Speed Racer...Why?

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by PS3FAN

Why, why?

Seriously this looks horrible.

This week, in "Never ask movie buffs a question you don't want seriously answered in detail":

Fact is, the project's been tossed around since the 90's--
Back when Japanese anime first started making trendy US cult headlines, and to most dopey mainstream execs, "Anime" meant anything dubbed that aired on US TV in the 60's...
So, studios rush to cash in on the young kids' hip new trend with "cool" proposed movie versions of Speed Racer, Astroboy, Akira, Gigantor and Kimba the White Lion. Yep, that was the extent of their cultural IQ where "cutting-edge" Japanese anime was concerned.
(Even when Cartoon Network found anime shows were becoming popular, geez, how many Speed Racer jokes did their other shows drown us in a week??)

As for what happened to the others, you can guess what happened to the Kimba movie...And there may be evidence to prove it.
And...remember when Sandra Bullock says "Sit down, Gigantor!" to the one passenger in "Speed"? Yep--Fox thought they'd have the movie out the next year, and wanted the "viral" plug.
The Akira movie's been in and out of development heck for twenty years (we'll believe it when we see it, Leo!)...And Speed wouldn't have gotten out of its sixth-circle of heck if it hadn't been for that fakie Vince Vaughn rumor to give producers the idea.

(And as for why the Wachowskis, stalled projects that make their last stand ultimately end up getting either the all-out pet-project "artsy-director" version, like the Hulk movie, or the quickie hit-TV-upgrade version, like the DBZ movie...We just happened to luck out with the fancy-director version.)

[lnh_boy]

Originally Posted by EricJ

eir other shows drown us in a week??)

As for what happened to the others, you can guess what happened to the Kimba movie...

Disney turned it into The Lion King.

[lnh_boy]

Speed Racer looks like it'll be FUN. Shock if that's something people want from a Speed Racer movie. Sure, the world this movie inhabits has no laws of physics, but neither did the cartoon. This looks like it's a faithful adaptation of the '60s cartoon. If you're a true Speed Racer fan, you should be excited. As for the average movie viewer... we'll see if it clicks or not.

[WickyWoo]

Disney turned it into The Lion King.

Bingo, and have yet to pay Tezuka's family a dime

And anyone who expects a Mach Go Go Go movie to be good obviously hasn't viewed the source material.

[hc666]

I use to love the acid trip bad cartoon of Speed Racer... so horrible I couldn't look away.

I will check out the movie... just because of who made it... They did make the Matrix and V for Vendetta... so I will give it a chance.

Chim Chim! Bad monkey!

[Bluoholic]

They spent 5 mil on the car, I'm in for the mindless entertainment... haven't seen the trailer, most entertainment sites are blocked, but I'd assume they're going for the cartoon look with no physics and such... The car itself has two saws, can jump 20 ft in the air and is equipped with 1700 bhp engine.. that sucker goes 300 mph, 0-60 in .7 sec and quarter mile in 2.7 sec at 191 mph for god's sake... I'm in just to see this car on a big screen... vroom vroom

[plee]

Looks interesting...curious to see what appears to be a Mach 6

[jurassic_pork]

This is the type of wreck that you just can't look away from. I definately dig the tunes on the trailer and just imagine that on uncompressed audio.

[DavePS3]

Well, if there's a way to grab at the air and turn it into cash, Hollywood's your man to do it! Look at Underdog... Avengers... Jesus!!!

I liked the original Speed Racer and this does look pretty flashy. If I see it at all, I'll have to go in expecting a silly neon comic book. That way I might be pleasantly surprised. Might.

[AlexKx]

I think it looks great! A bunch of fun. Were you all thinking you were going to be enlighted by going to see "Speed Racer"? Oh. I'm sorry. The library is around the corner.

[broganreynik]

Originally Posted by AlexKx

I think it looks great! A bunch of fun. Were you all thinking you were going to be enlighted by going to see "Speed Racer"? Oh. I'm sorry. The library is around the corner.

I was beginning to think I was the only one that thought this looks good.

[savage1984]

I'll wait for the reviews....

