Speed Racer Review

Speed Racer


Release Date: 12th June 2008 - Australia


Production Companies
Warner Bros. Pictures (presents)
Village Roadshow Pictures (in association with)
Silver Pictures
Anarchos Productions (in association with)
Velocity Productions (co-production)
Sechste Babelsberg Film (co-
production)

Distribution
Roadshow Films


Genre: Action

Rating: PG

Runtime: 135 minutes


Budget: $120,000,000

Box Office Gross: $93,945,766 (Worldwide)


Plot Summary
Speed Racer was born into
a family business of racing
cars. He is one of the
hottest stars on the circuit.
He keeps blowing away
the competition with the
controls of his Mach 5.
Speed uncovers a secret
when he refuses to accept

an offer from the head of
Royalton Industries. To
increase their profits,
powerful moguls rig the
races. In the hope of

beating the executive,

Speed enters the same

gruelling cross-country

race that cost his brother

his life.

Cast

Emile Hirsch - Speed Racer
Nicholas Elia - Young Speed Racer
Christina Ricci - Trixie
Ariel Winter - Young Trixie
Matthew Fox - Racer X
Rain - Taejo Togokahn
John Goodman - Pops Racer
Susan Sarandon - Mom Racer
Scott Porter - Rex Racer
Paulie Litt - Spirtle Racer

Willy - Chim Chim

Kenzie - Chim Chim

Kick Gurry - Sparky
Benno Furmann - Inspector Detector
Roger Allam - E.P. Arnold Royalton
John Benfield - Cruncher Block
Ralph Herforth - Jack
"Cannonball" Taylor
Yu Nan - Horuko Togokahn
Christian Oliver - Snake Oiler
Mark Zak - Blackjack Benelli
Brandon Robinson - Big Mouth
Hiroyuki Sanada - Mr. Musha
Nayo Wallace - Minx
Moritz Bleibtreu - Grey Ghost
Richard Burntree - Ben Burns
Jana Pallaske - Delila
Melvil Poupaud - Johnny 'Goodboy' Jones
Bojidara Maximova - Flying Fox
Togo Igawa - Mr. Togokahn

Joon Park - Yakuza Driver
Ben Miles - Cass Jones
Joe Mazza - Nitro
Ludmilla Ismailow - Denise
Milka Duno - Gearbox/Kelie Kalinkov (Cameo)
Ashley Walters - Prince Kabala
Melissa Holroyd - Speed's Teacher
Peter Fernandez - Local Announcer (Cameo)

Corinne Orr - Grand Prix Female

Announcer (Cameo)

Andrés Cantor - Grand Prix Announcer

(Cameo)

Crew
Writers/Producers/Directors - Andy &
Lana Wachowski
Based on the Original Animated Series

"Speed Racer" - Tatsuo Yoshida

Executive Producers - Bruce Berman,
Michael Lambert and David Lane Seltzer
Producer - Joel Silver

Producer/Unit Production Manager - Grant Hill
Co-Producers - Jessica Alan,
Roberto Malerba, Henning Molfenter

and Charlie Woebcken

Co-Producer/Unit Production Manager -

Roberto Malerba

Casting Directors - Lora Kennedy

and Lucinda Syson
Production Designer - Owen Paterson
Conceptual Artists - Alice & Geoff Darrow,

George Hull, Patrick Janicke, Jeff Julian,

Robert Kalafut, Warren Manser,
Ed Natividad, Peter Popken and

Vladimir Spasojevic
Supervising Art Director - Hugh Bateup

Senior Art Director - Sebastian T. Krawinkel

Art Director: Virtual Vehicles - Stephan O. Gessler
Senior Graphic Designer - Henning Brehm
Graphic Designer: Virtual Vehicles -
Alejandro Lecuna
Set Decorator - Peter Walpole
Costume Designer - Kym Barrett

Costume Supervisor: L.A. - Lisa Lovaas

Hair and Makeup Designer - Jeremy Woodhead
Director of Photography - David Tattersall

Director of Photography: Second Unit -

Harvey Harrison

First Assistant Director - Terry Needham

Second Unit Director - James McTeigue
Supervising Stunt Coordinator - Chad Stahelski
Stunt Coordinator - David Leitch

Animal Coordinator - Paul 'Sled' Reynolds
Special Effects Supervisor - Uli Nefzer
Visual Effects Supervisors - John Gaeta

and Dan Glass

Visual Effects Supervisor: SPI - Kevin Scott Mack
Visual Effects Supervisor: ILM - John Knoll
Visual Effects Supervisors: Digital Domain -
Kim Libreri and Mohen Leo

Visual Effects Supervisor: CafeFx - John T. Van Vliet
Additional Visual Effects Supervisor - Chas Jarrett
On-Set Visual Effects Supervisor - Thomas Proctor

Visual Effects Coordinators - Danielle Costa,

Beth Howe and Alexa Hale
Visual Effects Producer - Denise Davis

Visual Effects Producer: Digital Domain -

Julian Levi

Visual Effects Producer: ILM - Jill Brooks

Visual Effects Production Manager - Bill Sturgeon

Visual Effects Concept Artists: Digital Domain -

Claas Henke and Dean Tschetter
Digital Effects Supervisor - Jake Morrison

Digital Effects Supervisors: Digital Domain -

John Gibson and Darren Poe

Digital Effects Supervisor: SPI - Peter Nofz
Animation Supervisor: Digital Domain - Erik Gamache
Animation Supervisor: SPI - Marco Marenghi

CG Supervisors: Digital Domain - Haarm-Pieter

Duiker, Richard Morton, Paul George Palop and

Serge Sretschinsky
CG Supervisors: SPI - Daniel Eaton,

Patrick Cohen and Theo Bialek

Previs Supervisors - Kyle Robinson

and Alex Vegh

Look Development Lead - Stephen Lawes

3D Integration Leads: Digital Domain -

Geoffrey Baumann and Shelley Larocca Courte
Editors - Roger Barton and
Zach Staenberg

First Assistant Editors - Joseph Jett Sally

and Ian Slater

Assistant Editors - Catherine Chase,

Calvin Wimmer and Lars Karich

Supervising Sound Editor/Sound Designer -

Dane A. Davis

Co-Supervising Sound Editor - William R. Dean

Production Sound Mixer - Ivan Sharrock

Re-Recording Mixers - John Reitz,

Gregg Rudloff and Rick Kline

Additional Re-Recording Mixer - Tom Ozanich

Foley Artists - John Roesch,

Alyson Dee Moore and David Fein
Music - Michael Giacchino


Review
While not the best work from The Wachowskis, SPEED RACER is a visually stylised piece of eye candy that plays out like a Hot Wheels movie. The film is full of radical race-car action sequences, terrific cinematography and fun parts that keep this movie adaptation of an anime show on the right track. The acting from Emile Hirsch, Christina Ricci and Matthew Fox was good. The best performances were from John Goodman, the perfect pick for Speed Racer's dad and Roger Allam for his devilish role of Arnold Royalton.

This movie is an entertaining thrill ride suitable for most people who enjoy the original Speed Racer anime.

Star rating: (4/5) Good Movie

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