comment #1

siowafc says ...

Everyone I talk to in the college-age demo (male/female, whatever) thinks this film must be some kind of joke, or, at best, some kind of video-game on acid. There seems to be little-to-no compelling reason to see this.

comment #2

Jeffrey Kunze says ...

Christina Ricci has never looked hotter or sounded more annoying.

comment #3

p.Vice says ...

It looks like a huge piece of shit. You'd think everyone would be dying to see it.

comment #4

MiraJeffAICN says ...

I am dying to see it p.Vice, and Jeff, there's a screening tonight for elite media. Are you on your way or did you miss the cut?

comment #5

bmcintire says ...

What kind of validity could a First Choice number have 3+ weeks ahead of a film's release? "I pledge to see no other movie before this one opens" or "Yep, my entire weekend, three weeks from now, is pre-booked." Awareness and Definite Interest seems like the numbers to be chasing this early, not "Do you have your tickets yet?"
The herpes community, however, may not see things the same.

comment #6

Jeremy Smith says ...

The junket press is the "elite media"?

comment #7

scooterzz says ...

word of mouth is going to be tough on this one... i saw it yesterday morning on the lot...pretty full house, not a lot of happy faces on the way out..... really beautiful to look at (most of the time) but way too long at two-plus hours.......
hope i'm wrong........

comment #8

p.Vice says ...

MiraJeff - You could have posted that anonymously and I would still have known it was you.

And when did "elite media" replace "quote whores" in the journalism lexicon?

comment #9

breadlymoore says ...

Four big May blockbusters, and at least one of them has to fail. Law of the land.

I think it's gonna be SPEED RACER.

comment #10

MASON says ...

It's the Poland Curse.

comment #11

MiraJeffAICN says ...

The peeps I know who are going are neither junket press nor quote whores, just sayin'. I'm sure the film has been screened for them too. I hear Earl Dittman LOVED it. "The best movie of its kind since The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift!" P.S. P. Vice, you are hilarious despite being anonymous.

comment #12

Mgmax says ...

Despite being willing to put a fork in the Wachowskis' eye after the last two Matrix movies (Matrix: Incomprehensible Shit and Matrix: Metal Machine Music), I have to admit, I think Speed Racer looks kind of cool, in a Luc Besson death-of-cinema kind of way.

comment #13

actionman says ...

"It's the Poland Curse."

That's pretty funny, Mason.

I have very little interest in this one.

comment #14

Circumvrent says ...

MiraJeff, you are a total fucking tool.

comment #15

MilkMan says ...

I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to be on the edge of my seat during the racing scenes. Especially when you know what kind of risks the actors were taking, working without a stunt double. Steve McQueen has nothing on Emile Hirsch. You think William Friedkin would've figured out a way to have Gene Hackman or William L. Petersen's car do a freaking back flip, but he couldn't, because he didn't have a magical raspberry beret, not like Govinda Wachowski does. Man, the Wachowski Bros. just blow me away. It's like I used to think we all lived inside of a computer, but now I'm starting to think we all live in front of a green screen. I mean, what if the universe is just like one giant green screen, you know, and like at any moment God, or the Wachowski Bros, could like decide to replace the sky with something supercool. That would be totally awesome. One day you woke up and you went outside and the sun was gone because the Wachowski Bros put a mug there instead. But not just any mug. A really cool mug, like with Ziggy on it. Ziggy holding a mug and a donut. That would be so much better than the sun.

comment #16

MilkMan says ...

P.S. - Is there really a critic named "Earl Dittman?" Wasn't that the name of a character on SCTV?

comment #17

DarthCorleone says ...

I have virtually no interest in this. All of the acting and dialogue in the trailer seems uninspired and obvious, and I suspect the visual style is far too self-aware to keep me involved. How much tension can there really be if cars are doing backflips?

Granted, I was never a fan of the cartoon, but I seem to be one of the only people who loves Matrix: Reloaded more than the original (although I loathe Revolutions), and I've always been a Christina Ricci fan.

If they're relying on a built-in fanbase, I have to question who they think that is. Speed Racer is before my time, and I'm already too old for movies of this ilk. Has Speed Racer been a big hit in syndication for those folks in their twenties?

But, hey, it has that monkey in it, and you never lose with monkey humor.

comment #18

Ross says ...

What I think everybody is missing, is that this is actually meant to be a family film. The first PG movie from the Wachowski's. My 4-year-old son is the target, he couldn't be more excited to see it. It's pretty much a cartoon, with live-action actors in it; everything from the look of the film to the dialogue is cartoony.

