Short Attention Span Review: Speed Racer (2008)

Short Attention Span Review:  Speed Racer (2008)

Call me crazy, but I think Speed Racer is a masterpiece.  While critics decried it as a noisy and over-saturated mess, I still find it to be a smorgasboard of sonic and visual delights.  Many found the story overly simplistic and derivative, and hard to follow, but I find it to be a clever and stirring representation of the zany cartoon that inspired it.  And while it takes every curve at maximum speed, I think it does a great job of telling a cool story amidst all the wild thrills leaping off the screen.  If you watch Speed Racer the movie expecting to see Speed Racer the movie, I just don't know how you could find this to be anything but a splendid ride that stretchest the boundaries of the medium at every turn.  If you're hoping for Ben-Hur, shit man, go rent Ben-Hur.  This is no classic by critical standards, but as a true blue live action cartoon, it is a marveluos display of imagination and craftmanship.  It also features a host of sound performances, with John Goodman grounding the proceedings, while Emile Hirsch is a solid lead and Matthew Fox oozes cool as Racer X.  There are some incredible cuts and montages, and as crazy as this may sound, you may have to go back to something like Beyond the Valley of the Dolls to see such innovation in the editing of a film.  The action is sensationally choreagraphed and marvelous to behold, and the sound is epic and falls just shy of overwhelming--and there are several key moments when that unmistakable theme makes its way to the forefront to tremendous effect.  I know that most critics and many of my peers think of this as some sort of flop, but I hail Speed Racer as a true classic, and I applaud the Wachowski siblings for their vision and technique.  While The Matrix will probably always be viewed as their finest offering, I'm not so sure that this isn't a superior motion picture.  Call me crazy, but that's where I stand.

Final Grade: A

A kaleidoscope of color and sound, Speed Racer is a vibrant spectacle like no other.  It is a live-action cartoon, and it is incredile.

Short Attention Spane Review - Justice League: Throne of Atlantis (2015)

While Marvel has kicked DC's ass all over the big screen for years now, DC has consistently produced better animated features.  That trend continues with Justice League: Throne of Atlantis, a surprisingly good movie that places Aquaman front and center.  If you just groaned, I feel you.  Aquaman jokes are old hat, and I too initially avoided this one because I just couldn't imagine a tale focused on him being all that good.  Well, I must admit, Throne of Atlantis actually wound up being one of the better animated movies from DC that I've had the pleasure of viewing.  I wouldn't put it up there with a true gem like Flashpoint, but it was highly entertaining.  To be fair, while Aquaman was the man of the hour, the rest of the Justice League were provided with a lot of screen time and therefore this was far from a solo affair.  Batman wound up being the biggest badass in the movie (yawn), but all of the big guns were allowed to shine.  Throne of Atlantis only runs 72 minutes, so it moves at a fast pace and boasts a lot of action and just enough character development to give the piece some weight.  At the end of the day, it felt like the primary thrust of the picture was to welcome Aquaman into the fold and present him as a major player (I reckon that the powers that be at DC aren't big fans of Aquaman jokes) and it certainly managed to do that.  Ideally, Jason Momoa will be able to make an even bigger splash as Arthur Curry when he tackles the role for Zack Snyder.  Regardless, I had a good time with Throne of Atlantis and I think that anyone who likes this type of fare will not be disappointed by it.

Final Grade: B

Color me surprised--Aquaman isn't a total nerd after all.

Short Attention Span Review: Fire and Ice (1983)

 

There was a time when animated features weren't just for kids.  In fact, many countries still produce feature-length animation for mature audiences.  In the late 70s and early 80s, Ralph Bakshi was at the forefront of such cinema here in the states.  In my opinion, his finest offering was Fire and Ice, the groovy cartoon that emerged when Bakshi teamed with legendary artist Frank Frazetta to dream up an action-packed fantasy.  While it brings nothing groundbreaking to the table in terms of plot, the story is serviceable and the characters (Darkwolf in particular) are memorable.  The animation still ranks among the best that I've ever seen, with some exceptionally nimble rotoscoping yielding some sensational setpieces--to include several ultra-cool slow-motion sequences.  The backgrounds are stellar and the color palette is perfect for a fantasy epic.  Anyone with a taste for this type of material will have a blast with Fire and Ice, while those who don't like swordplay, dragons, or cartoons probably won't have a change of heart while watching this one.  Running a mere 81 minutes, Fire and Ice is brisk and lively.  It's glorious to look at, easy to follow, and it is overflowing with adventure and excitement.  There has been some discussion about a live-action adaptation of this piece courtesy of maverick director Robert Rodriguez and I can only hope that there is some substance to those rumors.  If not, at least I still have this kickass cartoon to enjoy.

Final Grade: B+

Conan + Batman = Darkwolf, who is appropriately awesome.

Scooby-Doo Wrestlemania Mystery

So, I watched the Scooby-Doo/WWE cartoon with my son and the rest of the family yesterday.  Asher turned 3 on Saturday and the DVD was one of his gifts.  Anyway, we had a silly good time with it.  There were some good jokes for the older generation along the way, and the whole thing was a lot of fun.  It was a typical Scooby-Doo feature and the WWE angle didn't feel at all out of place.  Some of the choices so far as the wrestlers featured in the cartoon are concerned were interesting; I'm sure it took some time to animate this one and I can only speculate that the WWE expected some of these cats to be more popular than they wound up being.  The production values were nice and the movie was entertaining from start to finish.  Seriously, Ash hasn't wanted to watch anything else since.

If you like the WWE or Scooby-Doo, you'll have fun with this one.