Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch) comes from a line of racecar drivers and mechanics, a legacy tainted by the apparent criminality and sudden death of his older brother, Rex (Scott Porter). Speed is courted as a driver for Royalton Industries, but chooses to stay with his family company, which pisses off Royalton's CEO, Arnold Royalton (Roger Allam). Royalton uses his wealth and underworld connections to threaten Speed's family, forcing the teen to work with Inspector Detector (Benno Fürmann) of the Corporate Crimes Division and Racer X (Matthew Fox), a mysterious masked racer who frequently goes undercover, to enter a dangerous cross-country rally, the Casa Cristo, the same race that killed Rex. Winning means a chance to expose Royalton for the shameless crook that he is, but losing is certain death.
This movie is like having melted Starbursts candies poured directly into your retinas. To call it a live-action cartoon movie is to do injustice to the sheer visual splendor of it. The plot is a little silly, sure, but it is based on a children's cartoon from the 60s. Who cares? It is amazing. Possibly in the I've-eaten-too-much-sugar-and-now-I-can-see-sounds-right-before-I-technicolor-barf kind of way.
The chimp is legitimately terrifying if you know anything about chimps, but that's a different kind of post.
Anyway, Speed Racer is so fun and so colorful and fast that you will either immediately love it or turn it off after three minutes. It's streaming on Kanopy, which is free if you have a library card. I own it because my cousin bought it and hated it, so she gave it to me. Best ADHD present ever.
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