For those who haven’t been paying attention or who don’t own an idiot box, aka TV, Speed Racer, the live action movie, is being released in theaters nationwide May 9th, 2008. I’ve yet to decide if this is a good thing, an okay thing, a “meh” thing or a bad thing.
The first time I saw a Speed Racer trailer was online some months back. My first impression was “Cool!” Since then I’ve readjusted my initial opinion of “Cool” to “Uhhhh” and “Reallly?”, mostly based on trailers I’ve seen on TV. The web trailer I saw was short, well edited and had a “mature” vibe. The ones I’ve seen on TV aren’t.
There are at least four Speed Racer trailers I’ve viewed thus far, and three of those don’t make me want to jump up and throw down $16 to see this thing. If anything, they make me want to stay far, far away from any theater playing Speed Racer since the place’ll be crawling with tiny human larvae, i.e. kids. Is that the main audience for the movie, kids? Because I thought this is the Wachowski brothers we’re talking about. You know, the guys who brought us the Matrix?
I saw a trailer of Speed Racer one Saturday morning, which played over and over, featuring Chimchim and Spritle doing slapstick comic relief. I wanted to weep for how bad this movie turned out if this short preview was any indicator of the quality of the movie.
Truth be told, I will go see Speed Racer in theaters May 9, but not because of the trailers. The trailers have little (some, but not much) to do with my personal decision to see this movie. I’m going because it’s a live action anime, big budget production directed by renown comic geeks and released by a giant American movie studio. That just doesn’t happen every day. Oh, and the visuals look hardcore awesome even if the story seems nonexistent. So despite my visceral reaction to save my hard-earned and forgo opening night on this one, I’m going to be in line May 9th.
How about you? What are your reactions to the Speed Racer trailers? Do they make you want to reserve seats on opening night or do they fill you with the desire to flame the Warner Brother’s website? Are you inspired by the trailers, or do they have the opposite of their intended effect? What effect do the Speed Racer trailers have on your desire to see the movie?
Tell us your thoughts below on the Speed Racer trailers and their effect on your desire to see the movie in theaters!
first comment! Whoot! JUST KIDDING..anywho, I agree, it doesn’t seem like it could respectably be called a movie for adults…I’m suprosed to hear its FINALLY comming out as (like spiderman) the trailers came out ages ago…I thought it was already in theaters…which shows you just how much I care.
I watched the trailer linked and I have no desire to watch it at all. If it ends up being wonderful and storming the internet with rave reviews, I’ll rent the DVD and see what’s up. But I can’t justify spending $16 when the teasers don’t even interest me.
when i saw a trailer at the theater my brother asked me if it was a video game adaptation.
never watched speed racer in my life, i’ll pass on this.
The trailers have a major impact on my desire to see the movie in the sense that they’ve created a major desire NOT to see the movie. I’m first to admit that I’m a really cheesy guy, but from what I’ve seen the movie is too cheesy even for me!
My main worry is that the movie itself will not live up to the wonderfullness of the trailers.
I think it’s the fact that I saw Speed Racer and liked it as stupid fun when I was a kid (reruns… I’m not THAT OLD) and now I have “human larvae” and want to have a fun time reliving my childhood while at the same time bonding with my child (and helping him create childhood memories:).
Speed Racer was always stupid fun. No fair expecting it to be more.
I am Japanese.
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@Marie Turner, I don’t think SR was truly geared to adults. I think it was made for the “family”, i.e. kids go bat-crap over it and adults get to warm themselves in the cheery glow of nostalgia.
@Caitlin, Even if I do put a $16 down payment on 2 hours of crap, I’m content knowing the experience is tax deductible and that I will be getting my 2 hours back….
@dood, I don’t recall watching the anime either, but David did and he assures me the anime was garbage. He hopes fervently the movie is nothing like the series.
@nckl, I too am cheesy, some may even say tacky. I’m curious to see if the movie is too tacky for even my eccentric tastes.
@ViciousWarGoose, ah, so you’re really looking forward to the premiere?
@Shona, stupid fun has it’s place and I indulge in it from time to time. I’m wondering is Speed Racer is supposed to be stupid fun or if it’s aiming higher.
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I saw the cartoon way back when they played it on tv (musta been late 80s early 90s over here)… And it was crap. I watched it even though I thought it was crap… I guess that must mean it was at least watchable.
The trailer you linked looks to be aimed at pre-teens, so I personally wouldn’t expect more than that from the movie, so wont be going myself (Iron Man seems a better bet if I’m inclined to see a comic on the big screen)
As for the Wachowski brothers being involved, I find their stuff to be too hit-n-miss to really imply anything from it…
E.g. The 1st Matrix was great, the 2nd/3rd were wtf (for me they didn’t even make it to watchable level, I only saw them because I liked the first one so damn much)
@Alternator, the trailers are kind of all over the place in terms of target audience; it depends on when and where the trailers play. I can’t find the first trailer I watched, the one with the “mature” vibe, nor can I find that godawful TV spot with the kid and the monkey. The latter trailer was obviously aimed towards kids.
The trailer sickened me. I will not be watching this atrocity.
Ok… Just saw Iron Man the other day, it kicked ass!
(Too bad for all audience members who left before the credits ended and missed the last scene, it was worth waiting through the credits!)
As for Speed Racer my mind is made up not to bother seeing it.
Regardless of adult content hinted at by other trailers, I don’t believe that I would be able to get past the extreme camp shown in the one above to enjoy any thing else in it.
@eviltimes, that’s a lot of vitriol ^^!
@Alternator, see I love camp, I adore it. But it has to be done right, as in everybody’s in on it. I’ll wait and see if I’m in on the campness or if I yawn and leave.