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Police accuse bank robbery suspect of gobbling up note (with dashcam video)
Victim of beating in Kent last week is declared dead at Akron hospital
Akron man killed in crash on his street
Browns find another way to lose
Can DNA tests free ex-Akron captain?
Dad accused of forcing son into field, killing him
Man found dead in North Akron home is identified
After 30 years at the helm of Akron Children's, Considine still looks to future
Blogs:
Pets:
Cat-loving chihuahua suckles seven abandoned kittens
The Heldenfiles:
Sunday Notebook
Patrick McManamon:
Browns sick after sick loss in Detroit
Akron Zips:
Zips advance to Sweet Sixteen
Tribe Matters:
Seven players added to Tribe’s 40-man roster
Cleveland Browns:
Post-game defensive quotes
Kent State Sports:
Kent State defeats Rochester College, 63-44
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Gameblog: Cavs vs. Philadelphia 76ers
Buckeye Blogging:
OSU – Michigan college football rivals meet in Baghdad
Varsity Letters:
Four area football teams play tonight
All Da King's Men:
The Onion, By Any Other Name…
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Will Health Care Reform Pass?
Akron Law Café:
Health Care Financing Reform: (70) Savings in Medicare Advantage
See Jane Style:
Vintage Chic
Car Chase:
TIME TO GET YOUR COLLECTOR CARS WINTERIZED
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Faye Dunaway to be Evicted?
Ohio Travels with Betty:
Monique asks how to get tickets for the Polar Express.
Sound Check:
Steely Dan Plays "The Royal Scam" at E.J. Thomas Hall
HRLite House:
Personal Rant – You are All Wrong About Jobs, or the Lack of Jobs, Being the Reason People Do Not Live in NEO
Akron Gamer:
Nintendo's Mario endures even as games come and go
By Rich Heldenfels
Published on Thursday, May 08, 2008
The movie runs off the track when it deals with plot and ideas. The Wachowski brothers want to make Speed Racer into something deep and thoughtful as well as dazzling to the eye. But they are not the deep thinkers they imagine themselves to be; in fact, the thematic undercurrent in Speed Racer was done before, and better, in the James Caan version of Rollerball.
Speed Racer has a long history to draw on, starting in the '60s with a Japanese comic book called Pilot Ace, which led to the cartoon series Mach Go Go Go, which — dubbed into English — was known as Speed Racer.
The Wachowskis have drawn on the basic story from the original series, with some twists (and a considerable improvement on the old show's animation). Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch, Into the Wild) is a talented young auto driver working for the company run by his father (John Goodman). But there is a shadow over the Racers because of the alienation from the family and eventual death of Speed's older brother Rex (Scott Porter, Friday Night Lights).
Other issues face Speed. His success has gotten the attention of racing mogul Royalton (Roger Allam, V for Vendetta), who is determined to woo Speed to his company. And if wooing doesn't work, the mogul has other means. Then there's the mysterious Racer X (Matthew Fox, Lost), also great behind the wheel but with an air of menace.
Any time these and other characters are brought together in a race, they are part of a great spectacle. Cars speed, leap, smash, unveil weapons and fly, with a breakneck pace that might make you beg for the occasional freeze-frame to catch up.
But the movie falters when it comes to matters of plot and dialogue.
It has a cast that can handle heavy script lifting; in addition to the people mentioned, Susan Sarandon plays Speed's mother and Christina Ricci is Speed's girlfriend Trixie. Ricci especially steals every scene she is in.
But they and others are saddled by some awful lines. The movie is dragged down when it makes racing part of a larger scheme by big businesses willing to use all their economic might against the Racer family.
And it is far too long at two hours plus. It would have worked much better — especially for the children in the audience — at about 90 minutes; you can easily see the place where they could have ended it more quickly and efficiently.
The movie's struggle is that it is not content to be simply a good movie for kids. Oh, it wants to be that, so audiences are subjected to repeated interjections of Speed's younger brother Spritle (Paulie Litt) and his chimpanzee Chim-Chim. Believe me, they are even more annoying than in the old cartoon.
But it also wants to give adults something meaty: discussions of racing as religion, and racing as art, and the whole idea of Speed as an individual trying to thrive in a sport ruled by corporate interests. (Hence the Rollerball comparison.) And those scenes take away from the more basic pleasures of the film.
Rich Heldenfels writes about popular culture for the Beacon Journal and in a blog at http://www.ohio.com. You can find more columns, questions and answers at http://www.ohio.com/entertainment/heldenfels.
The movie runs off the track when it deals with plot and ideas. The Wachowski brothers want to make Speed Racer into something deep and thoughtful as well as dazzling to the eye. But they are not the deep thinkers they imagine themselves to be; in fact, the thematic undercurrent in Speed Racer was done before, and better, in the James Caan version of Rollerball.
Get the full article here.
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