RottenTomatoes.com
Log In | Register | What is RT?
RT's Blu-ray HQ
  • Home
  • Movies
  • DVD
  • Celebrities
  • News
  • Critics
  • Trailers & Pictures
  • CommunityBeta
  • Box Office
  • | In Theaters
  • | Opening
  • | Upcoming
  • | Best Of
  • | Certified Fresh
  • | Showtimes
RT Search Powered by Google
help icon Enhanced RT
searches on Google
Click here to turn on enhanced search results from RT on your Google searches.
 
Movies / On DVD / Speed Racer
Speed Racer

Rate this Movie Help Icon

  • Write a Review
  • Read Reviews
  • Add to List
  • Get this Movie
  • Buy Poster External Icon
  • Visit Official Site External Icon
Bookmark and Share

Speed Racer (2008)

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
29 %
Tomatometer
Template ImageTemplate Image

How does the Tomatometer work Help Icon

Reviews Counted:38

Fresh:11

Rotten:27

Average Rating:4.6/10

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

Rated: PG [See Full Rating] for sequences of action, some violence and language.

Runtime: 2 hrs 15 mins

Genre: Action/Adventure

Theatrical Release:May 9, 2008 Wide

Box Office: $43,929,341

Synopsis: Based on the 1960s Japanese-manga-derived animated TV series of the same name, SPEED RACER follows the adventures of the title character (Emile Hirsch), a young race car driver who sits behind the... Based on the 1960s Japanese-manga-derived animated TV series of the same name, SPEED RACER follows the adventures of the title character (Emile Hirsch), a young race car driver who sits behind the wheel of the lightning-fast Mach 5 vehicle. Aided by his family, which includes Pops Racer (John Goodman) and Mom Racer (Susan Sarandon), and his devoted doe-eyed girlfriend, Trixie (Christina Ricci), Speed racks up victory after victory, but still lives in the shadow of his late older brother, Rex (Scott Porter), who died in a race. When Speed garners the wrath of Royalton Industries, he must team up with the enigmatic Racer X (Matthew Fox) to defeat the ruthless corporation. Written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski, the masterminds behind the MATRIX films, SPEED RACER replaces the gritty techno patina of that blockbuster series with a polished, brightly hued virtual reality. Though the eye-popping visuals threaten to eclipse the acting, the fine cast gamely makes the most of their green-screen environment, particularly the likable Hirsch, who won acclaimed for his decidedly different INTO THE WILD role, and LOST's always-noble Fox. Adding to the movie's giddy mood are Paulie Litt and his chimp companion, who provide comic relief as Speed's playful younger brother, Spritle, and Chim Chim, respectively. While definitely a case of style over substance, SPEED RACER is a movie meticulously designed to appeal to families and kids, especially the Spritle-like young ones. [More]

Starring: Emile Hirsch, Susan Sarandon, John Goodman, Christina Ricci

Starring: Emile Hirsch, Susan Sarandon, John Goodman, Christina Ricci, Matthew Fox, Hiroyuki Sanada, Rain, Richard Roundtree, Roger Allam, Benno Furmann, Kick Gurry, Paulie Litt, Nicholas Elia

Director: Larry Wachowski, Andy Wachowski

Director: Larry Wachowski, Andy Wachowski
Screenwriter: Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski
Producer: Joel Silver, Grant Hill, Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski
Composer: Michael Giacchino
Studio: Warner Bros.

[See More Credits]

  • Trailers
  • Pictures
  • Trailer
    >
    Trailer #2
    >
    Sneek Peek
    >
    The Cars
    >
  • Racer X
    >
    Speed Racer
    >
    Three Minutes of Speed
    >
    Video Interview
    >
  • RT Speed Racer Revue
    >
    RT Review Revue - Speed Racer, What Happens in Vegas
    >
    First Seven Minutes
    >
    Speed Racer exclusive featurette
    >
  • Building The Cars
    >
1 - 4 of 13

See More Movie Trailers & Pictures

Get This Movie

Rent DVD
 
 

Click on the "ADD" button to put this movie into your Netflix queue.

 
 
Buy DVD
 
 
Release:

Sep 16, 2008

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for Speed Racer

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

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

Full Review Source: CNN.com | comment Comment
10/18/08
Tom Charity
Tom Charity
CNN.com
Top Critic Icon Top 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.

Full Review Source: Rolling Stone | comment Comment
10/18/08
Peter Travers
Peter Travers
Rolling Stone
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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

Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | comment 5 Comments
05/12/08
Richard Roeper
Richard Roeper
Ebert & Roeper
Top Critic Icon Top 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.

