Speed Racer

(USA/Great Britain/Germany, 2008, 134 minutes)

A young race car driver running with his small family outfit in a world where racing is controlled by media corporations gets unwittingly involved in a big case of corporate espionage. Outrageously silly cartoonish actioner opening up a cult animated TV series of the 1960s; no expense has been spared to make it a perfect live-action translation of the series, but it's so empty-headed only kids might be interested, and even those might fidget at the overlength.

Warner Bros. Pictures presents, in association with Village Roadshow Pictures, a Silver Pictures production in association with Anarchos Productions; a co-production between Velocity Productions and Sechste Babelsberg Film. Starring Emile Hirsch, Christina Ricci, John Goodman, Susan Sarandon, Matthew Fox, Roger Allam, Paulie Litt, Benno Fürmann, Hiroyuki Sanada, Rain, Richard Roundtree, Kick Gurry. Directed by Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski; produced by Joel Silver, Grant Hill, Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski; screenplay by Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski, based on the animated series Mach Go Go Go, created by Tatsuo Yoshuda; music by Michael Giacchino; director of photography (Technicolor, widescreen), David Tattersall; production designer, Owen Paterson; costume designer, Kym Barrett; film editors, Zach Staenberg, Roger Barton; visual effects supervisors, John Gaeta, Dan Glass.