Speed Racer

First off, a series of apologies and excuses for making my first July post on the ninth of the month. Here goes. I'm disappointed in myself, except not really, because I had a great June, and I'm making good progress on a number of other items. Besides, it was Fourth of July weekend, and I had a busy week at work after that, and so on and so forth. Okay. I found Speed Racer in the five dollar DVD bin somewhere some several months ago. I knew the film had been critically panned in general, but I also knew that those who liked the movie said it was beautiful and visually original and that its detractors were too focused on its asinine plot and flimsy acting, which were intentional and meant to pay homage to the original Speed Racer anime series in the first place. Since I tend to appreciate "controversially" acclaimed movies as mush as (if not more than) universally beloved ones, I dropped the Lincoln on the "36% fresh" movie figuring that at worst I'd be out an amount less than that which I pay for lunch every day. And I'm glad I took that minimal risk because Speed Racer was everything its defenders said it was: visually stunning, unique, and very loyal to the original anime series (which i'll admit I've only seen a few clips of here and there). It wasn't a flawless movie, but my biggest gripe with the film was that it ran a bit long, taking two hours and fifteen minutes to tell a story that would have fit nicely into an hour-forty-five. No biggie. I think you need to judge movies on their own terms. Speed Racer was never supposed to be a movie with a complicated or original plot. Nor were its characters supposed to be three-dimensional and well-developed. The point is in the presentation, and even its detractors would be hard-pressed to find fault with the very other-worldly set design or the stunning and colorful CGI sequences. Speed Racer was everything it could have and should have been, so in a strange sense, it was basically a perfect movie. It just wasn't for everyone. (Including me. I'm defending it because it warrants defense, but I'm not about to call it even one of my favorite two-hundred movies.) See Speed Racer if you can, but only for the sake of the avant-garde visual treat. It looks like the coolest racing video game I can imagine, and it doesn't exactly demand a ton of your time or attention. And that's all I've got for you today. Glad to be back though. I'll be sure to post again in another nine days.