Full Review Source: Newsweek | comment 1 Comment
05/12/08
David Ansen
David Ansen
Newsweek
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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

Full Review Source: New Republic | comment 2 Comments
05/09/08
Christopher Orr
Christopher Orr
New Republic
Top Critic Icon Top 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.

Full Review Source: Wall Street Journal | comment 5 Comments
05/09/08
Joe Morgenstern
Joe Morgenstern
Wall Street Journal
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

More than the story of the Racer family, Speed Racer is the visual autobiography of the Wachowskis and their pit crew of computer-nerd Einsteins, using the tools of their trade to transform the movie medium.

Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | comment Comment
05/09/08
Richard Corliss
Richard Corliss
TIME Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

For a movie about velocity, the excitement factor is low and the races feel like a drag.

Full Review Source: USA Today | comment 1 Comment
05/09/08
Claudia Puig
Claudia Puig
USA Today
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The movie, unfortunately, doesn't make that leap from sensation to art, but it suggests fascinating possibilities for moviemakers interested in using the latest techniques seriously to explore the world -- the fairyland we have made with our technology.

Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment 1 Comment
05/09/08
Philip Marchand
Philip Marchand
Toronto Star
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Someday, real artists may come along to use some of the techniques that the Wachowskis are developing. Then things will get interesting.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment 1 Comment
05/09/08
Mick LaSalle
Mick LaSalle
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Speed Racer is brilliantly photographed and edited. It's told in a literally visionary style, full of innovation and breathtaking risk. But when it comes to the story, it's running on empty.

Full Review Source: Newark Star-Ledger | comment Comment
05/09/08
Stephen Whitty
Stephen Whitty
Newark Star-Ledger
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The movie makes you crave a streamlined story, interesting characters and a joystick.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
05/09/08
Kyle Smith
Kyle Smith
New York Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Writer-directors Larry and Andy Wachowski, the creators of the Matrix films, once again invent stunning visual tricks in this adaptation of the late-'60s Japanese anime.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
05/09/08
Joe Neumaier
Joe Neumaier
New York Daily News
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The fakeness of it all overwhelms, dampening any real excitement. It's hard to care about characters so stiff and one-dimensional they out-cartoon the cartoon originals.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment 3 Comments
05/09/08
Carina Chocano
Carina Chocano
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It gave me a headache, a stomach ache and the less-defined unease that comes from witnessing a major change in the zeitgeist. Because the zeitgeist, judging from this movie, now embraces rattle-headed visual delirium at all costs.

Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment 2 Comments
05/09/08
Amy Biancolli
Amy Biancolli
Houston Chronicle
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

An eye-popping, day-glo videogame that's as emotionally empty as it is visually exhilarating, Speed Racer is style, style, style without substance, but then it moves so fast that many may not care.

Full Review Source: Detroit News | comment Comment
05/09/08
Tom Long
Tom Long
Detroit News
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Sugar, not petrol, is the fuel that comes to mind watching candy-hued, visually hyperactive, narratively sputtering Speed Racer.

Full Review Source: Denver Post | comment Comment
05/09/08
Lisa Kennedy
Lisa Kennedy
Denver Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

This is a movie that is giddily, gorgeously overwhelming, from the cool slow-motion to the Kubrick cartoons to the wormhole pyrotechnics to the kaleidoscopic bliss.

Full Review Source: Dallas Morning News | comment Comment
05/09/08
Tom Maurstad
Tom Maurstad
Dallas Morning News
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

So bereft of intelligence, style and excitement that I can't figure out who in the world it's supposed to appeal to.

Full Review Source: Salon.com | comment Comment
05/09/08
Stephanie Zacharek
Stephanie Zacharek
Salon.com
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The Matrix creators Andy and Larry Wachowski barrel through this adaptation of the 60s animated series, hoping perhaps that no one will notice the story is as flat as roadkill.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
05/09/08
Andrea Gronvall
Andrea Gronvall
Chicago Reader
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
all

Latest News for Speed Racer

January 21, 2009: Razzies Name 2008's Worst Movie Nominees
No awards season would be complete without the Golden Raspberry Awards (AKA The Razzies), awarded each year to the very worst movies to hit Hollywood. This year's winners will... More...

October 06, 2008: Filme.Acasa: Un blockbuster de arta a sosoit la linia de final. Este sclipitor, accesoriat si auto-erotic. Speed Racer iti face inima sa pulseze de trei ori mai repede. Opens in new window
More...

September 22, 2008: 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. Opens in new window
More...

