When The Wachowski Brothers announced they would be making a live action cartoon-looking adaptation of the classic anime series Speed Racer, I was all for it. When it was revealed that the film would be Rated G, because the brothers wanted to make a family film, I was still on board. But when the first teaser trailer hit, that was when I fell off the tracks, down a hill, and into a lake in another state. I argued against the merits of the film in second ever episode FightCast. And was even less impressed with the two international movie trailers released last week. To me (and many others) the action sequences look like a video game, and nothing more. The film appeared to be a disaster of epic proportions.
But then this new domestic movie trailer hit the interwebs, and I’m now feeling very confused and conflicted. I’m not sure if it was just well edited, or may-be I was completely wrong about Speed Racer (if so, I’ll need at least a few days to wash off the egg on my face). But check out the new trailer for yourself, and tell me what you think in the comments below.
You can also catch the new trailer in High Definition on Yahoo Movies. Speed Racer hits theaters on May 9th 2008.
Discuss: Could Speed Racer actually be good after all?
March 13th, 2008 at 12:13 am
peter, i’m absolutely in the same boat as you. this new trailer…holy shit?!?! ok, now im excited for this film.
March 13th, 2008 at 12:23 am
AWESOME
March 13th, 2008 at 12:25 am
this trailer looks very good compared to first two trailers. Rocking !!!!!!!!
March 13th, 2008 at 12:28 am
all i can say is…awesome! But like always, I feel like i’ll end up being let down by the movie after such a tight trailer.
March 13th, 2008 at 12:29 am
Uhm, what should I say about this.
I’m surprised.
The Wachowskis did that movie?
Its so colourful and nice, I think, if my little brother liked it, I would go in it. I saw Cars, because he wanted to see it.
Not MY movie, but it looks entertaining.
March 13th, 2008 at 12:45 am
man… ive always been behind this movie even though everybody here talked mad crap about the past trailers.
G rated family film with all the bubblegum trimmings of a japanese anime, and a wachowskis comic book style filming.. sounds like money in the bank to me.
March 13th, 2008 at 1:12 am
Always looked damn good to me.
March 13th, 2008 at 1:12 am
I’ve been behind they’re back since the first teaser, and my friend is working on it so I have to like it. I think it still looks fantastic, new and different. I love the color palette and crazy car-kung fu shots.
Can’t wait! :)
March 13th, 2008 at 1:17 am
Okay sorry but one thing I HATE about this trailer is when Speed goes “Oooooh”.
Does he do that shit in the cartoon? :|
March 13th, 2008 at 1:51 am
WOWWIE WOO WAH… AWESOME!!! I’M THERE!!!
March 13th, 2008 at 1:53 am
F-ing A man. Speed Racer has always looked awesome…Sorry Pete, but you seem to always have misgivings about what turn out to be really good films *cough*Rambo*cough*Indiana Jones*cough*
PS: I know Indiana 4 didn’t come out yet, but it’s a pretty much guaranteed to be great. Why? Let’s see: Spielberg, David Koepp, Spielberg, Indiana Jones, Spielberg, the cast, Spielberg and Spielberg.
March 13th, 2008 at 1:57 am
HappyEvil: When have I ever said that Indiana Jones wasn’t going to be good? It’s my 2nd most anticipated movie of 2008. I visited the set for christ sakes!
And for the record, most of the comments we’ve gotten on /Film has skewed extremely negative on Speed Racer until this trailer hit. So no, it wasn’t JUST me. And for the record, the other three Speed Racer trailers STILL suck… So the question is, whch trailer best represents the actual film
March 13th, 2008 at 3:23 am
This is best trailer they’ve put out so far. I love it!
I was going to see it anyway, but maybe this will convince a couple of my friends to come with me.
March 13th, 2008 at 3:24 am
WTF ?! This more “family-oriented” trailer is the worst yet ! The dialog was so lame and over-the-top. The graphics look even worse as it exposes more of that phony video game look. Also the physics of the movie is impossible, they could’ve made the physics look a bit more realistic. You have cars spinning about and flipping all over the place. That breaks the the suspension of disbelief every time. And, Ricci doesn’t make such a cute Trixi for some reason. The graphics are “nice” that’s about it. No contrast so I imagine it being tiresome after at the first 20 minutes. I’ve a feeling this will be a disappointment like matrix 2 and 3.
March 13th, 2008 at 3:25 am
For people who said that last scene in the Ironman trailer looked like game… Well, I guess all times they show a car, it looks like a game.
March 13th, 2008 at 3:31 am
Wow this is by far the best Speedracer-trailer out there.
