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***SPOILER ALERT***

Go Speed Racer Go! So goes the mantra. Go Speed Racer Go See! So says I. Go see it in the theaters so you can say you did and you see what all the craziness is for yourself. Yes, you read correctly - craziness. I really did not know how to feel throughout the first half of the movie but I knew exactly how I felt during the second half of the movie. With an all star cast of actors and producers, this movie was either going to be full of vigor and vitality or, well, you know.

The writers and producers of the Matrix series and V for Vendetta, the Wachowski Brothers, were the two responsible for Speed Racer. The Wachowski Brothers a self-proclaimed comic book fanatics and started in the Marvel Comics family before entering into the film industry. They are known for taking the special effects and computer animation to the limits.

The actors in this movie include veterans, John Goodman, Susan Sarandon, Matthew Fox, Richard Roundtree and Christina Ricci. It also includes young, up and comer, Emile Hirsch as Speed and introduces Rain, a Korean pop singer and Paulie Litt, best known on Disney Channel. Every actor was well suited for their role and delivered great performances. As in many movies, there are scene-stealers and Paulie Litt did it in Speed Racer. As Spritle, he delivered all the laughs with his antics and reckless abandon.

The other cast members in this film were the costumes and of course the cars. There was a great job done to take care and match the props to that of the animated series. Even the hair and makeup was done to match closely that of the cartoon characters of the original series.

The part of the movie that took a great deal of getting used to was the computer generated backgrounds. The movie done nearly entirely on green screen with CG animation. I applaud the fact that the actors did a phenomenal job making the scenes realistic, no doubt part of the reason such a powerful cast was selected, but the movie was tough to digest in the beginning. Add the over the top plot and cut scenes and you have mass chaos and confusion. I honestly spent the first third of the movie wondering what the hell I was watching - and why.

Eventually I got accustomed to the bright flashing lights and all the pop-up characters and the story started to pick up. One Rex left home the story changed completely. The introduction with Speed as a child left me feeling blah and I really didnt care about what was going on, put I understand it was a necessary part of the story, it just wasnt done very well. After the death of Rex, everything came together. I still had the feeling that I should watch the movie again on something to get a more interesting response but I got in the story more.

The final races were by far the best, this is where the adrenaline kicks in and even though you know how it is all going to end (typical Hollywood endings) you can get caught up in the excitement. When Speeds car flips over the edge of the cliff, you actually gasp for a second.

Overall the movie was a good experience and I highly recommend it to anyone especially if you are a Speed Racer fan but, be forewarned.

Chim Chim Cookies FTW!!

Updates:Speed Racer opened #2 behind...yes you guessed it, Ironman, with just over $50 million. Not bad!

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