Speed Racer film review

certificate_PG

SPEED RACER

The Wachowski brothers - Larry and Andy - blew the lid off of contemporary cinema in 1999 with The Matrix, a film that was cutting edge, unique and original. Most of their good work was nearly undone by two vastly inferior sequels which seemed to suggest that these two talented siblings had become victims of their own success, as style very much ruled over substance. Their new work falls somewhere between the two: it's a visually exciting and innovative piece, but it's undoubtedly far too bloated and self-indulgent for its own good.

The film, hotly anticipated in the geek universe, is based upon the early Japanese anime series MachGoGoGo which became a success on US tv when it was imported, translated and retitled. The Wachowskis have remained fairly faithful to the set-up in which a young boy racer (the eponymous Speed) tries to carry on his family's driving tradition in the face of hostility from corporations who want to sign him and make him one of their own.

When Speed finds out too many of the corporations' dirty little secrets he faces being ostracised from the racing community. At the same time he tries to fid out exactly what happened to his brother, the legendary driver Rex Racer, who mysteriously disappeared and was presumed dead after a high speed crash some years earlier.

All of this is filmed in a hyper-real mix of live action and animation which has been variously described as like an acid trip and eye-popping. Undoubtedly on a high definition IMAX screen it's impressive stuff. At least to begin with - there are only so many supercool car races and crashes that an audience can take without wondering where the substance is. And this is one of the film's chief drawbacks: for all of the money thrown on the screen it's hard to feel emotionally attached to any of it. Younger viewers in particular - presumably a large target market - will scratch their heads at the convoluted corporate shenanigans.

Another huge issue is the length. At 85 minutes this might have been a sharp and zippy affair, but 129 minutes for what is ostensibly a cartoon largely aimed at children is unforgivable. The last bloated animation this long was the disappointing Cars from Pixar, and there is a similar sense of the Emperor's New Clothes with Speed Racer. Which is a shame - there's a likeable A-list cast, evidence of huge amounts of hard work, but there's just not very much under the bonnet.

Paul Hurley