Dan and Jess do a midnight show and offer up a review of Ghost Town, new DVDs releases, complain about almost every Best Picture choice between 1990-99, and rip on the new At The Movies.
Click this link to check it out:
The Radio Dan Show: Midnight Madness
Oh sure, it’s all over but the crying for Speed Racer at the box office. The $140 million (or so) would be summer blockbuster is now looking like an all time bust. And if that’s not bad enough it’s also sitting at a pathetic 35% on RottenTomatoes.com (a critica roundup website). But the funny thing here is that everyone is wrong. Yep. All of ‘em.
Now I’m not going to sit here and tell you that Speed Racer is a perfect film or not without its flaws. Yes, it is too long. The movie runs two hours and 9 minutes long. Way too long. Someone needed to go in there and cut about 30 minutes out of it. Keep all that extra stuff for the DVD extras. No one wants a kids movie, and make no mistake this is very much a kids movie, that is over two hours.
Another problem is the story is convoluted. Absolutely. I’m sure my nine year old daughter did not understand a good part of what was going on. There’s just too much plot. The second act feels bloated and by the time we are in act three it seems like we should be going home.
All that considered I liked Speed Racer. The special effects are great and the races are fun to watch. The story was too convoluted for my kid, but I could follow along just fine. Emile Hirsch stars as titular character, a young auto racing phenom in a family that is devoted to the sport. After winning a race he is courted by a giant corporation that wants to sponsor him. Now here is where the plot thickens, and I mean thicken.
Things are complicated by the mysterious Racer X (Matthew Fox) who seems to be some sort of racing secret agent. He works for some organization that is intent on getting rid of the corruption brought on by the major coprorations involved in racing. So sometimes Racer X is racing along side Speed, sometimes he’s doing a James Bond impression burning down the road and shooting at bad guys. When Racer X and Speed end up getting involved in some ridiculous cross country race that is full of dirty cheaters for the sake of beating bad guys, it’s a bit much. And a lot to explain to your kid.
And this movie is for your kid. Not you. The violence is very cartoonish and the dialogue isn’t far behind. The characters are very broad and big. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Directors, the Wachowski Brothers, essentially deliver a live action cartoon. Anyone who was expecting the seriousness of say Iron Man, will be disappointed.
And perhaps that is part of the problem. Perhaps peoples own expectations helped derail any chances of success Speed Racer had. All too often people complain about the movie they didn’t get instead of accepting the one they did. I have a feeling that is part of what happened here. For me that didn’t add into the equation. And it’s too bad. Speed Racer is fun and deserved a better fate than hanging out in the same category as The Golden Compass. I didn’t watch the show Speed Racer when I was a kid. I didn’t like it. It seemed serious and I remember cars exploding and wondering about the people who were inside and how they must have died. Though I can confirm that no such worries be applied here. Cars exploded but people seem to survive them one way or another. Surviving the summer box office is another story.
New show episode of The Radio Dan Show.
Click this link to check it out:
The Radio Dan Show: Do You Even Like Movies?
Jessica is still in Arkansas, PHD Guy calls in, and a caller questions whether or not I even like movies at all. Madness!
- Dan
