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Speed Racer

In the early 1970s when I was about 4 years old, I worshiped Speed Racer. Decades later I didn't bother seeing the Wachowski Bros.' remake, because I was confident it was a $200 million Hollywood ruination of the original, much like nearly every mega-budget Hollywood remake of an old cartoon. (Underdog, The Flintstones, especially The Grinch, etc.). Then my friend Panik Bedlam of mine made he watch the remake, and I was ASTOUNDED. The Wachowskis unquestionably made Speed Racer as a labor of love. They put enormous effort (and budgets) into creating an exact recreation of the original Speed Racer – and they succeeded. It was cheesy, silly, exciting, flashy, and it had nothing whatsoever to do with real life racing – exactly like the original cartoon. All of the characters were dead on recreations of the originals, acting their roles completely straight, which made their absurd behaviors and actions genuinely funny and entertaining – EXACTLY like the originals! This is an amazing re-creation of the original Speed Racer, which was silly, cheesy, and outrageous. And this, I think, is why the movie was an enormous box-office failure. Quite simply, outside of the fans of the show from 40 to 50 years ago…who on Earth would remember Speed Racer? Kids would have no clue what it is, and most adults would not go out of their way to see a movie based on a weird 1960s and 1970s cartoon.

As far as strange movies go, the Wachowskis' Speed Racer is a must see for being one of the most amazing wastes of Hollywood money ever made – a waste of money that is worth watching.