Ill-Informed Gadfly

“Speed Racer” is a beautifully redundant title, one that might lead even the least demanding moviegoer to expect something swift and light on its feet. Such descriptions have rarely applied to the work of the Wachowski brothers. Even their masterpiece, “The Matrix,” bogged down when the cast sat around spouting portentous dialogue. “Speed Racer” begins with a glorious 15 minutes that establish the major characters, the relevant backstory and the high-octane atmosphere. The Wachowskis use canny and innovative visual techniques as they weave together flashbacks to Speed’s boyhood with his attempt to shatter a track record held by his late older brother. After that rip-roaring start, the movie stalls and sputters. For a PG-rated adventure based on a cartoon, the Wachowskis have constructed a needlessly complicated plot about corporate skullduggery. And they can’t write or direct conversation with any pep or urgency. Still, despite their devotion to computer-generated imagery, they get occasionally subtle work out of their strong cast, which includes Emile Hirsch, Susan Sarandon, John Goodman and Christina Ricci. The actors’ faces have a porcelain smoothness that can only be the result of digital airbrushing – they sometimes appear as cartoonish as everything around them. I think the weirdness of “Speed Racer’s” candy-colored look is partly responsible for the tepid response from audiences, but I found it engagingly fanciful. The movie would really be a gas if it weren’t so slow, “Speed Racer,” slow.

LISTEN: Speed Racer