This looks like so much fun! I’m most defenitly is gonna see this one.
March 13th, 2008 at 4:09 am
I’m with you Peter, this trailer has suddenly made me start caring again. Every other trailer just dropped my interest each time, but this one… I think what we’ve all been looking for was some context, some hint at story, of how the characters talk to each other, of basic plot - all things the last few trailers have sorely lacked. But this one delivers that and I have to admit that it looks pretty darn cool.
Welcome to Car-Fu!!
March 13th, 2008 at 4:11 am
This looks awesome. I almost crapped my pants when I saw the MAMMOTH CAR!! Any old fan of the cartoon knows what I am talking about. Good to see (at least in the trailer) that they stayed pretty true to the cartoon. Great casting to boot. Can’t wait!
March 13th, 2008 at 4:12 am
its probably a bit ahead of its time.
March 13th, 2008 at 4:24 am
you can diss this movie all you want on this site, but me and my two nephews are gonna love this flick. there 5 and 10 and im 26.
March 13th, 2008 at 4:33 am
dude!!!!
welcome to visual orgasm…
I have been behind this movie from the begining.. but everytime they release anything new… it’s just magnificent
March 13th, 2008 at 5:35 am
I continue to stand behind this film… It will be the suprise of the summer.
March 13th, 2008 at 5:40 am
Ho-hum. It’s better than the previous ones, but still looks a lot like that racing scene from “Spy Kids 3D” stretched to 90mins…
March 13th, 2008 at 6:05 am
Peter, you’ve never actually said Indiana 4 won’t be good, but you do have misgivings on it as proven by your constant worrying, whining and fretting (no offense):
“each new photo of Shia worries me more than the last”
“These last three quotes from Lucas really worry me”
“I find myself wondering if Cate Blanchett fits in this film”
“I’m still a little worried about the story, especially the alien stuff”
etc, etc…. I could go on all day
March 13th, 2008 at 6:14 am
It Rocks!
March 13th, 2008 at 6:42 am
This looks like it could be something really special. I’m a fan of the Wachowski Bros. The Matrix Reloaded was my favorite Matrix film, and the fist was my Second favorite. V for Vendetta was way underrated. And These guys just never seem to dissappoint me.
To everyone that said it looks like too much of a video game, please just give the Wachowski’s the benifit of the doubt! Maybe they wanted it to look like that! And I’m all for it.
My dad watched Tron and loved it. Tron looked as close to being a video game as you could get back then. The wachowski’s are quickly convincing me that this will go beyond regular great movie status and enter into my cult collection.
March 13th, 2008 at 6:44 am
I wasn’t too excited for the first two trailers either. But, after checking this out and seeing that there is some semblance of a story, if I had a five to ten year old kid, I’d be in line for the 3-d version for sure.
Too many other good movies coming out this year, though. I think I’ll wait for it on DVD.
March 13th, 2008 at 7:08 am
I personally don’t see that much difference in this and the earlier trailers. I still think it looks great. I think the outdoor racing scenes are the most suspect and there was less of that footage in this trailer. They seemed slightly less “rendered”. It will still all hinge on the script.
March 13th, 2008 at 7:11 am
I have to agree with you here, Peter. The first trailers looked just awful, more like direct-to-DVD than anything else. But this one makes the movie interesting. Big question is: which of the trailers represent the movie best. I’m still gonna be a skeptic and wait for some reviews before I’ll watch it.
March 13th, 2008 at 7:20 am
Maybe I’m going blind, I don’t know, but that trailer was almost exactly the same as everything else we’ve seen for this movie, and it still looks pretty bad. If I were going to expect one thing from a Wachowski children’s movie, it would be substance, but this increasingly seems like just more superficial fluff. Why is it that when a movie is purported to be for kids, we can overlook a basic lack of quality? Remember when there were at least some good children’s movies? Now, it seems like the only innovation in the market comes from Pixar.
Wow, turned into a little mini-rant there at the end. Sorry.
March 13th, 2008 at 7:27 am
It’s called “New Footage”. Welcome to the Terradome.
March 13th, 2008 at 7:33 am
I just don’t know. They’ve released a lot of trailers. That worries me, it seems they’re trying really hard to make people interested. By doing this giving away alot of storylines. I don’t know, it might not be that good.
March 13th, 2008 at 8:03 am
The man who cut that trailer needs a raise. Boy did SR just shoot up on my Movies to see List. Hot Dang!
March 13th, 2008 at 8:14 am
And by man, I mean Person, man or woman. Don’t want to seem sexist.
