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The Wachowski brothers’ Speed Racer is not for people who love racing, people who love violence or perhaps even really for people who love action. Their Speed Racer is made for the people who love cartoons. I can’t say if it perfectly captures the original anime since I’ve never seen more than a few minutes of it, but I can unequivocally say that this movie perfectly captures the feel of a cartoon. What 2005’s Sin City did for comic books, Speed Racer does for cartoons – it brings the medium to live action life without sacrificing any of the fun and singular style that made it such a distinctive art form. In the world of Speed Racer, even the explosions are cartoony. Shot almost entirely on green screen, the film is an invigorating, daring and over the top mash up of anime, video games and sci-fi retro future style. Designing a hypercolor, candy coated ‘Pop Art’ world that is imaginatively unrealistic, the Wachowskis have created one of the most original films you’ll ever see. The look might be just too false for some of the more cynical audience members – this makes 300 look like a low budget snuff film by comparison - but those willing to embrace their inner child will find a fantastically wonderful feast for the senses in all of Speed Racer’s 120 plus minutes.

It’s hard to talk (or even care) about things like plots and performances with all this entertaining visual flair in your face – but surprisingly both are carried out just fine. With all the green screen one might expect the acting to be wooden and soulless, but the top notch cast brings realistic performances even amidst all the eye popping effects. And with their screenplay, the Wachowskis have moved the Speed Racer story into familiar territory - with its central theme of rebelling against the powers that be (in this case big business) that force conformity and watered down mediocrity on the world - the same ideas that formed the back bone of their last projects, V for Vendetta and the Matrix trilogy. But as part of their all ages strategy, a new premise is added into the mix; family first. The Racer family truly works as a bonded and loving unit, sticking together in ways that may seem trite to the pessimistic but will ring true for those raised on Disney’s moral center. The tender moments probably won’t win the cast any awards or cause any audiences to tear up, but there is a heart to the film. It’s being smothered under piles and piles of CGI special effects, but the heart is there and it is beating.

But on to the true achievement of the film - the amazing imagery and effects. The world the brothers have created is truly unlike anything ever seen. Everything onscreen is utterly exaggerated; the evil Royalton Industries headquarters, for example, is so vast as to defy rationality. Never afraid to go too far, the film borrows a bit from Dick Tracy in how the villains are so easily identified by how they dress and look, and the heroes seem to always be standing on a metaphorical glowing pedestal. The racing sequences are like Mario Kart on steroids - with lush backgrounds, ever-present loops and gleefully improbable twists and turns - throwing any attempt at physics straight out the window. When the dangerous cross country rally that makes up the middle of the film begins, an exciting new element is thrown into the mix, something the filmmakers have labeled “Car Fu”. Not nearly as lame as it sounds, the sight of colorfully costumed drivers literally using the cars themselves as weapons to battle it out as they race along at logic defying speeds is something that must be seen to be believed. Relentlessly entertaining, cheerfully fantastical and hell bent on being the most fun you’ll have at the movies this summer, Speed Racer is a true – and truly awe-inspiring - original.

Grade: A

- Jeff Latta