Speed Racer

[matt_s]

My wife and I took the 4 year old to see Speed Racer this weekend. I'll give it one thumb up and one thumb down.

The first 40% of the movie was almost painful to watch. Just so disjointed and over the top it was painful. But, when they finally managed to get down to working on the plot it became mildly enjoyable, at least to me.

It had a better story line than I had expected and the characters, despite the over-the-top stylings of the movie were well portrayed.

It's probably not a movie I would have choosen to go see if I didn't have kid, but since he spent the car ride home making zoom sounds and motions in the back seat, I guess it worked for him.

[jennyk]

I'll have a full review on Thursday, but my fiance and I really, really enjoyed it. It was brainless, to be sure, and the plot was weak, but it was a lot of fun to watch. It might have been a bit long, and I do think that the whole "evil corporation" plotline was a little long and overdone, but the action/driving sequences were wonderfully silly fun. We actually laughed out loud a few times. And I loved the look of it - all the bright colors.

It's a shame that it will probably go down in history as a big flop, since it only made about $20.2 million over the weekend, and may not make back it's huge budget, at least according to CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Movies/05/11/boxoffice.ap/index.html). It was a very enjoyable moviegoing experience for me.

Then again, our opinions were probably colored by a love of anime and silly fun.

[jennyk]

My wife and I took the 4 year old to see Speed Racer this weekend.

Did you have a problem with the few profanities and the obscene hand gesture in the movie? I didn't mind but, then again, I don't have children so I don't really notice that kind of thing. But I know a mom who left halfway through with her elementary school girl and preschool boy because of the cursing and hand gesture, and she's telling all of her friends not to see it. I thought the kid sticking out his tongue and some milder sayings could have probably achieved the same effect without potentially alienating the core audience. What did you think, and what was the opinion of other parents who saw the movie?

[evilkumquat]

Did you have a problem with the few profanities and the obscene hand gesture in the movie? I didn't mind but, then again, I don't have children so I don't really notice that kind of thing. But I know a mom who left halfway through with her elementary school girl and preschool boy because of the cursing and hand gesture, and she's telling all of her friends not to see it. I thought the kid sticking out his tongue and some milder sayings could have probably achieved the same effect without potentially alienating the core audience. What did you think, and what was the opinion of other parents who saw the movie?

I didn't see the movie (and won't, unless I fall into the clutches of evil ex-Nazi doctors or {shudder} our CIA), but I have no problems with my kids seeing/hearing profanity.

First of all, they hear plenty of it in my household anyway and second, by making swearing such a "taboo", it only glorifies it and makes it more appealing to the kiddies.

Granted, I'm teaching my kids NOT to swear and would prefer they don't, but I also remember what it was like being a kid and most kids have incredible potty mouths when out of adult earshot.

Heh, true story: some time ago, I tricked my five year old into saying {rhymes with "wit"} and he actually burst into tears. So, I'm not too worried right now about my kids being that influenced by others' "bad" behavior.

[matt_s]

No I didn't. While I'm not going to advocate the use of vulgar language and certain gestures, they are a part of the world we live in and I'm not going to go out of my way to avoid them for myself or my son. I really didn't notice any offensive language, and the gesture, if I ever have to explain it to my child I will.

Overall, I didn't find the movie to be even mildly offensive. If someone gets offended enough to walk out of this movie, I'll be more surprised the fact that you ventured outside of their house.

[ebbieday]

I have not seen the movie and don't plan to see it until it's on dvd, but when I was a kid Speed Racer was one of my favorite cartoons to watch every week day after school. The movie looks stupid to me, but I guess I'll check it out for free one of these days just to see for myself.

BTW...how do I get one of those cool pics to put by my name?

[LuciusBeebe]

The movie looks pretty bad to me.

[TheBigB]

The movie looks pretty bad to me.

John Goodman does make a good 3-D version of Pops (even down to the mannerisms), and Matt Fox does seem to have the mystery required for Racer X. But I don't see how they could have made this movie without it being bad.

I did think it was pretty cool to hear the Speed Racer theme again, though (when I caught a trailer for it).

[james_t]

But I know a mom who left halfway through with her elementary school girl and preschool boy because of the cursing and hand gesture, and she's telling all of her friends not to see it.

My wife and I keep a fairly tight rein on our kids' media usage, and there are any number of Web sites you can check out in advance to see if there's anything in a movie that you might object to your kids seeing. If you think there's any chance that a movie might have something questionable, I recommend doing that first so you don't get any surprises.

[jennyk]

But I don't see how they could have made this movie without it being bad.

It was, but if you like silly bad movies (one of my guilty pleasures), you'll probably enjoy it.

If "Speed Racer" hadn't been the silly bad movie it was, they would have made it very serious and "realistic," and it would have also been bad.

[LuciusBeebe]

It was, but if you like silly bad movies (one of my guilty pleasures)

ebay supplied me with the early works of Peter Jackson... so yeah, definitely

[jennyk]

ebay supplied me with the early works of Peter Jackson... so yeah, definitely

After watching "Bad Taste," "Braindead" and "Meet the Feebles," I wondered why anyone would entrust a big-budget, big-screen version of something as serious and iconic as "Lord of the Rings" to Peter Jackson. But then I saw "Heavenly Creatures" and realized that it wasn't a total leap of faith. Still, his early movies are pretty messed up. (But fun!)

[jennyk]

My review of "Speed Racer" is now posted here (http://fwdailynews.com/articles/2008/05/15/features/columnists/jenny_kobiela/doc482c33835da5e666240043.txt).