Here we are with part 12 of the series about my favorite products spun out of the world of comics. Today, I’d like to speak about a very special movie to me. You see, the primary reason I started writing about the adaptations was to eventually build up to the movie that I’m talking about today. But I felt that I should save it for my final pick, so I’d wait until 12 months had gone by until I dropped the bomb, but then, I just couldn’t keep up with the blogs. But finally, it’s here. The moment that only I have been waiting for. I present to you, one of my most favorite comic book adaptations of all time. 2008’s Speed Racer as directed by The Wachowski Brothers.

[BOOM]

Yeah, Speed Racer, the Warner Bros. Summer 2008 big tent-pole picture event that essentially tanked at the box office. That’s one of my favorites. Now, I know what a lot of you may be thinking. “You’re stupid, Fleet,” and I disagree. Let me explain why this movie worked so well. The original manga, Mach Go Go Go, was created back in 1958 as a weekly serial and was later adapted into a cartoon, which was eventually brought overseas in 1967. And let me tell you something. I don’t care what anyone says, that cartoon was soooooooooo boring. I know my mother was a fan of it during it’s original run, but when I saw them during my early-years Saturday morning cartoon sessions, I just hated it. And when I was older, I went back and watched it again. Not all of it, but a lot of key episodes. But the show was made so cheaply, which is totally how things were done back then, but I feel that this was cheaper than most imports at the time. And it certainly couldn’t hold a candle to a lot of the American cartoons that were out around that time that used similar methods to animate. I mean, I can go on and on about what I felt was wrong with the show, but post isn’t about that. It’s about how glorious the film was.

So let’s start off with the directors. The Brothers Wachowski. Whether you like The Matrix movies or not, you have to give credit to these guys for being innovative in how they film a movie. What most of us know as “Bullet Time” was not created by the brothers and existed long before 1999, however, one could argue that they were the ones who perfected it. And ever since that perfection, it’s been apart of our movie/game/television/cartoon/etc lives from then until now. I’d even argue that without The Matrix, there’d be no Inception. Or at least, not the way it was executed. So I think there’s a lot that we can thank Larry and Andy for, because if nothing else, those guys have vision. And that very same vision is brought to this film. Yes, the race sequences look like glorified Hot Wheels commercials, but how is that a bad thing? Bright lights, motion blur, absurd race tracks, funky looking cars, and explosions. All of that is awesome. And it’s a massive change in direction from the races that occurred in the comics/cartoon. In the show, it seemed like most of the races took place on flat roads that typically only ran in one straight direction. Sure, you had the cars with the goofy weapons, but what passed as action-packed back then is no longer exciting. I’ve spoken to a lot of “purists” who said that they hated the upgraded races the most, but I just don’t see how that can be. I mean, the regular races in the movie are cool by themselves, but then the special races (The illegal Casa Cristo 5000 and the movie’s finale Grand Prix) are where the sequences really shine. Essentially, the Casa Cristo 5000 is the race that plays to memories to those that have fond memories of the old cartoon. It’s the wide open race that included various homages to a lot of the series’ signature racers and their cars, as well as the anime only character of Snake Oiler. It was also the race that “allowed” the use of illegal weapons during the races. Weapons such as saw blades, tire spikes, and even a Wacky Races inspired beehive catapult. But it wasn’t all fun and games either. During a crucial point during the final day of the Casa Cristo, one special racer decides that he’s just gonna use a handgun. And then there’s the final race… But I think I’ll leave that for you to check out on your own, but if you find yourself invested in the movie, the final race may just bring a tear to your eye.

[That stupid pose that Speed is doing also made it into the movie.]

But let’s move on to the cast. And what a great cast it is. First up, you’ve got Emile Hirsch (Lords of Dogtown, Milk) as Speed Racer. He’s just a solid actor with some nice range. The few movies that I’ve seen with this guy, he’s never disappointed me. Plus, it seems like this guy is always being nominated for an acting award. Anyway, his depiction of Speed is pretty decent. He comes across as a wholesome teen/adult (It’s never made clear how old Speed is…) with a hint of darkness in his soul, that comes out from time to time. Nothing twisted or EXTREME 90s, but you just get the feeling that this guy has been through a lot… Which… I guess is true. Then you’ve got Christina Ricci (Adams Family, Black Snake Moan) as his girlfriend, Trixie, who’s role is expanded from just being the eye in the sky. She comes across as a much stronger character than the one depicted in the show, plus she exudes some sort of sexual aura when she’s around the fast cars or violence. That’s pretty cool. And there’s a reasonable explanation for that, which is given during an early movie flashback into the young lives of Speed and Trixie. Then we have Susan Sarandon and John Goodman as Mom and Pops Racer. If you’ve got something bad to say about their acting abilities, then you’re crazy. Academy Award Best Actress Susan Sarandon may have the lightest role as far as the core characters go, but when she’s on screen, there’s no doubt that she’s Mom Racer and when the movie calls for warming emotion, you can count on her to get those results. As for Goodman as Pops Racer, it’s John Goodman. What more do you want? Also, he and Christina Ricci are responsible for my absolute favorite exchange of lines in the movie. It occurs after Pops tosses a ninja out of Speed’s hotel room. I’m not going to post it or write it though. Mostly because it’s terribly cheesy and I’m trying to get more people to watch the movie. So… Yeah. Rounding out the core Racer family is Tommy Litt (He played one of the bullies in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) as Spritle, Speed’s younger brother. Spritle and the family pet chimpanzee, Chim-Chim, are mostly around to keep the younger kids in the audience emotionally invested. His bits with Chim-Chim are amusing and their wild sugar-fueled ride though Royalton Industries forced a laugh or two out of me. My only criticism with Spritle comes at the end of the movie. Again, I wont spoil it, but it totally ruins the emotional payoff that the rest of the film was building up to.

