[Spoilers] why Speed Racer 2008 should be considered a legitimately good movie.

I legitimately love the live action Speed Racer and let me try to explain why.

1. The all star cast does an amazing job, with very few over the top moment I think. The cast is just full of amazing actors like John Goodman as Pops, granted the guy playing Speed wasn't that famous, but he does a serviceable job. Roger Allam portrays an awesome villain whose evil schemes make perfect sense and his monologue, while a little long, is one of the greatest villain monologues of a children's movie ever, explaining how race results are used to drive up or down stock for various business skullduggery. Susan Sarandon gives a great speech about how proud she is of speed to see him race with such passion, any parent should be lucky enough to watch their child succeed at something they love so much. Even the kid who plays Spritel is pretty funny for a kid actor. And not to mention minor characters like Ben Burns who delivers a great line, "Y'know, everyone thought me and Stickleton hated each other. Funny, ain't it?" A subtle line that confirms Speed's biggest fear, all the drama of races was completely manufactured, and Ben Burns delivered just the right way as to say, yeah kid it's all fake, that's the sad thing, but we do what we need to to keep racing.

2. The visuals are insane and unique and fit the movie in a weird way, I love them! Stephen Colbert compared the movie to loading a ton of fireworks into a dryer, then crawling in, Turing on the dryer and lighting the fireworks. And I can't really disagree, but that's the neat thing. This is a spectacle never before witnessed in film and never repeated, and just is something you need to see in your lifetime. Action and racing scenes convey their excitement with tons of visuals flying at you from every angle, I don't think it's too hard to follow he action, but I've seen the movie several times so maybe I just know what to focus on. But it just as a whole is so incredibly unique like how Sin City was with black and white, Speed Racer tries to do something entirely new in bright technicolor. Probably the only movie I've ever seen that comes close to the visuals is Kung Fury, which I also love, but more for over the top ridiculous comedy.

3. The movie is almost nonstop action, there's 4 races, plus some other short racing scenes, and a few fight scenes, including one with Ninjas! The races are fast paced and racers fight each other with cars. Yes, fighting with cars, and it's so fun to watch. Especially a moment when Racer X flips his car over a rival's car, and punches the rival racer in the face while his car hangs in slow mo. Speed uses the traditional Mach 5's tricks to great effect, with liberal use of the auto jacks, Speed's oldest trick that lets him do crazy jumps and interesting maneuvers.

4. There is a genuine heartfelt story here about a family whose passion is racing, yet also wrestling with the fact their eldest son was chewed up and spit out by the sport they love. There is real emotion at the death of Rex racer, it's not some throw away plot line. And Speed wants nothing but to race and make the racing industry be was it appears to the public, just honest racers, playing fair and driving fast. It's exemplified by one of my favorite exchanges in the movie. Pops: "You think you can drive a car and change the world!? It doesn't work like that!" Speed: "Maybe not, but it's the only thing I know how to do and I gotta do something." Now on the surface, it may seem these line are just ridiculous, and they are, but who among us hasn't wanted to change the way the world works in some way and just given up because we don't have the means to bring about change. Speed doesn't really have the means to change the world, but he's got one skill and he'll be damned if he doesn't at least try to use the one skill he has.

I also love the story arc for Pops throughout this movie. When Speed is little Rex leaves the family to join a major sponsor, attempting to change the industry from the inside. Pops screams at him as he's walking out the door, and tells him if he leaves to never come back. Rex spends 5 years playing the bad guys games as a dirty racer trying to work his way up the chain until finally he has to fake his own death for his and his family's safety. Then when the current story takes place Speed wants to basically try to do the same thing Rex did and they have a mirrored scene where Speed is about to walk out of the house and Pops stops him, but this time Pops says something different. He says that he realizes he didn't truly loose his first son when he wrecked his car in the race where he died (ok he didn't really, but they don't know that). He says I lost Rex right here, when I told him never to come back. Then he tells Speed he'll always be his son and to never be afraid to come back home. That's some crazy heavy life lesson there. This hits home for me cause I've had family members told this by their parents and in one case he never did come home when told never to come back, even when his mother died.

1. This movie is very inclusive. There's several Asian actors, and women are pretty much as respected as racers as men. There's a black Viking! Ben Burns is a respected Black racer from the early days of racing, there's Europeans and race is never mentioned. Also the gangster bad guys have a henchman that is possibly trans and it's not played for a joke or anything, (s)he? Is just there as another character.

2. The movie is funny and fun. It's based on a cartoon so you gotta have some laughs. Spritel and Chim Chim sneak into car trunks and try to steal candy, and almost wreck the house while watching cartoons. Royalton's sugary demeanor the first time he meets the racer family gets me every time I watch it. Also the complete silliness of the headhunter racers who have random weapons like a catapult that launches bee hives.

3. Royalton is an amazing villain and it's incredibly satisfying to see him destroyed in the final race. Speed early in the movie says "racing in our family is like a religion and sponsors are like the devil" then after Royalton gives his monologue about insider trading and fixing races Speed looks at him and says "pops was right, you really are the devil." And he really is just so evil. He wants to co tell the race outcomes so that he can succeed at business and no other reason, he doesn't care about racing or his customers, just money and power.

So there you have it. The reasons I think Speed Racer is a good movie. Obviously you're free to disagree, but if you've never see it, I really would recommend it. It is something that needs to be seen and just appreciated for what it is. I don't know, maybe it is "bad" but I love it, I've watched it probably 10 times and I just watched it again over the weekend and felt the need to tell people they should give it a chance.

Submitted August 17, 2016 at 12:37AM by jbarron81 http://ift.tt/2bkXHoO