Go Speed Racer Go!!!!

Just got home from seeing Speed Racer. As a kid the one cartoon I spent hours pretending to be a part of was Speed Racer. I had a Matchbox car that looked a little like the Mach 5 and that's all I needed, that toy traveled over beds, under them, through curtains and up and down couches as Speed and the Mach 5 filled all my childhood desires for speed and adventure.


So I guess you could say I was looking forward to the big screen adaptation. I gotta say they did a great job making the movie like the original cartoon series. The CGI world created is unlike anything I've seen at the cinemas before. The thing that amazed me most was how the real life actors made themselves look so much like the original cartoon characters, that side of it was what made the whole thing so enjoyable.

I don't know how many people will think Speed Racer was fantastic, but I did! I've read somewhere that this movie's for kids or old school fans of the show so I guess I fall into the later.

So much goes on (you can tell it's made by the makers of the Matrix), and sometimes it's like a sensory overload. In some ways I think the movie is made with car racing fans in mind because I think only those use to watching cars dash around a track, and different colours of teams merge together on TV or the track will be able to follow certain scenes in the movie. The car race scenes are very intense, and I loved it!

Cars have been a huge part of my life, mostly from the influence of my father, but some parts of this movie really sum up my passion.

The Racer family is passionate about their cars, it's their total lives... in the same way it's part of mine. Driving a car isn't just driving a car to me, it's an experience tied really closely to who I am. Rex tells Speed at the start of the movie to stop steering and start driving, to listen to what the car is telling him and that the Mach 5 isn't just a machine, it's something that can talk to him. Driving is a bit like that for me - maybe it's why I don't mind travelling so far to work and church - and though my Lancer is just a machine, it's a highly complex one, with so many moving parts which suddenly become an extension of my body when I put my hands on the wheel.

I learnt how to steer a car when I was 16, but sometime later I started 'driving', sometimes it does just feel like the car is listening as I drive it.

Speed Racer sure has ignited many passions with in me, the movie has captured many of the feelings I have for cars, I guess that's why I liked it so much!