Speed Racer (2008)

Directors:

Andy Wachowski
Lana Wachowski

Writers (WGA):

Andy Wachowski (written by) &
Lana Wachowski (written by) ...

Release Date:

9 May 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Family | Sport

Tagline:

Go

Plot:

The story begins with Speed Racer who is a young man with natural racing instincts whose goal is to win The Crucible...

Plot Keywords:

Speed | Racer | Race | Racing | Mach 5

Awards:

8 nominations

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Emile Hirsch	...	Speed Racer
Nicholas Elia	...	Young Speed
Susan Sarandon	...	Mom Racer
Melissa Holroyd	...	Speed's Teacher
Ariel Winter	...	Young Trixie
Scott Porter	...	Rex
Gian Ganziano	...	Everyman Announcer
Peter Fernandez	...	Local Announcer
Harvey Friedman	...	Harold Ledermann Announcer
Sadao Ueda	...	Japanese Announcer
Valery Tscheplanowa	...	Russian Announcer
Sami Loris	...	Italian Announcer
Olivier Marlo	...	French Announcer
Sean McDonagh	...	Celtic Announcer
Kick Gurry	...	Sparky

Also Known As:

Race Chasers (USA) (fake working title)
Speed Racer (Germany)
Speed Racer: The IMAX Experience (USA) (IMAX version)

MPAA:

Rated PG for sequences of action, some violence and language.

Runtime:

135 min

Country:

USA | Australia | Germany

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

South Korea:12 | Ireland:PG | Finland:K-11 | Singapore:PG | UK:PG | Germany:12 | Philippines:PG-13 (MTRCB) | Malaysia:U | Venezuela:PG-13 | USA:PG (certificate #44193) | Netherlands:6 | Argentina:13 | Hong Kong:IIA | Norway:11 | Sweden:7 | Brazil:10 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Portugal:M/6 | Taiwan:GP (original rating) | South Korea:All (DVD rating) | New Zealand:PG | Austria:10 | South Africa:10M (theatrical rating) | South Africa:13V (DVD rating) | Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

With the race cars being totally fictional, most of the pedestrian cars are actually based on real-life futuristic concept cars (one can easily spot an orange Rinspeed E-GO Rocket parked at the nearest to the screen when Rex picks Speed up from school). At one point, two Peugeot concept cars (the award-winning Peugeot 4002 Lion design and the quirky Moonster) are seen as well.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: During the second leg of the Casa Cristo 500, when Speed spins around to avoid Snake's oil spill, the back side of the Mach 5 goes off the side of the road. The effects and angle of the car are the same as if the car was completely on solid ground.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Race Announcer: All drivers to your cars, please. All drivers to your cars.

Movie Connections:

References Little Caesar (1931)

Soundtrack:

Go Speed Racer Go

Artistic Perfection

Everyone around me told me it was going to be terrible. Early reviews said that it was nothing special. With these planted doubts, I still went to see it in IMax. As of right now, it is the greatest experience I have ever had in a movie theater.

This movie was pure fun. The Wachowskis truly know how to take risks. They just took their art and ran with it. All the actors were terrific. I especially gives props to the actor who played the youngest Racer brother. Honestly, I thought that boy would sink the film but after seeing it, Speed Racer would not have been half as fun without him and the monkey.

This is most visually stunning film to date, with a climax that continues to climb and climb. I wanted to jump out of my chair and cheer for Speed at almost everything. Granted, the film was predictable, but I didn't care. I still held my breath at all the moments, asking myself if Speed would be able to pull it off. I've never smiled through a movie as much as I have with this one in a long time.

Huge 10/10 for Speed Racer and a big thank you to everyone involved in making this masterpiece. My kids will be watching this film. If there is a Speed Racer 2, I am there.