Have you watched the trailer in HD? It's absolutely gorgeous. I want to see it simply for the super-colorful visuals. Nobody has ever created a film that looks like this, that alone should make it interesting. In a year, this will be the go-to film for showing off your new HD TV.

comment #19

insidah says ...

my two cents? the movie looks like it's all visuals, no compelling story or drama...at some point, the idiotic gaming generation is going to start to demand a little more. Hopefully. Although there are kids who think the Star Wars prequels are better than the originals because they're more visually ambitious- gag.

comment #20

scooterzz says ...

'But, hey, it has that monkey in it, and you never lose with monkey humor.'

that's what matt lablanc said.....

comment #21

D.Z. says ...

Well, it's not really a surprise. Who'd make a movie based on a show which doesn't even play on Cartoon Network or MTV anymore? And Ricci hasn't done anything significant since Sleepy Hollow. I feel sorry for Hirsch, though, since he seems like a decent leading man who might end up taking the fall for the first potential Wachowski bomb. [Unless you consider Assassins to be their first bomb, but that's generally associated with Stallone.]

scooter: Two hours is kind of long for a show which probably only took up 20 minutes per episode. I hope the Wachowskis didn't go overboard on the racing culture.

MiraJeff: Tokyo Drift is actually ok, if you don't have high expectations. Speed Racer looks a lot better than that, though.

comment #22

D.Z. says ...

Darth: You're not the only one who thought Reloaded was better than the original, actually.

insidah: How are the prequels visually ambitious? The only thing they got going for them are the Yoda fight scenes.

comment #23

MiraJeffAICN says ...

Circumvrent, please excuuuusee me! I didn't realize I was talking to the coolest motherfucker on the planet in the talkbacks of Hollywood-Elsewhere. My bad.

comment #24

Gus Petch says ...

In addition to what everyone else has said -- bad trailer, that awful monkey who won't bring in kids -- this movie has no star power at all. The best you can say about Emil Hirsch or Christina Ricci is that they won't drive people away. You can't say the same for Susan Sarandon (although the campaign is wisely hiding her presence in the movie).

comment #25

PoisonSkin says ...

I'm beginning to hate Emile Hirsch. he was so irritating in that Alpha Dog movie

comment #26

Hickenlooper says ...

I am trying to remember from my childhood... Is Racer X Speed Racer's long, lost brother or ostracized gay uncle? Can someone please clarify. And what's with Chimp Chimp?

comment #27

Hickenlooper says ...

P.S. Excuse me, I was confusing the Speed Racer trailer with Harvey Milk.

comment #28

Mr. Blood Vessel says ...

MiraJeff
The best movie of its kind since The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift!"

home video it is.

comment #29

D.Z. says ...

Hickenlooper: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sacx1WZQv3I

comment #30

scooterzz says ...

hickenlooper -- racer x may or may not be speed's brother (no spoilers from me)....but chimp-chimp IS his gay uncle.....

comment #31

Spicer says ...

This may be the Grindhouse of '08 -- it's probably too highly stylized for its own good. That said, I can't wait to see it -- looks pretty state of the art to me. I hope it has enough of a story to sustain its running time.....

comment #32

renorambler says ...

Something about this film strikes me as being like TRON. Only not as cool.

comment #33

corey3rd says ...

What are the odds that Racer X and Rex Racer are somehow linked? George, if you want, come on over for breakfast, I'll make up waffles and we'll watch the episode that deals with Racer X. The ending is something beyond the cartoons of today.

I've bought all five Volumes of Speed Racer on DVD, but I have so little desire to see this film. It just reads a promo for a new XBox 360 game. Although more kids will be rushing out to grab the new Grand Theft Auto

comment #34

David Ehrlich says ...

well, this is totally off topic, but i've been saying that FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL would be a hit and get some pretty strong reviews since i saw it two months ago, and now jim emerson has just called it "magnificent." well, he called part of it magnificent in his 3.5 star review. not sure if i'd go quite that far, but to anyone who was dissuaded from seeing this because of jeff's unique take on the matter, i hope the critical surge will convince you otherwise.

comment #35

Marty Melville says ...

I second Renorambler's TRON comparison.

And when the trailer shows up on Cartoon Network, it's easy to mistake it for a commercial touting some new super-sugar powered candy... a Bubblicious-type gum or Lifesavers Juicy Fruits. And not in a good way.

comment #36

MiraJeffAICN says ...

