Speed Racer

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Speed Racer

PG

2008

2h 15m

Action

Adventure

Comedy

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Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

42%

Tomatometer

219 Reviews

60%

Popcornmeter

250,000+ Ratings

Born into a family business of race cars, Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch) is one of the track's hot stars. Sitting at the wheel of his Mach 5, he consistently deflates the competition. When Speed turns down an offer from the head of Royalton Industries, he uncovers a secret. Powerful moguls fix the races to boost profits. Hoping to beat the executive, Speed enters the same arduous cross-country race that killed his brother.

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Critics Consensus

Overloaded with headache-inducing special effects, Speed Racer finds the Wachowskis focused on visual thrills at the expense of a coherent storyline.

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William Goss

Film.com

05/29/2013

Amid the overly earnest tone, (almost) squeaky-clean humor and familiar messages about teamwork and integrity is the rare film family that's as strong at the start as they are by the end.

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Peter Bradshaw

Guardian

10/18/2008

2/5

You have to be 12 to like it, and I have to say there is little or nothing here to remind us why we were all quite so excited about The Matrix.

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Tom Charity

CNN.com

10/18/2008

Twelve-year-old boys should be wowed, but for the rest of us, it will depend on your appetite for eye candy.

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Carson Timar

ClapperCast

Nov 15

Not only do The Wachowskis bring one of the best visual identities ever seen in film, but the emotions are operating on just as high a level.

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Chance Solem-Pfeifer

Willamette Week

Apr 3

Behold the racing stripes and lipstick so red they’d make Technicolor blush, and live-action performances (by almost everyone but star Emile Hirsch) reaching for the transcendently unrestrained hysteria of action anime.

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Tina Kakadelis

Beyond the Cinerama Dome

07/25/2023

The Wachowskis’ style is very distinctive, and while The Matrix series is far grittier than Speed Racer, they share the same belief that good people and love are the answer to changing the world for the better.

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01/04/2025

One of the very few Anime to Live-action films made that not only honors the original show, but improves upon it.

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Wirt S

@littleJackPopcorner 3d

I’m blown away and profoundly confused. Therefore I must be viewing fine art.

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Nick M

@Yngnxcv Dec 24

I watched the cartoon. You can tell they were going for the cartoon look, these people made the Matrix. It doesn’t look cheaply made.. great shots, effects, great racing and cuts/editing. If you don’t get its SUPPOSED to be a true live action cartoon, cheesy and colorful, then you may not enjoy it. I’m watching 20yrs later, surprised the effects are good as something released today. Only Negatives - it can be slow and get off topic sometimes during the story.

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Clockwork

@yao_myao Dec 10

Really, underestimated. Don't listen do sbob critics

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Bruno D

@Brunoman2009 Dec 3

Es una película muy aburrida 😒

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Garrett C

@Darnyflarshnift Nov 16

This is the greatest movie to ever exist! Anyone who thinks this is bad doesn’t understand it and film in general!

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Synopsis

Born into a family business of race cars, Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch) is one of the track's hot stars. Sitting at the wheel of his Mach 5, he consistently deflates the competition. When Speed turns down an offer from the head of Royalton Industries, he uncovers a secret. Powerful moguls fix the races to boost profits. Hoping to beat the executive, Speed enters the same arduous cross-country race that killed his brother.

Director: Lilly Wachowski, Lana Wachowski
Producer: Joel Silver, Grant Hill, Lilly Wachowski, Lana Wachowski
Screenwriter: Lilly Wachowski, Lana Wachowski
Distributor: Warner Bros.
Production Co: Warner Bros., Village Roadshow Entertainment, Silver Pictures
Rating: PG (Language|Brief Smoking|Sequences of Action|Some Violence)
Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): May 9, 2008, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 1, 2010
Box Office (Gross USA): $43.9M
Runtime: 2h 15m
Sound Mix: DTS, Dolby SRD, SDDS
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

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