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Speed Racer (2008)

tomatometer

38

Average Rating: 5.1/10
Reviews Counted: 203
Fresh: 77 | Rotten: 126

The Wachowski Brothers have overloaded Speed Racer with headache-inducing special effects, and neglected to develop a coherent storyline.

31

Average Rating: 4.6/10
Critic Reviews: 42
Fresh: 13 | Rotten: 29

The Wachowski Brothers have overloaded Speed Racer with headache-inducing special effects, and neglected to develop a coherent storyline.

audience

61

liked it
Average Rating: 3.2/5
User Ratings: 376,630

My Rating

Movie Info

The Matrix masterminds Andy and Larry Wachowski usher anime icon Tatsuo Yoshida's classic 1960s-era hit into the new millennium with this family-friendly story of a young racecar driver who takes on the mysterious Racer X in a custom-made, gadget-loaded speed machine named the Mach 5. Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch) is the kind of driver that every wheelman wishes he could be: a born winner whose unbeatable combination of aggression, instinct, and fearlessness always finds him crossing the checkered

Sep 16, 2008

$43.9M

Warner Bros. Pictures

Cast

All Critics (205) | Top Critics (43) | Fresh (78) | Rotten (128) | DVD (31)

Twelve-year-old boys should be wowed, but for the rest of us, it will depend on your appetite for eye candy.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: CNN.com | Comment (1)
CNN.com
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Even the target audience of 10-year-olds might get jimmy legs sitting for a punishing 135 minutes as the Wachowski brothers projectile-vomit their cotton-candy dreams all over the big screen.

October 18, 2008 Comment
Rolling Stone
Top Critic IconTop Critic

I love the look and the style and the spirit of this film.

May 12, 2008 Comments (7)
Ebert & Roeper
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Speed Racer creates a timeless, visually seductive world suspended somewhere between the pop '60s and the sci-fi future. Its biggest disappointment, strangely enough, is its raison d'être -- the races themselves.

May 12, 2008 Full Review Source: Newsweek | Comment (1)
Newsweek
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Speed Racer intends to convey a sense of heedless momentum, but it drags painfully.

May 9, 2008 Full Review Source: New Republic | Comments (2)
New Republic
Top Critic IconTop Critic

This toxic admixture of computer-generated frenzy and live-action torpor succeeds in being, almost simultaneously, genuinely painful -- the esthetic equivalent of needles in eyeballs -- and weirdly benumbing, like eye candy laced with lidocaine.

May 9, 2008 Full Review Source: Wall Street Journal | Comments (5)
Wall Street Journal
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The filmic side effect of eating an entire bowl full of sugar, Speed Racer is designed entirely with one audience in mind, and despite it's best efforts it's not going to appeal to anyone else.

March 30, 2011 Full Review Source: ComingSoon.net | Comment
ComingSoon.net

What grounds the spectacle, pushing it beyond a two-hour ejaculation of sensation, is its yearning for innocence

August 26, 2009 Full Review Source: CinePassion | Comment
CinePassion

Fellow critics mercilessly denounced this dazzling, visually inventive adaptation; one of the ten best films of 2008

February 27, 2009 Full Review Source: Orange County and Long Beach Blade | Comments (10)
Orange County and Long Beach Blade

Cut from car to driver to announcer to audience and over and over again, ad nauseam. Such pretty racing scenes, so little to actually see.

November 14, 2008 Full Review Source: Window to the Movies | Comment
Window to the Movies

The brothers swamp the fragile story and characters with such a deluge of CGI tricks and elaborate action sequences that it proves hard to care about the humans on screen.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: Screen International | Comment
Screen International

You have to be 12 to like it, and I have to say there is little or nothing here to remind us why we were all quite so excited about The Matrix.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | Comment
Guardian [UK]

A flashy, colorful film that packs a ton o' fun into its fast-paced frame.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: JoBlo's Movie Emporium | Comment
JoBlo's Movie Emporium

You can feel the kids in the audience tapping their feet, waiting for more action. So, let's just give the kids what they want: fast-paced excitement, wrapped up in a colorful package.

October 1, 2008 Full Review Source: Hollywood.com | Comment (1)
Hollywood.com

I'm very torn about having to put down a film that might just have the best fight of the year: John Goodman vs. a ninja.

September 27, 2008 Full Review Source: Needcoffee.com | Comment
Needcoffee.com

The arty blockbuster has arrived, and it's as flashy, accessorized and auto-erotic as can be. Which creates a strange sensation indeed, that it's not just the cars that are smoking, but those Wachowski brothers as well, and whatever's in their pipes too.

September 22, 2008 Full Review Source: NewsBlaze | Comment
NewsBlaze
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Speed Racer

high speed over the top action with lots of crazy CGI gave this live action film a great feel for the old cartoon. Fun but not great.

May 11, 2008
jmanard52

Super Reviewer

It's got such a fantastic ensemble cast that goes to waste because of an over dose of special effects and action sequences. The film goes from one scene to another in such a short length of time. My advice? Slow down.

December 21, 2011
Michael M.
Michael Miller

Super Reviewer

    1. Trixie: Was that a ninja?
    2. Pops: More like a nonja, terrible what passes for a ninja these days.
    – Submitted by Justin M (22 days ago)
    1. Mom: I don't go to watch you race, I go to watch you make art.
    – Submitted by Cornelius T (3 months ago)
    1. Racer X: No, he's going to be the best... if they don't destroy him first.
    – Submitted by Jeff V (6 months ago)

Latest News for Speed Racer

November 29, 2010:
Halle Berry Starts Casting Rumors for Wachowski Brothers' Cloud Atlas
Halle Berry, Natalie Portman, and Tom Hanks co-starring in a Wachowski brothers film? According to...

September 23, 2010:
Details on Wachowskis' Next Movie Emerge
Vulture has gotten its hands on the script for the Wachowski brothers' upcoming film, and is sharing...

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