I Watch Films: Speed Racer

 

Speed Racer

Speed Racer is the middle son of Pops and Mom Racer. He’s obsessed with racing, in cars. Pops builds cars, runs an independent racing team. Ten years ago Speed’s brother Rex* set a record at the local track, then was disgraced and died** in a rally race. Now Speed wins a race at the local track, easing off to let Rex’s record stand.

He comes to the attention of Royalton Industries who give him a big tour, offer him assistance, wealth and more. Pops doesn’t like it but leaves it to Speed to figure out. Speed talks to his girlfriend Trixie, who isn’t enthused, being more interested in being his girlfriend (they’re spied on by Speed’s little brother Spritle and Chim-chim the family chimpanzee (?)).

Speed turns the offer down saying that racing is his passion, his art. Royalton doesn’t like it, tells him that racing is fixed, it’s used to manipulate stock prices and corporate mergers, and that if he doesn’t sign they’ll be sued and rumours of dirty driving will be spread and he’ll be run off the track by other drivers. Speed still turns it down and is run off the track by other drivers, failing to qualify for the World Championship.

The Racer family are approached by Inspector Detector and notorious masked driver Racer X***; Taejo Togokhan is being targeted by a race fixing gang, and will testify if he wins the rally (the rally that Rex Racer died in). Pops forbids Speed joining the team; Speed does it anyway. Various themed teams try to run them off the road, Pops finds out, ninjas try to stop them, Trixie has to join the team and drive etc.

The investigation goes nowhere but Togokhan’s sister, upset that her brother used Speed to win and so have the family business do some business stuff, gives Speed the invitation to the World Championship for the final race.

A live action adaption of an anime show, the film expresses the concepts of speed and racing by having odd swipes across the screen, having many scenes cutting between each other and lots of noise and bright colours. It’s a little bit about family (in one flashback sequence Pops tells Rex if he’s going to leave and race in rallies he should never come back; when Speed faces the same choice he tells him to go if he must, though Pops disapproves, but the door is always open to him). It’s more about how making art (racing/films) is subordinate to the requirements of the financing (motor manufacturers/film studios) but that doesn’t mean you can’t stay true to your heart and make good art anyway. Seems to me something like that was in The Matrix: Resurrection.

Watch This: Racing film about staying true and learning to be better
Don’t Watch This: The racing is actually quite weak, also why is there a chimpanzee, and Spritle, AND also Sparky, a live in Australian mechanic, explicitly named as a family member?

 

* The three brothers are Rex, Speed and Spritle, who I assume were named by Mom (sensible name, for this universe at least), Pops (nominative determinism) and Sparky (who knows what lurks in the heart of a live-in Australian mechanic?)

** The race tracks are brightly lit, full of jumps and loop-de-loops and things like that; however in a crash drivers are ejected into bubbles so are usually unharmed.

*** Racer X, Rex Racer? Everyone figures this out, but he denies it and under the mask it’s not Rex!