Speed Racer trailer (for better or worse, it's what anime looks like in real life)

Saw it this weekend..."Cool Beans" (haven't heard that in ages)...I had low expectations, and honestly it was ok...Not WOW, but ok...I liked that it was true to the original (ie. Rex Racer/Racer X)...I thought Trixie would have been taller and thiner, but Ricci was pretty hot and sexy so that was aight...I too thought the asian guy couldn't act but his sister was hot and left satisfied...

A little too pyschadelic for me, but the racing part was pretty cool and true to W bros, a lot of kung fu fighting...I will take me son to see it as he'd like it...

 

I haven't seen this flick yet, but I've been thinking about why it flopped at the box office, even given the viewer's polls (averaged a B on Yahoo).

I think there are a couple of different reasons.

For one, it's all about marketing. I've seen good movies that had horrible trailers, which cause the movie to flop. I think Speed falls in the same category. Now, I don't think that the trailers were bad, but I do think they were poorly managed. I think a buildup much like Cloverfield would have gone over a lot better. They showed way too much of Speed Racer's effects, which allowed the haters to pre-judge the movie and decide against it.

I also think that there is some hate going on against the Wachowski brothers, since their Matrix sequels didn't live up to expectations.

Anyway, you add up those two reasons and you get a box office flop. It's too bad, because most folks are saying it's decent.

 

I think the critics killed this thing. If you read the reviews on Friday morning, unless you were really committed to going to see this movie, you likely weren't gonna go pay for it.

 

Maybe I missed it, but I think the marketing should have included running the cartoons on some kid friendly channel.

 

kids don't know who speed racer is

 

Yeah, perhaps this movie was just too esoteric.

 

could you imagine how goofy it must seem if you weren't into speed racer? racer x? wtf, that's a storyline that really develops over the entire speed racer series.

 

saw this at IMAX, I am going out of the limb to say this.....

I don't know a lick about the series itself, I only knew it as the late MTV cartoon they always showed and Beavis and Butthead making fun of them. This is the best movie along with Definitely, Maybe as the best movie nobody will see this year.

I still had low expectations after reading the reviews here, and I thought it was great. It is what it is, a summer popcorn flick movie, kind of like a Jerry Bruckheimer film. I really did think it bombed cause of the release date, it was released anytime after June, before mid August, it would have fared ALOT better.

Ricci was hot, and Matthew Fox should get as much props as he can get for his performance.

Spoiler

is it really true that we didn't know the Racer X's history up until the movie? The scene where Racer "revealed" himself, someone in the audience was shouting "IVE BEEN WAITING THIRTY YEARS FOR THIS!!!"

all in all, good movie, if u get the chance, watch it on the IMAX, was pretty intense and just beautiful to watch on the giant screen.

 

i agree.

this is the best movie i've seen this year and liked it better than iron man. everything about this movie was so surreal... the storyline, the characters, the imagery. it was just flat out trippy. wonderful break from all of the serious, independent, beige/off-white movies that have come out in the last year or so.

can definitely see the warchdohfeoai;fd;lkh bros' influence in this. speed and neo share some characteristics.

 

kids aren't wowed by trippy. this was like a bugsy malone movie. kids will watch it and like it but they won't bug their parents to see it.

if they made a R rated movie it might have hads greater success.

 

I've heard good responses from this, but it's netflix for me. Already saw Iron Man twice and the SO wants to see it with me, too.

Meanwhile, McDonads has 70 million happy meals to sell your kids and Target and Wal-Mart have walls of speed racer toys to sell to the group of 3 million that actually saw the movie.

Should have banked on Iron Man (but I guess I can't blame them, what corporation heard of Iron Man before, at earliest, the superbowl?).

 

Spoiler

All of us oldies who watched the series knew all about Racer X's history.

 

Spoiler

All of us oldies who watched the series knew all about Racer X's history.

Spoiler

yeah for anyone who spent any amount of time with the show as a kid was well away of Racer X and his connection.

Still on the fence about this movie, checking it out that is. May watch it this weekend but I'm probably leaning towards waiting for it on DVD

 

Good to know. I don't watch many movies now, and based on the reviews this didn't make the cut. But next time I pass an IMAX I'll check this out.

 

This movie is all visual. The theater experience counts with this one. See it in the theater.

 

Yeah I kind of figured as much and I have no problem with big showy hair thin story movies but i'm just worried its going to lose it's appeal esp. since the movies 2 hrs long

 

I hear ya...but the appeal is the visual. And the nostalgia.

Having said that, my kids loved it...and they had no idea who Speed Racer was. My younger boy is 3 and he loves cars...he can't stop talking about Speed Racer. We ordered the first two seasons of the original cartoon off Amazon and he loves it.

 

Spot on . . . . The story was weak
and acting was barely adequate

The Visuals were spectacular . .. but toward the end
I was bored

Rocket River

 

This movie is dying. People are just not interested enough in it. According to IMDB, the budget was $120mill. Geez that's a lot of money.

 

I guess that's why I haven't seen it yet. I -want- to see it, but it's not a burning need for me, which is what it takes to get me in the theater these days.

I'm worried that this will hurt the ability of the Brothers W to do action flicks in the future. I loved the Matrix, really liked the sequels, and I'd like to see them do some other similar stuff in the future.