05-11. 
  49. ^ Ben Fritz. "WB gears up ' Speed Racer' game", Variety, 2007-08-07. Retrieved on 2007-08-08. 
  50. ^ a b Speed Racer (2008): Reviews. Metacritic. Retrieved on 2008-05-18.
  51. ^ {{cite web | url= http://uk.rottentomatoes.com/m/speed_racer/ | title=Speed Racer at Rotten Tomatoes | publisher=Rotten Tomatoes | accessdate=2008-06-08}
  52. ^ Movie Tab: Speed Racer Reviews. Movie Tab. Retrieved on 2008-05-15.
  53. ^ McCarthy (2008-05-01). "Speed Racer Review". Variety. Reed Business Information. 
  54. ^ Kirk Honeycutt. "Speed Racer review", The Hollywood Reporter, 2008-05-01. Retrieved on 2008-05-08. 
  55. ^ Michael Phillips. "'Speed Racer' (3 stars)", Chicago Tribune, 2008-05-09. Retrieved on 2008-05-12. 
  56. ^ Anthony Lane. "Around the Bend", The New Yorker, 2008-05-01. Retrieved on 2008-05-08. 
  57. ^ Glenn Kenny. "Speed Racer review", Premiere, 2008-05-09. Retrieved on 2008-05-09. 
  58. ^ Jim Emerson (2008-05-08). "Speed Racer Review". Chicago Sun Times. 
  59. ^ 'The Top Movies, Weekend of May 9, 2008'.
  60. ^ Joshua Rich (2008-05-11). 'Speed Racer' Crashes at the Box Office. Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
  61. ^ Marc Graser (2008-05-16). 'Speed Racer's' driving force. Variety. Retrieved on 2008-05-16.
  62. ^ The Wachowskis Aren't Done With Speed Racer Yet

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