I think if I see one more negative review about Speed Racer, I may cry. Not really, but the response saddens me, and I was finally angered by the reviewer who wrote how happy he was that Speed Racer was failing because that meant that wouldn’t be the future of children movies. Uh…what? Who said it was a children’s movie? Still that malice is rather disheartening.
What exactly is it that reviewers don’t like about Speed Racer?
I’ve read the reviews, and am not sure we watched the same movie. Mostly they seem to rail on the non-linear storytelling above everything. Is it that they’re so set in their ways that whenever something innoventive comes along, they make sure to crush it to bits, to make sure movies don’t evolve. That they want every single movie to follow the same solid formula, and that’s why Ironman gets the props instead? I wouldn’t be so quick to say so, but the possibility arrises. I think they just have a lack of empathy with the target audiance, and an unwillingness to connect. I’ve always shared the thought that reviewers dislike trying new things.
What is the target audiance, as no one seems to establish that? I think it’s for high school and college anime fans and nerds, and young at heart. . Coupled with a sense of humor. Or those of us who want a good movie without needing the R-rating, or it to be dark and depressing. Definitely not for young children or the old reviewers.
The fact remains though the movie is not doing well, and this bonds poorly for any future of live-action anime. It will probably be a short lived fad, and then after one movie is a flop after another as reviewers blast it, turn non-existent.
Whether this is a bad thing, I’m not sure. Since anime relies on, well, animation, does it ruin the idea to turn it into a live-action movie?
But the failure of Speed Racer, and it’s similarity to American animation brings to light another fact. That as of right now, the American entertainment industry is not ready to use anime as a form of entertainment in America. And probably won’t be able to until the generation anime is popular with, ours, becomes the reviewers. Even then, it may not. Anime is not incredibly popular in Japan, it may never become so here, and be left to only have a niche audiance and blasted by reviewers. Only time will tell.
Still, at the current time, I wish they’d lay off poor Speed Racer. It has a much nicer message then The Bee Movie.
CJ
Crisu
Rakuen
Dave
ladytemeraire
innoventive… that’s a pretty innoventive non-word :P
I enjoyed Speed Racer, but at the same time, I have to acknowledge that it wasn’t that great of a movie. The plot was overly simplistic, but dressed up in an attempt to distract us from that truth. What was good were the race scenes, which I’m sure could kill someone high on acid or anyone suffering from epilepsy.
>> The fact remains though the movie is not doing well, and this bonds poorly for any future of live-action anime. It will probably be a short lived fad, and then after one movie is a flop after another as reviewers blast it, turn non-existent.
GOOD. Seriously. We do not need live-action anime, ESPECIALLY not produced by Hollywood, as they will fuck it up. Perhaps I’m just bitter because I can already see the GiTS movie being a pile of ass and fail, but live action anime seldom turns out well.
The only instance in which I can think of that it has is Nodame Cantabile.
@lolikitsune-And a very innoventive post!
@Shirukii-I guess I have to disgress in a way. The plot could have been a lot simplier then it was, and I think they knew that it would have been ridiculos and lost the feel of Speed Racer to make it anything different then simple. They did try to keep it twisting, and mess with it via the non-linear storytelling, even if it never became complex. In the end, I think staying with simple worked well for it. But I do admit I’m a sucker for the theme of the movie, doing what’s right, blah blah blah. And I haven’t seen any movies released this year that I really enjoyed.
Although it probably would have needed a stronger plot to be a success with reviewers, now that I think of it.
But I agree that the race scenes were the best part.
I’ve had mixed feelings about live-action anime, as under my view I shouldn’t diss something until I’ve seen it. But I feel that anime is to be conveyed via animation, and should stay that way. I can’t bring myself to watch the live action Death Note movie.
I actually AGREE witth you, i loved speed racer the movie personally, i don’t get why its getting so much flack! So it released the same day as iron man, so WHAT? Its not a good movie because of that? Please.
It seems like reviewers weren’t sure who this movie is for. About half of them tried to review it for all audiences and dismissed it as a child’s movie, and the other half reviewed it as a child’s movie and dismissed it as too complex. A lot of them took offense with the visuals and likened it to a perversive cereal commercial. And a few critics hated that it starred Emile Hirsch after his starring role into the much acclaimed Into the Wild (which is worth checking out). I personally enjoyed the movie, but I’m uncertain whether or not desensitized college-age kids who are nostalgic for things that came long before they were born are the target audience (The Wachowski brothers call it a “family movie”).