Also on the cast is Matthew Fox (Lost, Smokin’ Aces) as the mysterious Racer X. This guy’s car is modified with twin chain-guns hidden under his roof. He’s also a ninja, for lack of a better term. As in the show, he aids Speed during his races and fights to take down the corruption in the World Racing League. In this movie, Fox plays Racer X as if he were a Batman who doesn’t have a rule about not killing people. Not to say that Racer X is murdering people in the movie, but it’s made very clear that he has no qualms about it. Helping Racer X in his fight against corruption is Inspector Detector, as played by Benno Fürmann. He’s just a cool guy in this movie. I’ve got nothing more to say about him. Then there Korean Pop Star Rain as Taejo Togokahn, a driver who is mixed up with the devious crime-lord-ish Cruncher Block (John Benfield). And rounding out the cast as the villain of the movie is Roger Allam as Royal Royalton. This guy totally crushes the soul Speed during a very cleverly cut sequence that combines combines a heated argument with a race that hasn’t occurred yet in the film’s timeline. And there are plenty of other great actors and actresses in this film, but I think two paragraphs is enough. But this movie may have been the most racially diverse cast as far as speaking roles go for the year of 2008. That’s always cool.

So we’ve talked about the cast, we’ve talked about the comic/cartoon, we’ve talked about the effects… I feel like I’m forgetting something, but this thing is long enough as is. But if you scoffed at this movie and decided it wasn’t worth your time. Maybe give it a chance the next time you have nothing going on. You’re gonna need about 2 and a half hours though. It’s a long one, but it essentially covers the entire Speed Racer story in one shot. There will never be a sequel. And even if the movie did a good job at the box office, it still wouldn’t have gotten one. Which is a good thing and I’ll tell you why. When you make a comic adaptation, most thought processes are to make a movie to set up a franchise. Often times, you’ll find a big name or two attached the to the main roles that sucks up a lot of the budget that could’ve gone towards better sets, costumes, effects, or even a better writer. Or maybe the franchise is set up so that you don’t get to see the stuff you really want to see, until the 2nd or 3rd movie. I know that a lot of hopes and dreams were crushed with Dragonball: Evolution was released, primarily because no one in their right mind would ever attempt to make another Dragonball film for a good while, which means that we probably wont be seeing a Super Saiyan on the big screen for long while. The same goes foe seeing a relevant Superman villain besides Lex Luthor or some random Kryptonian (Nothing against Zod) in a Superman movie. Or on the flip side of the equation, you might find some filmmakers who try to adapt a property that is too large to be done in one. I think this is something that I neglected to speak about when I covered Akira. While the anime did an alright job of trying to contain the entirety of the manga, there was simply no way it could be done. What I fear for the new Live-Action Akira that is in the middle of the casting, is that the filmmakers are going to try to adapt the manga, then about halfway through, it’ll turn into a mash-up of the manga and the anime. Making Frankenstein adaptations is generally poor form. But in the case of Speed Racer, the movie did the right thing. It was already a gamble to begin with, so I imagine that the thought process here was, “Go big or go home.” And “Go big” they did. They got a lot of up-and-comers for the lead roles, and they filmed entirely on Green Screen which saved on location costs. They budgeted properly, and they saved nothing for a sequel. No holding back seemed to be the motto of this movie and I wouldn’t want it any other way. So check out this extended trailer, and give Speed Racer some thought, if you hadn’t before.

And in case you forgot, this is the list of adaptations that I’ve covered as well as the date the blog was posted.

1. Howard the Duck (Live Action Movie) November 25, 2009
2. Akira (Anime) December 16, 2009
3. The Maxx (Cartoon Series) January 4, 2010
4. The Guyver & Guyver: Dark Hero(Live Action Movies) February 13, 2010
5. Josie and the Pussycats (Live Action Movie) March 26, 2010
6. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Live Action Movie) April 23, 2010
7. MIB: The Men In Black (Live Action Movie) May 26, 2010
8. Judge Dredd (Live Action Movie) June 26, 2010
9. Heavy Metal (Animated Movie) July 27, 2010
10. Hulk: Ultimate Destruction (Videogame) September 1, 2010 (missed August by one day)
11. Scott Pilgrim Vs The World & Scott Pilgrim Vs The World: The Game (Live Action Movie & Videogame) December 11, 2010 (oops)
12. Speed Racer (Live Action Movie) April… Today 2011 (double oops)

And that’s it… For now…

-Fleet

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