March 13th, 2008 at 8:40 am
@Peter. . . Welcome back!
@Happy_Evil_Dude: C’mon dude, its his job to be skeptical, esp. about Indiana Jones
@Speedracer: I never doubted it for a minute!
General thought: C’mon, family friendly films can be fun. . .this will be a suprise hit and I will be first in line
March 13th, 2008 at 8:44 am
Daaaaaaaaaaang! Wow! I’m freaking stoked for this movie now! THIS should have been the first trailer! At least it’s the one that’ll be the most widely shown.
I love how it’s geared to that kid wishes he could be the awesome character he saw in a movie or a game. You know? That kid who beat up his brother with Dragonball Z moves?
Great trailer, epic win.
March 13th, 2008 at 9:30 am
Cool beans.
March 13th, 2008 at 9:53 am
This movie looks exactly like a live action anime, complete with streaks of colorful speed/action lines. The musical underscore was the key element that sets this one apart from the previous trailers. It’s a dynamic trailer that’ll, hopefully, truly represent the movie.
March 13th, 2008 at 10:06 am
Happy: Those are obviously worried comments from someone who has a lot invested in this movie. It’s my job to be critical and find the one thing, if anything that doesn’t look quite right and point it out. That doesn’t mean that I don’t think the whole picture will be great despite that one or two things. But Indy 4 cant be compared to Speed Racer. The previous Racer trailers were a complete disaster. There was little of anything to like in any of them. This trailer tells a different story, that seems a lot more fun. But as I said before, which of these trailers accurately represents the real film. That is the question. And I’d also like to say that the question is not if Speed Racer will be a success. A G-Rated film will always garner a huge audience despite quality (look at the garfield movies, or the recent Alvin and the Chipmunks)…
March 13th, 2008 at 10:20 am
I hated every word that Christina Ricci said. And Mathew Fox sounded like “Paging Mr. Herman” Looks fucking amazing tho. This could be the best G rated movie of all time!
March 13th, 2008 at 10:28 am
why does every movie now days have 1235321 trailers released for it. Pretty soon someone would be able to piece together the whole movie using just trailer clips.
March 13th, 2008 at 10:46 am
I disagree with Peter, as far as the previous Racer trailers. They were excellent teasers. Teasers always try to get you hooked on a film just by giving you a hint at the look and feel of the film. Yeah it looked a bit cartoony/cheesy. . . but they showed you upfront what kind of film to expect. And it was unlike anything we had ever seen.
Now that big trailer time is here, they are showing you the fleshed out action shots complete with an awesome techno trailer theme that sends the “whoa” factor for a spin.
Put them together and it looks like awesome movie.
On a sidenote: I thought the kid in school opening was a brilliant way to start.
And when I say hit, I don’t simply mean a box office champ and high attendence. . . . I think it will have an amazing cultural impact in 2008 esp. among kids.
March 13th, 2008 at 11:34 am
for me the movie looks great, but i think the spoil to much
that the film wont be so effective …
March 13th, 2008 at 11:48 am
Pter: “The previous Racer trailers were a complete disaster. There was little of anything to like in any of them.”
There is hardly a difference that I can tell The same “videogamey” look is still intact that everyone is complaining about. How come stylistically a movie like 300 can get away with overdoing reality but when it comes to Speed Racer things are out of bounds/ I really don’t get it.
Also, the Wachoski’s have done a great job before on storylines why would they stop with this?
Like someone said above, it looks like a Live Action Anime! And thats what they were trying to recreate. It’s going to look sub-real because it’s a sub-real universe.
Speed Racer whould be corny, cartooney, and fun! Anything less would be a disaster. I think it looks real cool.
March 13th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
I so want to see this now.
Also, I can see the headlines after the movie comes out reading “MOVIE CAUSES SEIZURES AROUND NATION!!” Lol. It looks like with all those colors and flashes that it could do that.
March 13th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
this movie wiilll do well with the tweens but ..whats with hot rod cool beans reference????
March 13th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
This trailer gave me new faith in the franchise. It looks like the cleaned up the effects a lot. No more overly video game-y looks.
I’ll definetly be checking this out.
March 13th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
I urge you guys to download the full 1080 HD version of the trailer. I just watched it on my 24″ iMac, and the look of the movie is actually quite incredible. The first time I watched the low-res version of the trailer on my PC, and I wasn’t that impressed. Now, viewing it in all its HD glory (which is what I will expect in the theater), I can see that the animation does not really look all that CGI. It looks to me like they are actually “inking” each shot to create a hybrid cartoon-CGI effect. It’s strange, but really attractive at the same time. Of course, this says nothing about the plot, acting. If you really care about those thing, I doubt this is the movie to see. But, I’m always interested in some new graphics techniques - perhaps, that’s why I was one of the few who liked “Sky Captain”. I’ll definitely be seeing this one on the big screen, and probably my little screen next year, when I finally upgrade to Blu-Ray.
