"Go Speed Racer, Go!"  "Speed Racer" is coming to theaters on May 9, 2008 and I am hoping it can be some real family fun.  My brother and I used to love watching the "Speed Racer" cartoon together as kids and now they are making a live-action version!

Forget "Sailor Moon," this was the original anime classic and it’s coming from the Wachowski Brothers ("The Matrix").  It’s about a boy who’s born to race cars - "Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch) is aggressive, instinctive and, most of all, fearless. His only real competition is the memory of the brother he idolized—the legendary Rex Racer, whose death in a race has left behind a legacy that Speed is driven to fulfill."  It goes into this whole complicated storyline on Coming Soon (click here to read) but who cares?  I’m not going to see "Speed Racer" for the storyline, I’m going because it’s "Speed Racer!"  By the way, does that poster remind you of this pic from "Herbie: Fully Loaded?"

The cast is decent - Emile Hirsch, Christina Ricci, John Goodman, Susan Sarandon, Matthew Fox, Hiroyuki Sanada and Richard Roundtree.  The trailer has all the requirements for this type of movie - an over-the-top movie set, exaggerated cartoonish looking people and, well, race car driving!!!

Watch the trailer for "Speed Racer"

See production stills and the opening for the original show after the jump!

click to enlarge images

Share This