Mach a-Go-Go-Go

[seawasp]

As a Mother's Day present I took Kathleen to see Speed Racer. I was prepared for true Awfulness; my expectations were for something on the level of the Star Wars Holiday Special, or, if I was lucky, Highlander II.

To my surprise, what I got was a pretty much family-friendly film with humor (most of which I was able to watch without wincing too much, which is not commonly the case), tons of (properly) anime imagery and in-jokes, and properly OTT villains and action. The plot is pretty straightforward -- you can predict most events with ease -- but then, the source material isn't exactly Byzantine in structure either. The acting is surprisingly good; without it, the movie wouldn't work at all, given its hackneyed nature.

It DOES have some wince-worthy moments (I really wish they could have eliminated the Annoying Younger Brother and the Monkey, but alas, those are key elements of the original), and as one poster on r.a.a.m said, "there are colors here which are NOT found in the rainbow (patented ILM). There were times one wanted very dark glasses.

The racing is very much over-the-top too, but that's deliberate, and I think well-done. They do in my opinion an EXCELLENT job of weaving backstory into current events. I never saw more than an episode or two of the original, and almost nothing of "Whacky Races" which is also incorporated in a number of references. The world of Speed Racer, here, is an odd alternative history where car racing became THE big thing of the future, eclipsing all other sports. It works, within its narrow confines. The pacing is excellent from my POV and it ends well. The kids will love it, I think.

So overall, good job! And now I won't have something to hold over Kathleen's head for the next ten years.

Comments

[mouser.livejournal.com]

So, how was it on a "Thunderbirds are GO!" scale?

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

That's not the real Thunderbirds Are Go. This is the real Thunderbirds Are Go.

But I understood what you meant.

[mouser.livejournal.com]

No argument, just using that as a scale.

Well...

[seawasp]

... I never saw the original OR the remake of Thunderbirds, but judging from what I read on both, Speed Racer is VASTLY better. Speed Racer keeps the essence of the original. Speed is Speed, Pops is Pops, the relationships of characters are pretty much unchanged, etc., while it appears that the Thunderbirds remake changed major aspects of the original -- something I tend to object to in those kind of movies. If you're going to claim to remake something, keep the essence of the original, or don't do it at all.

This holds even if you make something really cool; apparently the new Battlestar Galactica is a good show in many ways, but I can't watch it because it ISN'T Battlestar Galactica.

Part of a complete psychedelic breakfast

[lexomatic.livejournal.com]

I usually wait to see a film until the theater accepts my AAA discount passes, but I did not regret paying full-price for this one. I was doing this partially for research -- I'm helping with a summer-movies LEGO display at the end of the month -- and I'm just sorry that none of the vehicles stood still for a good look.

Also, there simply aren't enough LEGO elements in pink to properly instantiate Trixie's chopper. (The official LEGO sets are simply disappointing, which is why fans rebuild things.) And not enough in purple to do Royalton's VTOL. Dang.

A wag once responded to the question "Did Disney make a sequel to Tron?" with the answer, "Yes, and it was called ReBoot." Similarly, this CGI'd Hot Wheels-esque ultra-racing-world has previously been visited by the TV show "Nascar Racers" (1999) and the OAVs "Hot Wheels AcceleRacers" (2005).

It was a fluorescent-fauvist world like the "Spy Kids" movies or ABC's "Pushing Daisies". And despite being a live-action anime adaptation, it didn't look much like Hideaki Anno's "Cutie Honey" (2004).

It was given a "B" grade by Sci Fi Weekly and a not-so-glowing in the Wall Street Journal, which is par for that course (last week's effusive thumbs-up for "Iron Man" was unusual). But I rarely believe pro reviews. (For "Event Horizon" (1997), I really should've made an exception.) Note that I've never seen the original "Mach GoGoGo" or "Speed Racer" (and fortunately, only one-half episode of "The New Adventures of Speed Racer"), so I had very few expectations to be matched by the Wachowskis.

Yet another movie with Segway personal scooters. ("Cutie Honey" had one too.)

I think the flashing end-credits were a mistake.

Also, director Michael Bay needs his head examined. Last summer's "Transformers" is the only recent cartoon-nostalgia live-action big-budget feature adaptation that didn't somehow incorporate the iconic musical theme.

Re: Part of a complete psychedelic breakfast

[seawasp]

Actually, I thought it DID look like the live-action Cutey Honey, allowing for the fact that the budgets differed by an order of magnitude.

And the original Transformers theme WAS in the movie, it just was hidden in the BGM... WHICH WAS NEVER RELEASED for some idiotic reason. See prior rants on this subject.

[shana.livejournal.com]

I suppose the IMAX version would be headache inducing?

[seawasp]

Wear DARK glasses. VERY dark glasses.

[noctyrnus.livejournal.com]

I will have to look for this movie when it comes out on DVD then , Ryk

[orbadviser.livejournal.com]

Off-topic to your post, but I wondered how/when you started spelling your name R-y-k.

I, too, am R-y-k Ryk and am curious...

[shana.livejournal.com]

Before he was born, since his father was named Ryk, too.

Well...

[seawasp]

... as Shana says, I didn't start it, that was my father's father's idea. Originally the name was Dutch, and thus in English would have been spelled Rijk (the "ij" is actually a letter in Dutch which represents a sound not found in English, sort of a cross between the long-I and long-A sounds). This not being a typical American name, but not wanting to go with "Rick", my grandfather decided to name my father "Ryk" instead. (My dad, however, ended up going by his middle name, Peter, for most of his life)

So do you pronounce yours as Rick, or -- as I do -- to rhyme with like, bike, etc.?