September 15, 2008: RT on DVD: Speed Racer Zooms to Blu-ray!
Get the pop rocks and Coke ready -- Speed Racer is out this week! We'll tell you what new releases to skip over, when Death Proof and Planet Terror are headed to Blu-ray, and... More...

See All

More DVDs

Close
Top Rentals
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
15% 15% The Ugly Truth
98% 98% Up
36% 36% G.I. Joe: The Rise of …
52% 52% The Taking of Pelham 1…
45% 45% Ice Age: Dawn of the D…

More Rentals…

New On DVD This Week
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
36% 36% Angels & Demons
68% 68% Funny People
25% 25% Four Christmases
45% 45% Shorts

More New Releases…

See All

RT On Current TV

The Rotten Tomatoes Show on Current TV

DIRECTV 358 | Comcast 107 | DISH Network 196 | More...

Learn how you can be part of the show

More...

What’s Hot On RT

Total Recall

Total Recall

John Travolta's top reviewed movies

Disney Countdown

Disney Countdown

Look back on Disney's best animated movies!

RT's Gift Guide

RT's Gift Guide

Give the best movies, gear, and more!

What's Coming Out

What's Coming Out

Find movies for the holiday weekend!

Other News

Close
  • Top Stories
  • Popular
  • Interviews
 
 

Comments

 
 
Top Stories
Headlines Comments
  
  • First Look (Sort Of) at New Nightmare's Freddy Source: ShockTillYouDrop.com
24
  • First Look at Shrek Forever After Source: USA Today
48
  • Woody Harrelson Will Battle Zombies in 3-D Source: Moviehole
26
  • Natalie Portman Says Kat Denning Is in Thor Source: MTV
34
  • Disney Restructuring Has Broad Implications Source: Los Angeles Times
10
  • Joel Silver Talks Ninja Assassin, Sgt. Rock, Lobo, and More Source: Collider.com
1
  • Weekly Ketchup: Idris Elba cast in Thor, more Spider-Man 4 rumors
122
  • Idris Elba Joins Thor Source: Hollywood Reporter
112
  • Jackass 3D Coming in 2010? Source: Collider.com
32
  • 6 Reasons 'Twilight' Is Doomed Source: The Wrap
64
Popular
Headlines Comments
  
  • Box Office Guru Wrapup: New Moon Shatters Records
179
  • Total Recall: John Travolta's Best Movies
86
  • Weekly Ketchup: Idris Elba cast in Thor, more Spider-Man 4 rumors
61
  • 5 Facts About The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
56
  • Critics Consensus: Flee From Ninja Assassin
43
  • Ban Them All! 10 Infamously Controversial Movies
38
  • Friday Harvest: New Moon, Avatar, and more!
32
  • WB offers DVD to Blu-ray Trade-In Program
32
  • Five Favorite Films With Zombieland Director Ruben Fleischer
21
  • RT's Blu-ray Picks from WB
19
Interviews
Headlines Comments
  
  • "I Don't Hate Women": Lars von Trier on Antichrist
14
  • Eric Bana talks Love the Beast - RT Interview
10
  • Fight Club Sound Designer Reflects on Film's 10th Anniversary
20
  • James Schamus talks Taking Woodstock - RT Interview
7
  • John Hurt Talks Harry Potter, Quentin Crisp and Alien - The RT Interview
15
  • Terry Gilliam Talks Doctor Parnassus
20
  • Wes Anderson Talks Fantastic Mr. Fox - RT Interview
8
  • Wolverine Creator Len Wein Talks About the Film
28
  • Gavin Hood Talks Wolverine; Possible Sequel
28
  • Duncan Jones talks Moon, Sam Rockwell, and Mute
14
 
 

Sponsored Links

Around The Network

  • Speed Racer at Rotten Tomatoes
  • Speed Racer at IGN

Fresh Links

Featured
Wes Anderson on Fox
Wes Anderson on Fox External Link

The director talks about puppetry perfection and his film, Fantastic Mr. Fox

Animated Oscar?
Animated Oscar? External Link

Hollywood.com ponders whether or not an animated film could win Best Picture.

TIME's Holiday Movie Preview
TIME's Holiday Movie Preview External Link

Richard Corliss previews the season's best offerings and hottest tickets.

Scenic Routes
Scenic Routes External Link

The AV Club's Mike D'Angelo airs his beefs with Alfonso Cuaron's Children of Men.

Promos
Follow RT on Twitter
Follow RT on Twitter External Link

Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!

 
 
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Games| Celebs List| Newsletter
IGN Logo

IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive | Green Pixels


By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2009, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.