GetDaGoss - Here Is Why Speed Racer Bombed:

2008-05-20 23:38:28 -

I saw Speed Racer Sunday night at my local multi-plex on their IMAX screen.

Considering all the bad reviews and last week's dismal opening in 3rd place behind Iron Man (2nd week) and What Happens in Vegas - I went in with low expectations. What I surprisingly got was a very entertaining film pumped full of adrenaline - it easily gave its audience a welcome escape from reality for a couple hours. The children in the theater were actually cheering.

Now, I won't bore you with a review that you can find on countless other Websites, but I will speculate on the reasons that make it the first big-budget (est. $160M budget) bomb of the summer movie season. Here are my main reasons:

* Bad Timing - just following a record breaking opening for Iron Man, school not being completely out for much of their junior and high school audience, and Mother's Day (I know my mother doesn't want to see it, does yours?) didn't help them at all.


* BAD Casting - I give Emile Hirsch credit for being likable and charming, but he might not be quite ready to carry a summer action flick. Also, the 61-year-old actress, Susan Sarandon, has no business playing a mother to a teen-aged Speed - and especially not to his pre-pubescent brother, Spritle. Just because she's shacking up with the much younger Tim Robbins does not mean she can play much younger roles on the big screen. Against the slick CGI on the gigantic IMAX screen, her deep and plentiful wrinkles were horrifyingly magnified a thousand times. Finally, when will Hollywood realize that Christina Ricci is not a glamour girl and should not be playing romantic leads? She's was much better suited with the pig snout and being hidden away from society as she was in her title role in Penelope. Blacklist that casting director, pronto!


* Speed Who? - The last main reason is that the film is based on a cartoon that played mainly in the '60s and '70s and is not that familiar with today's children with short attention spans.



I still don't know why it got such a beating by the film critics. I realize at 2 hours and 20 minutes, it might be a little long for little kids with weak bladders and zero patience, but it was definitely a fun, wild ride.