'Racer': Long ride in high gear

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The new live-action "Speed Racer" goes, all right — it goes past the checkered flag of cinema's two-hour mark.

Even die-hard fans of Tatsuo Yoshida's anime series will be taxed by its length, not to mention the kiddie crowd at whom this summer film clearly is aimed.

Nevertheless, those resourceful Wachowski brothers — Andy and Larry of "The Matrix" fame — fuel "Speed Racer" with enough gas to make it an exhilarating, albeit exhausting, ride.

Our car-obsessed hero, Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch of "Into the Wild") is being wooed by a racing corporation eager to add Speed to its roster. Speed already drives for his dad's independent motor company, but signing up with Royalton Industries could set his family up for life.

Mr. Royalton himself (Roger Allam) does all he can to lure Speed into his fold, and the charismatic mogul nearly seals the deal. However, Speed's loyalty to his family and his bruised memories of his brother, Rex, who died in a race years earlier, stop him from signing up.

That revs up the film's conflict, as Royalton seeks to destroy Speed and his family for daring to go it alone. The thin plot is an afterthought, though. The wheels are the draw — gravity-defying race cars that tear across tracks ripped from Salvador Dali's wildest canvas.

"Speed Racer" takes the candy-colored world of 1990's "Dick Tracy" and elevates it to levels only CGI trickery can reach. So it's essential that there's some humanity among the pixelated forms.

Mr. Hirsch's performance consists of looking alternately pained and engaged while behind the wheel, but John Goodman's work as the Racer patriarch provides the film's soul. He's an old-school automaker who sees right through Royalton's sales pitch. The burly actor anchors both the Racer clan and this popcorn vehicle.

Mr. Allam's performance is just as essential, delivering a deliciously evil villain. The actor might be too good for his own good. It's hard not to rally behind his magnetic presence when he's sharing the screen with Mr. Hirsch.

Co-stars Susan Sarandon and Christina Ricci are left with negligible roles, while young scene swiper Paulie Litt provides the young audience's surrogate.

Even when "Speed Racer" gets bogged down with its convoluted plotting, there's plenty to keep us engaged. The film leverages clever screen wipes, oversaturated colors and even Chim-Chim the chimpanzee from the original series.

The Wachowski brothers still have trouble making us laugh. "Speed Racer" contains a few minor chuckles, nothing more. A healthy laugh here and there would have been just the nitrous boost to help "Speed Racer" finish close to "Iron Man" and the summer's forthcoming blockbusters.

**1/2

TITLE: "Speed Racer"

RATING: PG (Comic violence, some disturbing imagery and mild language)

CREDITS: Written and directed by Andy and Larry Wachowski. Produced by Joel Silver, Grant Hill, Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski.

RUNNING TIME: 128 minutes

WEB SITE: http://speedracerthemovie.warnerbros.com/

maximum rating: four stars