Speed Racer closed the Tribeca Film Festival on Saturday and the reviews have begun to filter in. My favorite so far is from Variety’s Todd McCarthy;
it’s pure cotton candy — entirely non-nutritious but too sweet and pretty for young people to resist
I’m hoping that at over two hours, many will become ill and not want to repeat the experience. Unfortunately youth has a short memory for painful experiences, especially if accompanied by lots of pretty flashing lights.
My other favorite line from McCarthy is that the film is “tolerable fun for the easy to please.” {Big Sigh}
What happened to the Wachowski Brothers? Isn’t part of what’s great about Science Fiction and cartoons that you have license to introduce subversive and intelligent subtext while entertaining the masses?
I loved Speed Racer as a kid. It was a great Saturday morning cartoon, I’m just not sure about 129 minutes of it. However, I will hold off judgment until I actually see the film — it it makes the list this summer. There are a lot of contenders.
Back to films I have seen. At least with Iron Man you have plenty to sink your teeth into. There’s the disturbing expose on ams dealing and where those weapons land. There’s the bigger investigation into what path do I follow, the one my parent’s laid out for me or the one I forge myself. And there are shiny costumes and pet robots and PG love interest and transformer on transformer fighting. Add a good smattering of wit and humor and suspended logic (if you crash into the ground at over 100 miles per hour, it doesn’t matter how strong the suit is you are wearing, you’re still dead) and flying, plus some cool cars – it’s a good 110 minutes of fun. Unfortunately Iron Man is 126 minutes long but all in all — still fun.
Critics agree. And apparently the film going audience is on board as well — over $100 million on this opening weekend. We’ll see how Speed Racer does. I know I won’t be in line next weekend. But then again, I’m not 10.