March 13th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
@Krestel:
@The Jezzus:
100% agree with you.
like i said before, the wachowski version has all the bubblegum trimmings of an anime film, total fantasy, its gonna be fun.
i bet speed racer would look crazy in 3D.
March 13th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
Is this Speed Racer or F-ZERO. Way to colorful. Wish they went with a more MOD look. Another super CG movie. Will this have the story to uphold all the flash?
March 13th, 2008 at 7:14 pm
I was always on board for Speed Racer, this trailer only increased my desire to see it. I liked the cartoon and when I heard they were doing a live action movie and that it’d be directed by the Wachowskis, I was sold. I actually prefer the first trailer to this one, and didn’t care for the international ones. This movie looks good. CGI heavy? So what? How can they really do Speed Racer stuff with real cars? At least the CGI looks great.
March 14th, 2008 at 2:00 am
Yeah Peter,
Sure your job is to be critical and all that, but I’ve never read you write a bad thing about “Lost Boys: The Tribe”, a movie directed by the guy who did “Sniper 3″, from the writer of “The Skulls 2″ and “Man-Thing” and whose biggest name was a bit player on “The O.C.” (no, the Coreys really aren’t big names these days)…
I’m sorry, but I’m pretty sure Speed Racer will end up a better film than Lost Boys 2… I’m also pretty sure LB2 will be worse than many movies heavily criticized here, such as Jumper, 10000 BC, The Golden Compass, etc, etc…..
March 14th, 2008 at 2:07 am
HappyEvil: You arguments are very weak. You seem to be really reaching now… Like most people, I judge things based on their own merit. A direct to dvd movie is judged against other direct to dvd movies, and not held to the standard of a huge hollywood blockbuster. And the same can be said for a huge hollywood blockbuster being held to the standards of other big hollywood blockbusters. And compared to other direct to dvd sequels (American Pie, Bring it on, Wargames…etc), at least Lost Boys has a little promise and features some of the same lead actors returning…
March 14th, 2008 at 7:00 am
The Wachowski Brothers are visionaries. To paraphrase Joel Silver, “they never do things the easy way”.
Sometimes they are praised for it (Bound, The Matrix, V For Vendetta) and sometimes they’re lambasted for it (The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions).
But they always deliver unique movies. There’s always something you haven’t quite seen before with regards to style or substance.
For those complaining of the “video gamey looks”, well that was always the point. Emile Hirsch described the look as “Andy Warhol meets Blade Runner meets pop art”, and that’s exactly what we’ve got.
It looks absolutely astounding.
And we all know that the Brothers are incredibly skilled writers, so I’m sure the story and characters will be fantastic to follow through this incredible world.
Get ready for Speed…
March 14th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
looks pretty cool.
better than the first trailers.
March 14th, 2008 at 5:54 pm
looks like a flaming hot pile of meh…
March 17th, 2008 at 5:23 am
You judge things on their own merit Peter, do you? I mean I would applaud you if you did, but coming from someone who says he “refuses” to watch certain films *cough*Step Up*cough*, I somehow doubt it. And speaking of DVD movies, I’ve seen none of them featured as prominently as LB2 on your site. It’s had pretty much as much coverage as Indiana and certainly more than Speed Racer, so the comparision is justified, at least in regards to your website. But whatever Peeto, I know you can’t stand not being right so whatever you say…We don’t like the same movies at all since you gave a freaking 8/10 to Cloverfield, already a strong top contender for my Worst Films Of 2008 list.
March 17th, 2008 at 5:32 am
@ Happy_Evil_Dude
So Peter’s interested in Lost Boys 2 and you’re not. Drop it already.
As for Cloverfield, it was awesome for a movie in January.
March 17th, 2008 at 6:09 am
Kestrel:
I’m just answering the guy. Also, out of the 3 US January releases of 2008 which I’ve seen, 2 were way awesomer than the Cloverfield crapfest: Stallone’s Rambo and Allen’s Cassandra’s Dream
March 19th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Just curious, but what is the music in the last third of the trailer and there at the very end, ive tried to find it and keep getting references to “Iron Fisted Mutha - BT & Nick Phoenix” but that song isnt the same. Just curious. Thanks.