Why Don't I Care About Speed Racer?

By all accounts, I should be excited about the upcoming Wachowski Speed Racer movie. It has the sort of special effect driven spectacle that usually fires up my testosterone, it's got a respectable directing pedigree, and the subject is firmly behind the soft, glazed lens of childhood nostalgia. Except that's not how it's worked out. I find myself so entirely apathetic to the film that to say I have zero interest in it is to somehow understate my lack of emotion.

I've seen the trailer a few times now and it leaves me cold. It seems like an earnest take on the cartoon and maybe that's the problem. While a show like Starsky & Hutch suffered when converted into an over-the-top slapstick buddy comedy, perhaps Speed Racer suffers from the reverse treatment.

Another problem may be something I will term the Cool World effect. The film is so green-screen dependent that the outrageous backgrounds and stunts are unreal to the point that they don't feel grounded in any sort of reality. The racing scenes in the trailer don't excite me because they have no weight, no physical sense. I can't suspend my disbelief.

Prince Caspian, on the other hand, has undergone the reverse transformation. Originally, I had no interest in the film at all. I was a bit underwhelmed by The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe- I liked it but didn't love it. This sequel had dropped off of my radar entirely. Until now. The trailer has turned me around completely. Now, I'm excited to see it.

Prince Caspian and Speed Racer have nothing in common. However, the former film appears to take place in a real location, even if that location is fantastic. The latter does not. It looks like exactly what it is: actors pantomiming in front of some whiz-bang graphics. Maybe I'm just getting old, but that's no longer enough (if it ever was) to entice me into the theater. So, I'll go see Prince Caspian and save Speed Racer for Netflix, if I can rouse myself enough to put it into my queue.