Mr. BloodVessel, I hope you know I wrote that as an example of a Dittman quote. Just wait... I haven't seen it but I think it looks awesome. I can't imagine how a Wachowski movie with Hirsch, Fox, Goodman, Sarandon and a chimp can be bad. It looks like so much fun! That's a sure-fire Thursday at midnight for me. Then again, so is Pathology at the ArcLight. Forgive me...

comment #37

CinemaPhreek says ...

The only thing that is going to save this film's box office is the kids - and by that I mean ironically the age group the original cartoons were targeted at 30 years ago.

This was always a very small niche thing that became a de rigueur touchstone for the Gen X crowd back in the 90's by having a Speed Racer bumper sticker or T-shirt. I'm from that generation and know of only one guy who wants to see this film. Wachowskis' only hope was to break it out somehow and they went with the LSD flashback thing that doesn't look like it will work.

Compounding matters, Warner Bros are making the same mistake with this that they made with SUPERMAN RETURNS - once the competition became known they should have moved the release date. Devoid of a real alternative, people might have checked it out. As it is, it will get those not interested (or already seen) IRON MAN and then will watch most of the audience drift off to PRINCE CASPIAN.

comment #38

Ogami Itto says ...

"And when the trailer shows up on Cartoon Network, it's easy to mistake it for a commercial touting some new super-sugar powered candy... a Bubblicious-type gum or Lifesavers Juicy Fruits. And not in a good way."

I used to love Bubblicious when I was a kid. Do they still make that gum?

Oh, and referring to Christina Ricci as a monkey is just plain mean.

comment #39

D.Z. says ...

To be honest, I'm less interested in Caspian than Speed Racer. I remember the book being more of the same, and the movie doesn't really seem any different in that regard, either. The Tron comparison's also kind of weak, too, since Tron was created for the few people who owned a personal computer in the 80s, while Speed Racer can at least appeal to casual race car enthusiasts. And if Scooby Doo and Inspector Gadget's box office prove anything, it's that Gen X'ers don't mean anything at the multiplex.

In addition, the thing about Superman Returns was that it was up against a highly anticipated sequel. In that sense, Iron Man is clearly not as much of a priority for most people as Indiana Jones 4. Sure, it looks good, but
you don't really see as much robot action in the trailers as you did in Transformers; it's more of a Downey vehicle, and that could back-fire, if audiences are more interested in action than wise-cracks.

comment #40

moorish says ...

This looks like a massive, stinking, neon turd. That's why no one is interested in seeing it. You couldn't pay me to sit through this movie, everything about it looks like cancer of the penis.

comment #41

moorish says ...

This looks like a massive, stinking, neon turd. That's why no one is interested in seeing it. You couldn't pay me to sit thorugh this movie, everything about it looks like cancer of the penis.

comment #42

Mgmax says ...

You know, when Cars was coming as the next Pixar movie, the world was divided into two kinds of people-- people who thought a movie about cars looked lame, and my young sons who thought OH MY GOD A WHOLE MOVIE ABOUT CARS WHAT IF THEY WENT SOI FAST THEY CRASHED THE WHOLE PLANET CARS CARS MOVIE CARS CARS CARS CARS!!!!!!!

We saw it at the El Capitan in LA. It was pretty much the high point of their lives. I think Speed Racer will do fine with its audience.

comment #43

Rich S. says ...

Also, I could be wrong, but wasn't the budget on this thing fairly modest? When Ricci is the top billing, the talent couldn't have cost all that much.

I'm a little disturbed by the reaction of the test audience noted above. But I doubt they had any 8-year-old kids there. Again, a 2 hour+ run time disturbs me, because it would be impossible to maintain the mayhem in the trailers for that long. DZ's right in that the show sometimes felt padded at 20 minutes.

Regardless, I still think this thing is going to be pretty big. Caspian to me looks like the early dog out of the gate. More of the same with a pretty boy in the lead.

comment #44

Spacesheik says ...

I love eye-candy popcorn movies such as much as the next geek, but this movie doesn't really interest me, its SHARK BOY AND LAVA GIRL meets SKY CAPTAIN, digital worlds with lots of pretty neon circus-of-light-and-magic mayhem but I'll take my kids to it, certainly, but like a previous poster said, its TRON but 'not as cool.'

I sense a David Poland curse as well (MUNICH, DREAMGIRLS etc) on this flick.

comment #45

GLee2112 says ...

Ross [TypeKey Profile Page] says ...

What I think everybody is missing, is that this is actually meant to be a family film. The first PG movie from the Wachowski's. My 4-year-old son is the target, he couldn't be more excited to see it.

