Born to race cars, Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch) is aggressive, instinctive and, most of all, fearless. His only real competition is the memory of the brother he idolized—the legendary Rex Racer, whose death in a race has left behind a legacy that Speed is driven to fulfill. Speed is loyal to the family racing business, led by his father, Pops Racer (John Goodman), the designer of Speed’s thundering Mach 5. When Speed turns down a lucrative and tempting offer from Royalton Industries, he not only infuriates the company’s maniacal owner (Roger Allam) but uncovers a terrible secret—some of the biggest races are being fixed by a handful of ruthless moguls who manipulate the top drivers to boost profits. If Speed won’t drive for Royalton, Royalton will see to it that the Mach 5 never crosses another finish line. The only way for Speed to save his family’s business and the sport he loves is to beat Royalton at his own game. With the support of his family and his loyal girlfriend, Trixie (Christina Ricci), Speed teams with his one-time rival—the mysterious Racer X (Matthew Fox)—to win the race that had taken his brother’s life: the death-defying, cross-country rally known as The Crucible.
This movie was downright painful for the first 30 - 40 minutes. There was so much information trying to be pushed on you at once and the filming style of assualting your senses like they've never been assaulted before was definitely turning me off. I was ready to throw in the towel and go home early when they got to the cross country race part of the movie. It was as if everything took a 180. Matthew Fox as Racer X became a more prominent character at that point. The information pump slowed up and I was finally able to just enjoy what was going on up there on the screen. The race scenes slowed down a bit and were easier to follow what was going on. And I guess that my brain was able to adjust to the way that they decided to film the movie so that it would be as close to the cartoon as possible even though it was live action. From that point on - I really enjoyed the movie. Looking back, I wish that the first portion of it hadn't been so aggravating. This really would have been a kick a$$ movie if that was the case.
I would recommend people going to see this movie. Just be warned that its a little too much for the first half hour, but then it gets much better. Its rated PG so you can definitely bring the kiddies to check it out. I'm sure that they will get as big of a kick out of the younger brother and Chim-Chim (the monkey) as I did.