[Mobe1969]

Wow, I'm so glad I'm not alone here. After seeing all the rabid ferver at AICN I kind of felt on my own thinking it looked like a suckfest.

[Rabidhunter]

I saw the trailor for Speed Racer at the theater the other day. It was in the new AMC theater in the Twin Cities (the picture and sound is amazing there), the plot and story may not be the greatest, but I remember the old Speed Racer cartoons. The racing and special effects looks amazing though. It would be an awesome movie to show off your Blu-Ray player.

[hardcore_canadian]

as a movie, it should be crap.

But if I've learned anything here, if it looks good, people will watch it...Case in Point, The Matrix. And this movie LOOKS great, cars flipping upside down, colourful and beautiful

[gamer4eva]

this looks like its gonna be the biggest flop of the summer and possibly the whole year i use to love the cartoon but this is just to painful to watch

[PS3FAN]

Originally Posted by EricJ

This week, in "Never ask movie buffs a question you don't want seriously answered in detail":

Fact is, the project's been tossed around since the 90's--
Back when Japanese anime first started making trendy US cult headlines, and to most dopey mainstream execs, "Anime" meant anything dubbed that aired on US TV in the 60's...
So, studios rush to cash in on the young kids' hip new trend with "cool" proposed movie versions of Speed Racer, Astroboy, Akira, Gigantor and Kimba the White Lion. Yep, that was the extent of their cultural IQ where "cutting-edge" Japanese anime was concerned.
(Even when Cartoon Network found anime shows were becoming popular, geez, how many Speed Racer jokes did their other shows drown us in a week??)

As for what happened to the others, you can guess what happened to the Kimba movie...And there may be evidence to prove it.
And...remember when Sandra Bullock says "Sit down, Gigantor!" to the one passenger in "Speed"? Yep--Fox thought they'd have the movie out the next year, and wanted the "viral" plug.
The Akira movie's been in and out of development heck for twenty years (we'll believe it when we see it, Leo!)...And Speed wouldn't have gotten out of its sixth-circle of heck if it hadn't been for that fakie Vince Vaughn rumor to give producers the idea.

(And as for why the Wachowskis, stalled projects that make their last stand ultimately end up getting either the all-out pet-project "artsy-director" version, like the Hulk movie, or the quickie hit-TV-upgrade version, like the DBZ movie...We just happened to luck out with the fancy-director version.)

I did not know that.

[reiella]

Originally Posted by EricJ

So, studios rush to cash in on the young kids' hip new trend with "cool" proposed movie versions of Speed Racer, Astroboy, Akira, Gigantor and Kimba the White Lion. Yep, that was the extent of their cultural IQ where "cutting-edge" Japanese anime was concerned.
(Even when Cartoon Network found anime shows were becoming popular, geez, how many Speed Racer jokes did their other shows drown us in a week??)

Just to be fair here. It was just a cheese-fest tribute for Cartoon Network, they had had Speed Racer on the channel for a good number of years before the breakout of Cartoon Cartoon [one of the first non-Hannah Barbara cartoons on CN if I'm remembering correctly].

Not that I necessarily disagree with the sentiment, just that one example, is more a case of the writers pushing a gag than anything. And well, Toonami (pretty much up until they got rid of Tom) was a much better example of CN capitalilzing on Anime. But that was really what Toonami was about when it was Moltar's show.

[Bobby Henderson]

Speed Racer? Why? Don't know. This isn't quite what I expected the Wachowski brothers to choose for a new movie project. But I'll withhold judgment until the movie is released.

I'm asking the "why" question more about The Incredible Hulk.

Why make another "Hulk" movie only a couple years after the last one was released? It isn't a sequel. Just a totally different take on the material. Yet it's from the same movie studio. The sad thing is the CGI effects in this new movie look a lot more fake than the last one.

[hitechiowa]

i just cant agree with you guys lol i think this movie looks effing amazing! I seriously can't wait to see it. its supposed to look rediculous and not like a normal movie, think how corny the cartoon was with terrible voice acting and the worse animation ever. I think this movie will be unique and I have total faith in the the Wachowski brothers delivering as they did with V and the first 2 Matrix movies