| | | From the Creators of The Matrix Trilogy Comes a World Built for Speed.
Start your engines and fasten your seatbelts for the high-octane adventure Speed Racer, combining heartfelt family humor and groundbreaking visual effects. Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch) is a natural behind the wheel of his thunderous Mach 5. With support from Pops and Mom Racer (John Goodman and Susan Sarandon), girlfriend Trixie (Christina Ricci), younger brother Spritle (Paulie Litt) and the mysterious Racer X (Matthew Fox), Speed takes on fierce competitors to save his family's business and protect the sport he loves. When Speed steps onto the track, it's not just a race. It's an adrenaline-fueled, high-speed charge to the finish. Go, Speed Racer, go!
"Speed Racer creates a timeless, visually seductive world suspended somewhere between the pop '60s and the sci-fi future." David Ansen, Newsweek
"...a thrilling film, a visual masterpiece, a great family story." Janet Stokes, Film Advisory Board
"...buoyant pop entertainment focused on three things: speed, racing and retina-splitting oceans of digitally captured color." Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
"Speed Racer is like nothing you've ever seen. It is gorgeous." Richard Corliss, Time
"Filled with energy and visual pizzazz and at least strives for something more than dumb entertainment." Shawn Levy, Portland Oregonian
"...a crazy, turbo-charged mix of cartoon kitsch, gamer action, and a wild new way to think of - and look at - movies." Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer
"A hip, candy-colored kid friendly film." Thelma Adams, US Weekly
Editor's Note
Based on the 1960s Japanese-manga-derived animated TV series of the same name, SPEED RACER follows the adventures of the title character (Emile Hirsch), a young race car driver who sits behind the wheel of the lightning-fast Mach 5 vehicle. Aided by his family, which includes Pops Racer (John Goodman) and Mom Racer (Susan Sarandon), and his devoted doe-eyed girlfriend, Trixie (Christina Ricci), Speed racks up victory after victory, but still lives in the shadow of his late older brother, Rex (Scott Porter), who died in a race. When Speed garners the wrath of Royalton Industries, he must team up with the enigmatic Racer X (Matthew Fox) to defeat the ruthless corporation.Written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski, the masterminds behind the MATRIX films, SPEED RACER replaces the gritty techno patina of that blockbuster series with a polished, brightly hued virtual reality. Though the eye-popping visuals threaten to eclipse the acting, the fine cast gamely makes the most of their green-screen environment, particularly the likable Hirsch, who won acclaimed for his decidedly different INTO THE WILD role, and LOST's always-noble Fox. Adding to the movie's giddy mood are Paulie Litt and his chimp companion, who provide comic relief as Speed's playful younger brother, Spritle, and Chim Chim, respectively. While definitely a case of style over substance, SPEED RACER is a movie meticulously designed to appeal to families and kids, especially the Spritle-like young ones.
| Features | Interactive Menus | | Scene Selection |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Warner Home Video |
| Release Date: 9/8/2009 |
| Original Release Date: 2008 | | Catalog ID: 1000040894 | | UPC: 00883929031467 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Standard 1.33:1 [4:3] |
| Cast & Crew
| Awards |
MTV Award (2008) | | | Speed Racer, Nominee, Best Summer Movie So Far |
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| | Professional Reviews | Empire
"[T]he film is triumphantly visual....[SPEED RACER] bubbles with invention, staying true to its ambition of being a living cartoon." 07/01/2008 p.50Sight and Sound
"The stylised kitsch images have pop-art colours to make THE WIZARD OF OZ look drab, the pictures overlaid in sliding or zooming collages." 07/01/2008 p.75-76 Premiere
3 stars out of 4 -- "The bright, candy-colored universe the Wachowskis fashion out of digital and green screen wizardry is often psychedelic in the extreme." 05/01/2008 ReelViews 6 of 10
There's no doubt that the Wachowskis' vision of Speed Racer is big, wild, and overripe with garish colors. It's what I'd imagine it might be like trapped inside a video game or a pinball machine. It's a kaleidoscope gone mad. Yet this kind of visual overdrive has its limits, and with little else to recommend it, Speed Racer passes the barrier between 21st century innovation and psychedelic diarrhea long before the cars have come close to the finish line. What impresses with its "wow!" factor early on becomes repetitive and headache-inducing later in the proceedings. At an exceedingly long 135 minutes, the film needs more than what might result from the explosion of a Crayola factory, and Speed Racer has nothing extra to offer - no heart, no excitement, no moments to cherish...Throughout their careers, which have had big ups and downs, the Wachowskis have never been known for restraint, and there's none of it evident here. Speed Racer is the perfect companion piece for a kick-ass video game. It looks and feels like one - so much so that older viewers may find themselves flashing back to Tron. The filmmakers would like us to believe that Speed Racer has been designed with the "kid in all of us" in mind, and that's as clear an admission of its juvenile nature as anything. - James Berardinelli
Reel.com 5 of 10
Andy and Larry Wachowski, creators of the Matrix trilogy, contradict themselves from the start. The brothers have written and directed a live-action adaptation of the 1960s anime series that fails to keep a foot in reality. Speed Racer doesn't break new ground; it clings to cartoonish boundaries established by Wile E. Coyote as he pursued that pesky Road Runner...The effect imbues Speed Racer with the depth and dramatic significance of a screen saver...Hirsch, like most of his co-stars, gets by with one or two facial reactions over Speed Racer's very long 135-minute run time...The bloated length is one of several reasons why the hollow Speed Racer isn't ideal for children. An overly complicated plot involving a corrupt team owner (Roger Allam) fixing races to drive up stock prices will shoot over the head of any youngster who doesn't subscribe to The Wall Street Journal. Aside from Rex's fiery death--which is followed by Speed's difficult emotional breakdown--the supposed family film shows scenes of drivers being fed to piranhas, shot at by menacing mobsters, and thrown from moving vehicles. The PG rating isn't suspect--it's laughable. And I haven't even mentioned the gross overacting of Paulie Litt as Speed's brother Spritle or the presence of his poop-throwing monkey Chim Chim. - Sean O'Connell
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