Speed Racer

Movies are not all meant to be taken on the same terms, just as music is not meant to be taken on the same terms. There are certain criticisms or accolades one could give to a hip-hop album that would be totally nonsensical in the context of a country album, and surely we wouldn't hold an improvisational jazz recording to the same set of standards we use in evaluating electronica or dance music.

This is my somewhat round-about way of saying that the critical beating that Speed Racer has been taking is total rubbish-- the result of film critics trying to fit the movie into a one-size-fits-all mold that simply betrays a lack of real understanding of what the movie is all about. Yes, the characters are two-dimensional. No, the plot doesn't stand up to serious scrutiny. And of course the movie flys by at a breakneck pace, seldom stopping or slowing down; the thing is called Speed Racer, for crying out loud!

Somehow, these criticisms are being paraded like they are in any way insightful. They're not. They're simply stating the obvious, and missing the point. The filmmakers would almost surely agree with these statements completely-- only they wouldn't see them as negative in the least.

Speed Racer is not high drama. It's a live-action movie based on a classic anime. It's a two-hour Saturday morning cartoon. It's a sugar rush. It's spectacle, and oh, goodness, is it ever spectacular. A rush of color and sound and image and imagination and humor and excitement, Speed Racer is unlike any film ever made before. Its influences are so varied and so numerous, its style so distinct, that it can surely be said to have out-Tarantinoed ol' Quentin. Indeed, its genre-bending structure calls to mind Kill Bill, even as its cheerful, big-hearted celebration of the the sheer possibility of cinema is more akin to the original Star Wars.

Here is a movie built from the spare parts of anime, music videos, video games, 60's sci-fi kitsch, James Bond movies, Star Wars, Willy Wonka, and who knows what else. And its achievement is stunning. In terms of style, there's never been anything like it, and in terms of technical sophistication, it sets a new standard, much as the Wachowski Brothers' last batch of films, the Matrix trilogy, did a few years ago. But this isn't anything as serious or as dark as The Matrix-- it's pure fun, pure creativity, pure heart.

There's no doubt that it perfectly utilizes-- and even expands-- the possibilities offered by the form of cinema itself. Indeed, the cinematic craft here is extraordinary-- the movie deserves Oscars for cinematography, visual effects, sound design, costume design, art design, and editing. In fact, it's the editing that proves to be the movie's masterstroke, as the whole thing is put together in such a way that it moves along with a hypnotic cadence that elevates the movie into much more than the sum of its parts.

And it's not just a formal experiment, either-- there's clearly a lot of love for the source material, for the various influences it draws on, for the medium itself. It's a movie about spectacle, sure, but also about story, and as such it's packed with humor and big, broad, uncomplicated emotions.

It's an astonishing achievement, to say nothing of the most fun you're likely to have at the movies this year. (Unless Indy really outdoes himself, even in his old age!) Don't bother with the critics on this one, because they simply don't get it. Speed Racer is a masterpiece of creativity, but it rewards-- and in fact deserves-- being taken on its own terms.