ROTTEN TOMATOES: Joel Silver Excited About Speed Racer's "Car Fu" (Article Updated With Photos!)

Joel Silver Excited About Speed Racer's "Car Fu" (Article Updated With Photos!)

Watch the trailer tonight!

by Jeff Giles | December 06, 2007

What has Christina Ricci, Matthew Fox, live monkeys, and a brand new trailer?

If you answered "The Wachowski brothers' live-action Speed Racer movie," congratulations -- you sure do know your Entertainment Tonight exclusives! As USA Today reports, the show that gave the world John Tesh has been celebrating "Speed Racer week," and tonight, ET debuts the trailer.

If you've seen any of the behind-the-scenes clips that aired earlier in the week, you may have your doubts about the Wachowski's Speed Racer. For what it's worth, producer Joel Silver understands the uphill climb facing the movie -- but he's convinced he picked the right directors for the gig. From the article:

"The effects are beyond belief. We called it 'car fu,' because it was like kung fu with the cars," Silver says. "We couldn't have made this movie until right now...It obviously has a present-day aesthetic to it, but it's still a great yarn about family and not selling out. That's an important message to the (Wachowskis) and why we all connected to the show."

Be sure to tune in to ET tonight for a look at the trailer (or just wait five minutes for it to show up on YouTube)!

And check out the photos below, also from the USA Today news article.

Source: USA Today

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(1-20 of 67 posts) | Reply

dahluzz writes:
on Dec 06 2007 07:16 AM

the matrix 1 will wind up being the best thing they ever do. bar was set way too high

(Reply to this)

AlbertBrodsky writes:
on Dec 06 2007 07:55 AM

I watched a little about this movie last night on t.v. Lame. I never was into the cartoon, so I guess this movie might be wasted on someone like me, but it really looks stupid. I look foward to being wrong, and I love Christina Ricci, but this movie might just suck.

(Reply to this)

The Tony Show writes:
on Dec 06 2007 08:06 AM

In reply to this comment (#1332290)
dahluzz hit the nail on the head.

The Wachowskis are one trick ponies who hit on something cool with Matrix 1, and everything after that is downhill. I consider them the M. Night Shyamalans of the action genre.

(Reply to this)

Dread86 writes:
on Dec 06 2007 08:10 AM

I know nothing about Speed Racer, but I'm gonna give the film a chance. Can't wait for the trailer.

(Reply to this)

Kollikodon writes:
on Dec 06 2007 08:11 AM

Agreed, the bar was set way too high. But, I can be hopeful, and if anythings going to convince me to see this flick.. its going to be the trailer...

Again.. .next summer is either going to be hit or miss with so many big name movies coming out (TDK, Indy 4, to name a few)

(Reply to this)

rgallitan writes:
on Dec 06 2007 08:39 AM

In reply to this comment (#1332484)
I think Shyamalan could give us a lot better than he has been. He's a brilliant director, but maybe it's time he tried working from somebody else's script.

(Reply to this)

POPCORNLUMPY writes:
on Dec 06 2007 09:12 AM

well its from the same people who did the MATRIX so i would expect something like car fu to come up.

(Reply to this)

digitalsoul68 writes:
on Dec 06 2007 09:14 AM

One trick ponies??? V for Vendetta AND Bound were a great movies as well by the bros.

(Reply to this)

blank blank writes:
on Dec 06 2007 09:20 AM

i saw the pics of racer on latinoreview and my god, this movie looks%2

(Reply to this)

blank blank writes:
on Dec 06 2007 09:21 AM

i saw the pics of racer on latinoreview and my god, this movie looks beyond terrible. i never thought it was a good idea in the first place, but these pics... wow.

i dont like to judge movies based on a few pictures, but these pictures look so incredibly bad that its hard for me not to.

rgallitan, good point about shyamalan. its time for him to change it up a little. look at what it did for the coen brothers with no country for old men.

that being said, shyamalan is just the latest director to suffer from overindulgence. it seems to me alot of directors take whats worked for them in the past, and then multiply that to the extreme to the point where it ruins their movies. like with m, his take on comic books as reality in unbreakable were pretty cool, but he went off the deep end with his take on fairy tales as reality in lady in the water. its the same thing that happened to sam raimi (spiderman 3 cheese), wes anderson (darjeeling limited is just a little too quirky for its own good), spielberg in A.I... and a bunch of other guys that i just cant think of right now (coen brothers in their ladykillers/intolerable cruelty duo. i actually think they are entertaining movies, but not as great as their other stuff)...

it happens sometimes, but the great ones seem to find their way out of the funk after a while and right the ship. i hope thats the case with wachowskis and M, although their debut movies were so great, its hard to imagine hitting that level of quality again...

