I was never a big fan of Speed Racer growing up.  Looking back, I can probably connect that to the fact that I’ve never liked Anime.  Having said that, I’ve seen at least of couple of episodes and know the theme song by heart, which was enough to qualify me to see the big screen version of Speed Racer.

The Racer family revolves around racing.  Pops Racer designs and builds the cars.  Rex Racer, (Speed’s older brother), races them, and young Speed idolizes his older brother and is totally preoccupied with racing.   When Rex is killed in a cross country rally, the Racer family almost falls apart.  But they pull it together and Speed grows up and fills his brothers shoes as the racing Racer of the family.

When an evil racing sponsor offers the Racers the opportunity of a lifetime and Speed turns him down, we are introduced to the seedy underbelly of the racing world.  Races are fixed and racers are eliminated all in the name of big business.  The mysterious Racer X is waging a one-man war against the racing bosses and recruits Speed to help.  Which brings us to two thrilling race sequences - the earlier mentioned cross country rally that killed Speed’s brother and the Grand Prix.  Will the good guys defeat the racing profiteers?  Will Speed win the ultimate race?  You’ll have to see the movie to find out.

I was excited to be able to take my two boys, (ages 6 and 8), to see Speed Racer since it is rated PG, (unlike most of the summer fare which is PG-13), and they loved it.  My six-year-old wanted to see it again as we were leaving the theater.  Aside from some minor foul language, a middle finger, and some possibly scary situations for really young kids, the movie is a winner in the family feature genre.

Directed by the Wachowski brothers, (the Matrix), the film has a truly unique look and feel to it - one that may not work for all viewers, but I found it very cool to watch.  The racing scenes are thrilling, and you want to stand up and cheer for Speed in the final race.  The fight scenes are fun to watch, but you really need to suspend your disbelief before walking into the theater.

The ensemble cast helps make the movie work so well, with John Goodman and Susan Sarandon and Pops and Mrs. Racer.  Scott Porter (Friday Night Lights) plays Rex, LOST’s Matthew Fox is Racer X, Christina Ricci (Sleepy Hollow) plays Trixie and Emile Hirsch is Speed.  Comic relief is provided by Paulie Litt as Speed’s younger brother Spritle and his simian companion, Chim Chim.

Speed Racer has humor, drama, action and, of course lots of racing.  It’s a fun, family film that mom and dad should like just as much as the kids do, which is a rare thing, and it gets a solid B rating from me.