Speed Racer

With the delivery of the perplexing Speed Racer (a remake of the late-’60s Japanese cartoon), it’s not one certain exactly what demographic the Wachowski brothers (The Matrix) are targeting with this CGI-wankfest. Ostensibly a family film, it’s in search of one very strange family. This is not a property that all that many folks under the age of 40 remember, and the ones who do probably weren’t crying out for a candy-colored live-action adaptation. There isn’t all that much of a story: after his hotshot racing brother is presumed killed in a fiery crash during the course of an outlaw competition, young Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch) settles in behind the wheel of bro’s Mach 3 to carry on the family aspirations. Cheering him on are Pops (John Goodman), Mom (Susan Sarandon) and his plucky girlfriend Trixie (Christina Ricci). I’m not sure I enjoyed it, but I experienced it. The rapid-fire editing doesn’t make for a cohesive narrative. Somewhere around the halfway mark I fell into a flashback back to when I dropped acid in college … vivid colors, non-linear input. Tracers. So I just leaned back and went with the flow.