Agreed. My 7 year old is all geared up to see this.

comment #46

mjn says ...

My 8 year-old son is stoked to see this. Also, Speed Racer merchandise (T-shirts,toys, etc.) is now for sale and from what I can tell are selling well. Several shelves of Speed Racer T-shirts were almost sold-out compared to the other pop culture related shirts. I know this is purely anecdotal. The Speed Racer TV ads have been on around the clock on Cartoon Network and Nick. Everyone knows that kids movies are underestimated when it comes to tracking. Don't count this one out yet, this movie is not going to be Poseidon 2.

comment #47

actionman says ...

this will be the underpreformer of Summer 2008

comment #48

Jay says ...

Maybe there has been a precedent set. It seems like a horrible idea to make a cartoon into a live action movie, but make your live action movie look like a cartoon. Not interested.

comment #49

Circumvrent says ...

MiraJeff, sorry for responding so late, but I feel maybe I should elaborate on your tool-ness: you come here and stink up this board without anything in the vicinity of a constructive comment. It's either to come by and talk about one of your reviews (where you're the worst writer at a website that has three good ones and a plethora of shitty ones) or where these films rank on your Top 10 of the summer, of the year, or whatever other meaningless lists you subject the people who accidentally click on your links at Ain't It Cool. And then this bullshit with "elite media": yes, look at you, you're very impressive. You're going to get to see a movie two or three weeks before the rest of us! You are clearly better than everyone!

This is a site filled with people who spend a lot of time and bandwidth contributing absolutely nothing - D.Z., P.Vice, Don Murphy - but you are, by far, the worst.

comment #50

Howlingman says ...

My 8 year-old nephew won't shut up about this one and he has no idea it's based on a cartoon. Face it folks, you're not the target demo on this one and you never were. Geting old sucks, doesn't it?

comment #51

J. Huff says ...

Will the running time hurt the child audience? I mean, my 5-year-old loved CARS when he was 3, but that was quite longish for him. I can't see young kids wanting to spend 2 hours with SPEED RACER...though I could be wrong.

comment #52

mjn says ...

Kids are typically unaware of running times when expressing their desire to see a movie. Many summer tentpole movies are 2 hours plus, It hasn't hurt them one bit.

comment #53

Mgmax says ...

One minute is too long if a kid's bored, my kids would have sat through CARS ALEXANDERPLATZ.

comment #54

mjn says ...

What I meant is that on opening weekend kids are unaware ahead of time of the length.

I agree Mgmax, as long the movie is exciting to them they will sit through any length of movie. Whether its 80 min or 180 min. If the movie is boring they'll tune it out pretty fast. My son would have sat through Fanny & Transformers.

comment #55

Mumbleboy says ...

I never cared for the cartoon, but the film looks 10 kinds of crazy, visually arresting, cool fun. Sure, there won't be much of a plot and the performances will be wooden (in imitation of the original) but just to see it on a big screen with digital clarity will feel like my eyeballs just a handjob.

Definitely a leave your brain at the door movie, but damn if I can't wait.

The W's haven't disappointed me yet with their understanding of what type of film they are trying to make. Even if it isn't something their audiences are expecting, they stay true to their art. Commercialized though it has become.

comment #56

Bocephus says ...

His name is spelled Chim Chim, idiots.

As long as they regularly cut to the monkey for reaction shots whenever something surprising happens, I'm there.

comment #57

J. Huff says ...

All I'm saying is that SPEED RACER doesn't look to have the same pull as CARS to me. Since most 5-year-olds have never seen DOC HOLLYWOOD, it's a new plot to them, and the conceit that created so much animosity among adults (that cars could somehow exist in their own universe without humans) plays great with kids. But there's a real plot to CARS that I'm not sure I see with SPEED RACER. Kids like shiny but they know when something isn't actually entertaining.

comment #58

D.Z. says ...

Mgmax: Actually, Speed Racer looks better than Cars. It might even have better legs if the WOM is strong enough for it

Rich: The budget, if done right, should be in the $100 million range max.

Sheik: Shark Boy and Lava Girl was some stoner flick masquerading as a kiddy film, while no one even understood the premise of Sky Captain in the first place. Speed Racer doesn't suffer from those problems.

actionman: The under-performer of 2008 is Hancock and/or The Mummy 3.

Huff: Cars was long because of its stupid musical numbers. Speed Racer, if done right, should just be nothing but car porn.

mjn: I fell asleep during the He-Man animated film...

comment #59

Mgmax says ...