(Reply to this)

blank blank writes:
on Dec 06 2007 09:32 AM

i saw the pics of racer on latinoreview and my god, this movie looks beyond terrible. i never thought it was a good idea in the first place, but these pics... wow.

i dont like to judge movies based on a few pictures, but these pictures look so incredibly bad that its hard for me not to.

rgallitan, good point about shyamalan. its time for him to change it up a little. look at what it did for the coen brothers with no country for old men.

that being said, shyamalan is just the latest director to suffer from overindulgence. it seems to me alot of directors take whats worked for them in the past, and then multiply that to the extreme to the point where it ruins their movies. like with m, his take on comic books as reality in unbreakable were pretty cool, but he went off the deep end with his take on fairy tales as reality in lady in the water.%2

(Reply to this)

Bob* writes:
on Dec 06 2007 09:56 AM

Car fu? moron...

(Reply to this)

hollyw00t writes:
on Dec 06 2007 10:03 AM

I agree with digitalsoul68, the brothers are not one trick ponies, besides "The Matrix", "Bound" and "V for Vendetta" were great. At the same time, I've liked everything Shyamalan has done, except for "Stuart Little."

(Reply to this)

Alcy writes:
on Dec 06 2007 10:37 AM

I agree, the Wachowski's are capable of making really decent movies, Bound was a low budget, little gem and V for Vendetta wasn't bad at all. Although in saying that I never liked Speed Racer and it would take something pretty impressive for me to go and see it, I don't like what I've seen in the pictures posted online so far and I think Emile Hirsh was a bad choice for the role.

(Reply to this)

dahluzz writes:
on Dec 06 2007 10:43 AM

In reply to this comment (#1332707)
uhh hollywoot and digitalguy, sorry to burst your collective bubble, but the wachowski's didn't direct v for vendetta. common misconception. they PRODUCED it, big difference. besides 'bound,' which they made to prove they had the chops to direct the matrix, all they've done is matrix movies (and retarded matrix games). and hollywoot, where is this 'stuart little' shyamalan thing coming from? hit up imdb homie.

(Reply to this)

blank blank writes:
on Dec 06 2007 10:43 AM

i saw the pics of racer on latinoreview and my god, this movie looks beyond terrible. i never thought it was a good idea in the first place, but these pics... wow.

i dont like to judge movies based on a few pictures, but these pictures look so incredibly bad that its hard for me not to.

rgallitan, good point about shyamalan. its time for him to change it up a little. look at what it did for the coen brothers with no country for old men.

that being said, shyamalan is just the latest director to suffer from overindulgence. it seems to me alot of directors take whats worked for them in the past, and then multiply that to the extreme to the point where it ruins their movies. like with m, his take on comic books as reality in unbreakable were pretty cool, but he went off the deep end with his take on fairy tales as reality in lady in the water. its the same t

(Reply to this)

aconline writes:
on Dec 06 2007 10:56 AM

Hey blank blank, did you see the pic of racer on latinoreview? Learn to use your computer.

Bound was a low budget masterpiece. V for Vendetta was a faithful adaptation of the graphic novel, but i was not blown away by it. I agree that The Matrix will always be their best, they are very smart when it comes to filming as an art. So, I will give Speed a chance.

Now blank blank, I will click "SUBMIT" once. Only once.

(Reply to this)

gunslingR writes:
on Dec 06 2007 11:14 AM

In reply to this comment (#1332794)
aconline, thank you. you saved me like two minutes of typing about the importance of single clicking. on topic: speed racer is probably the least entertaining cartoon i've ever watched, and i've seen a lot of bad cartoons in my lifetime. Based on the personal bias, i have no interest in this film and imagine it will be either rediculously bad or good enough for it's target audience, which doesn't include anyone i know. I'm all for the wachowski's having another hit but i hope it isn't this. speedracer reloaded would kill me.
in regards to shyamalan, i love unbreakable, and the sixth sense is well made, but nothing after that have been up to par. i agree with whoever posted above, he needs to attempt directing someone else's script.
my two cents.

(Reply to this)

BrianInSD writes:
on Dec 06 2007 11:18 AM

Bound remains their best movie to date.

Though the Wachowskis wrote, produced and probably exerted a lot of creative control over V For Vendetta, they did not direct it. James McTeigue did the directing honors.

But I'd be remiss if I neglected to mention the crown-jewel in the Wachowski canon: their screenplay for the Sylvester Stallone/Antonio Banderas-starrring disasterpiece Assassins. A script so bad that even a director like Richard Donner couldn't make it work.

(Reply to this)

jokerboy1991 writes:
on Dec 06 2007 11:43 AM

Speed Racer will be ausome. You cant say these pics arent cool. Sure its gonna be king of a kids movie, but it will still be fun and cool. Also it has a great cast

(Reply to this)