The Speed Racer Movie

This Speed Racer movie serves as a good example of what happens when people who don't know what they're doing get a movie budget. I don't remember any scenery in the original Speed Racer cartoon looking anything like what's in this movie. The background is like all Technicolor (in a bad way), and there is simply no room for that. It reminds me of Star Wars: Episode II. That film had too much color, and there was no rhyme or reason for it, whereas in Star Wars color was applied more deliberately and against neutral-colored sets.

Like sound, color played a major role in Star Wars.

For example, Luke Skywalker and Ben Kenobi used light blue lightsabers. Ben and Luke were the good guys, and light blue had softer, friendlier connotations compared to the evil red lightsaber used by the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader. Plus, red coordinated well with Vader's black armor. He also had red buttons on his chest plate, matching his lightsaber.

C-3PO was gold. R2-D2 was white, silver and blue. Their respective colors lent them identity and credibility.

Chewbacca had brown fur. Han Solo wore a black vest with a white shirt and black pants. He even had red ticking down his pants legs. Princess Leia wore all white. Stormtroopers had white armor with black accents.

Every color had a role in Star Wars. This Speed Racer movie, like a lot of poorly-conceived movies, splashes color everywhere willy-nilly without a care in the world. Well, that's just not any good.

Why can't this Speed Racer movie look like the cartoon? Why not just watch the cartoon again and skip this movie? That sounds like a good idea. Skip the movie. Find the cartoon on DVD.