In Which I Discuss Failure

Specifically, the creative and commercial failure of Speed Racer. I don’t particularly enjoy writing nasty reviews of movies–some critics really get off on tearing a film down; I just find it depressing–but I couldn’t help myself this time. One thing I would like to emphasize here, though, since I didn’t get a chance to in my piece: I respect the idea behind this movie, namely its cartoonish look. As I said in my review,

Stylistically, the film had great potential and was certainly a bold experimental project. The Wachowskis spent nine figures creating a flesh-and-blood cartoon. I don’t mean a live-action adaptation of a cartoon, something akin to the abominable Scooby Doo franchise. No, the Wachowskis, with the aid of CGI and limited only by their own imagination, crafted a world that looks like a cartoon but is inhabited by real people. It is, to say the least, an interesting aesthetic.

The problem is, it just doesn’t work. Imagine the horrible green screens that dot the last three Star Wars films on steroids. The Wachowskis deserve praise, I guess, for trying something entirely over the top–as well as scaring studio execs from trying to produce anything that looks this horrible ever again.