On another note, I think that live-action anime adapted movies in the states are here to stay. It seems that Hollywood is constantly looking for ideas with all the remakes (a remake of a 1992 movie was just announced) and sequels (A Point Break sequel was just announced), and these “Japanese animes” might just provide some. I have to say, the Dragonball movie looks absolutely atrocious, but I have high hopes for the Battle Angel movie (James Cameron directs) due out next year.
@Inuhanyou-It was actually released a week after Iron Man. But glad you agree.
@Human After All-That’s a really good way to word it, about the reviewers. And when you put it that way…kinda makes what I said pretty shaky. My mom said it was aimed at the people who grew up with Speed Racer like her, I’m not quite sure that’s true, but maybe. I just can’t pinpoint it.
First I heard of Battle Angel, actually. My thought was they’re going to need one anime movie to be a huge success, or else it’ll die out. Since the anime formula doesn’t tend to connect with the mainstream crowd, well-But maybe it’ll happen. Probably be some Amercianized version that anime fans dislike. Or maybe not. They kept chugging away at the superhero movies til they got some hits, and stayed pretty faithful to them.
I’ll have to check out Into the Wild, I really liked Emile Hirsch.
Just got back from the theater. My simple verdict is that it SO worked for me, but I’m a loingtime fan. People should ignore the movie review guys and go read some blogs (like this one). People’s kids wanna go again but not all the parents got what they needed.
The screen saver action just never lets up and plays right over some of the best acting. Ya gotta have faith in the actors to back off and let ‘em do their thing when it’s their turn! People come to movies to see people. Those kickass races are supercharged with what the outcome *means* to the characters and the task of delivering that belongs to flesh and blood.
On the upside, that film put me on a bungie leash and slapped my ass around the theater. Holy shift. And if you’re a Speed Racer fan, you’ll spot the cold passages of the film same as a punter except they won’t faze you. You’re pre-loaded with the stuff and you’ll be panting like me at the end of it all.
My top favorite shows “can be enjoyed on many levels” and perhaps this film was *too* true to the original. If you ain’t a kid, you might not get what Speed Racer’s trying to say.
I think that part of it is that reviewers here are a lot more familiar with the superhero genre and formula than with anime. It’s like how Roger Ebert (self-admittedly) gives good scores to anything that reminds him of his childhood (he gave a good score to that CGI movie Toys because the backgrounds reminded him of the old pulp magazines he read). Most reviewers aren’t very well acquainted with anime – to them it’s just cheaply animated violent Japanese cartoons.
If they do have any experience with anime, then it’s with the original Speed Racer. But it’s not necessarily a good one. I know you’re not too keen on reading another bad review, but like Jim Emerson notes, ” For a certain generation of American kids, “Speed Racer” was our introduction to the lo-fi animated form now known as “anime.” At the time, we just thought it was cheapo Japanese animation: flat, static, dubbed into badly translated English and barely “animated” at all. . . To us, this show was just filler between after-school reruns of “Gilligan’s Island” and “The Munsters.” We watched it because it was on, and it was in color.”
@Peter-And I think with that last sentance, you nailed it. It’s just the film is going to go over the heads of kids as well, so it’s struggling to find the people who get it.
@Human After All-Ah, that would answer some things.
And they’re not willing to become well acquainted with anime. Which is understandable, being a reviewer keeps you pretty busy, and having a life on top of that, there isn’t that much time for them to expand their horizons. But where it takes live-action anime will be interesting. Having thought about this for a bit, it’s probably going to just become similiar to what they do when adapting books to movie, especially fantasy novels. Which would mean lots of misses, but when it works, they’ll be amazing.
Yeah, it seems like Speed Racer is doing really bad. It took $120 million to make, and so far has grossed $30 million.
Compare that to “Baby Mama,” which took 30 mil to make and so far has grossed 47 mil. It’s sad, really.
Haven’t watch it yet so I can’t really say. But it would suck if the review was bad if the reviewer doesn’t know jack bout anime and such.
really late comment on this one, but, whatever.
i think one of the main reasons why critics reviewed this film negatively (apart from the much-discussed “they-just-don’t-get-it” argument) is that they were expecting “the matrix” and got something else. i loved the movie since it really did stay true to the original speed racer anime, and it is visually compelling – it looks like something that was taken out directly from someone’s dream, but i know more than to expect depth from it. C’mon, one character’s name is Inspector Detector, for crying out loud. The movie’s fun, entertaining and beautiful; and that’s it.
If there’s any critique to it that I agree to, it’s the fact that it’s just meant for a handful of people, ergo, it’s not a very good investment for the prod company. i know that it was intended to be a family movie, but it appears to be especially made for otaku’s (ahem, us) and fans of the anime, but still, that does not make it a bad movie.