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I made a comment earlier about how Speed Racer doesn’t look like a “live-action cartoon” but instead, a “live-action video game”. And I’ve already gotten a bunch of emails and seen a bunch of forum comments saying that the action sequences look like video game cut scenes.
/Film Reader Mark G sent me this screenshot from a Nintendo 64 video game called Extreme G, which looks very similar to one of the race sequences from Speed Racer. How funny is that? Click on the image above to enlarge.
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December 6th, 2007 at 8:50 pm
It’s inevitable that more and more films for young people are going to be the product of video games and digital film getting in bed together and humping like there is no tomorrow.
When the offspring is this wild, original and good looking, even adults will adopt it. I’ve always wanted to watch F-Zero or Extreme G played on a TV the size of an Imax screen. This is just crazy though.
December 6th, 2007 at 9:05 pm
I think saying that the scenes in Speed Racer look like video game cutscenes is a diss to video game cutscenes. Maybe I’m jumping the gun but I couldn’t even make it all the way through the trailer. Is this film supposed to be marketed to young kids? If so, then I guess this works. I never really got into the original cartoon but this seems like kind of a slight to original. One positive thing I’ll say is I appreciate the way they make the background constantly move just like the show.
December 6th, 2007 at 9:35 pm
With the screenshots I have seen so far, I am convinced that they have brought a unique visual element into the movie. Targeting the younger audience is the right way to go.
December 6th, 2007 at 11:16 pm
Yeah I dunno about the whole video game thing… Don’t these tracks remind anyone else of Hot Wheels tracks?? Or how kinds play with race cars? Doing flips through the air, exploding into volcanoes and such? Kids are going to love this because this is exactly what they think of when they think race cars.
I know I’m going to love it too, because who DOESN’T cling to their childhood?
December 7th, 2007 at 12:23 am
Dude, I loved Extreme G!
December 7th, 2007 at 8:28 am
when you first mentioned the video game analogy, i thought of the my first racing cool racing game experiance: stunt car racer. then i thought about some of the other ones i’ve played since like crash bandicoot: nitro cart, etc.
extreme g looks like a lot of fun…also, the SR track looks like the old slot car tracks too.
how cool is that? the perfect fusion of a racing cartoon with a racing game! what’s the problem?
December 7th, 2007 at 11:35 am
seeing as how the majority of cats on this forum or grown to some degree, I would tend to think Speed Racer is trying to appeal to the new younger demographic while getting the older heads a tad nostalgic. To me the shit looks like Sonic the Hedgehog and that’s fine.
December 7th, 2007 at 6:06 pm
This is a bad idea:
http://therecshow.com/2007/12/07/car-out-of-toon/
December 7th, 2007 at 7:57 pm
That’ll be strange not to have enough critics on the weighing machine…
December 9th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
I am a 44 year old die hard Speed racer fan. I think that the movie will be sucessful but for me something is missing. As a comic book and cartoon veteran of the 60’s, 70’s and early 80’s; it has been exciting for me to watch these characters from Marvel and DC come to live on the screen. For the most part they have gotten it right.
However i think that i’ll give it chance and hope not to be too disappointed with it.
December 9th, 2007 at 9:55 pm
Actually I’d say it looks more like the game Wipeout which predates Extreme-G by about a year or so. In any case they are very similar in look and play. Link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wipeout_(game)
December 29th, 2007 at 11:15 am
A movie based on an animation that is supposed to look like animation that…looks like animation.
What’s the problem, exactly?
December 30th, 2007 at 7:35 pm
“The problem for me exactly” is that Most cartoon or comic book characters have been brought to life on film! Any talented organization can redo animation! The magic for me is to watch these extraodinary mythical heroes come to real life on a feature film format. I think that this achievement lends a unique honor to the characters being portrayed.
April 11th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
To ollgee63:
So you’re saying that all movies should look the same? “Realistic”?
Are you saying that there is no room for escapism?
This film is pushing the boundaries of art design, computer technology, cinematography, action choreography, etc.
You yourself concede that you have to be “talented” to pull this off. And it’s not like this is a “redo” as in they’re just using the same old techniques to do the same old thing. Rather, they’re using cutting edge technology to do something that has never been done before. Something that could never have been done before.
Animation and live action are two different mediums. To try and cross them over is a design challenge of the highest order - you have to basically re-write the rules of cinema to get it to work, and you never know if the experiment will actually pay off.
That’s the kind of brave risk taking that Hollywood tends to shy away from.