Camden-cinema/movies-review of the Wachowski brothers'Speed Racer film

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The Review - AT THE MOVIES with WILLIAM HALL
Published: 8 May 2008

Fast-paced action from Speed Racer

Camden cinema | Speed Racer movie review | Andy and Larry Wachowski | LOUD

SPEED RACER
Directed by Andy and Larry Wachowski
Certificate 15

COULD you speak up, please, because I’ve gone deaf. Emerging from this week’s screening of Speed Racer, my head is still ringing.
Speed Racer is LOUD. Very loud.
Kids will be begging their parents to take them – and I can tell you this: it is not only a good idea to succumb to their pleadings, but absolutely essential. Well, someone’s got to explain for us mere adults what on earth is going on, and that someone has got to be aged nine or under.
Part computerised cartoon, part live action, we are catapulted straight into a PlayStation being expertly handled by a young Speed Racer (that’s what everyone calls him). He matures into a daredevil of the track (Emil Hirsch) out to win the Grand Prix in memory of his late brother, who was killed in the same race, and restore the family honour.
The rest of the film descends into a bewildering blur of real cars and toys, all set in dazzling pastel shades.
The plot is complicated by the entry of a shady tycoon (Roger Allam) who offers him a tempting deal to join his racing stable. When our man turns it down, he becomes a target for all sorts of villains on a death-defying cross-country rally. He might have suspected his would-be mentor was a wrong ’un when one of the bribes was a large box of cigars hand-rolled in … the Isle of Wight!
“Remember, son, a car is a living, breathing thing,” our hero’s father declares. Having lost the will to live half way through, I beg to differ. Just take your ear plugs.

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