"Kids like shiny but they know when something isn't actually entertaining."

True, that is the danger. My son who watched Spy Kids 1 & 2 50 times was bored by 3. But Speed Racer looks like it has a trite, but actual, plot ("Racing's all I know how to do and I have to do something.")

I understood the premise of Sky Captain fine, when it was called The Rocketeer. I liked the visuals, too, when they were in a Hellboy movie. I wanted to like Sky Captain, but there was something painfully inert and empty about it-- you could never escape the sense that the entire universe only had 3 people in it.

comment #60

arch451 says ...

Sure, it will make some money, but are people going to be watching it 10 years from now, rediscovering its greatness? The Wachowski's have fallen quite a bit since Bound and The Matrix.

comment #61

Rich S. says ...

I was incredibly disappointed in Sky Captain. Though I've never been able to find any independent confirmation of it, the opening scenes were clearly an homage to an old Fleischer Brothers' Superman short called Mechanical Monsters. I figured if the director loved that style as much as I did, the movie had to be great.

But inert is right. Nothing in the movie seemed to have any depth or weight. Though it was certainly pretty, the characters were clearly acting in front of green screens. That was painfully obvious when they were being chased by the dinosaurs.

In all, the movie would have been better had it been just straight animation. The same could be said for a lot of these modern "experiments." I felt the same way about Beowulf.

comment #62

Rich S. says ...

Incidentally, the newest trailers for Speed Racer make it look like a take on the original Rollerball (shadowy corporations control bloodsport but rogue decides to buck the system).

comment #63

Mr. Blood Vessel says ...

Mirajeff
Mr. BloodVessel, I hope you know I wrote that as an example of a Dittman quote. Just wait... I haven't seen it but I think it looks awesome. I can't imagine how a Wachowski movie with Hirsch, Fox, Goodman, Sarandon and a chimp can be bad. It looks like so much fun! That's a sure-fire Thursday at midnight for me. Then again, so is Pathology at the ArcLight. Forgive me...

YOU ARE FORIGVEN.
I'm all for bad movies, but I won't pay $9 to see one.
"I can't imagine how a Wachowski movie with Hirsch, Fox, Goodman, Sarandon and a chimp can be bad. It looks like so much fun! "

you really should stop drinking.

comment #64

J. Huff says ...

DZ...what musical numbers are in CARS? Are you referring to the montage of Radiator Springs' past? I can't think of anything I'd call a "musical number" in it, certainly not in the "let's put on a show" sense and definitely not involving singing cars.

comment #65

christian says ...

Most of y'all are nuts. SPEED RACER will do fine. It is a family film and I'd rather the Wachowski's do one than the soulless pop-culture-reference committees usually in charge. There'll be no American Idol plugs or ads for Nokia or the cynical tone that Hollywood hipsters fob off as de rigeur these days.

In other words, GO GO GO!

comment #66

mjn says ...

D.Z.: There are plenty of garbage movies for kids such as He-Man. I believe Cannon Films did a live-action version as well. Kids can definitely smell a turkey (Hello, Mr. Magorium).

I think that there will be a groundswell of enthusiasm, from family audiences, for this movie by the time May 9 rolls around. As for the quality of the movie, I can't speak to it, since I'm not an insider and have not seen the movie.

comment #67

RMBurnett says ...

Folks,

Here. Take a listen to Michael Giachinno's score for SPEED RACER and tell me if you aren't amped to see film it accompanies...

http://www.rr.com/flash/index.cfm?rev=10332&division=279&startView=SPEEDRACERRR

When I worked for Silver Pictures in the early nineties, I read four different takes on a SPEED RACER motion picture. They were all variations on DAYS OF THUNDER. No one got it. The Brothers W. screenplay for SPEED RACER perfectly captured the essence of what attracted me to the cartoon when I was a kid in the earliy seventies, yet they've updated it for a modern audience.

The ROLLERBALL comparison is somewhat apt.

I think people will look back at the film as a groundbreaking piece of work.

I've been excited to see this for a year now and I expect it to be huge, if not visionary.

comment #68

giantman says ...

y'know, you go away on business for a few weeks and everything goes to hell in a hand-basket. i think you are all right, SR is gonna look purty and be a soulless example of visual masturbation that children of all ages will enjoy. for one weekend maybe. Hit? I doubt it, but it'll do decent biz and totally rock on DVD.

comment #69

George Prager says ...

Wine SPEED RACER,
Dine SPEED RACER,
69 SPEED RACER!!!