Speed Racer

Aroview: The Wachowskis(THE MATRIX) take the wheel in this hyperactive version of 60s animation series SPEED RACER, with the eponymous hero (Hirsch) battling malevolent corporate forces for supremacy in a space-aged racing league.

Transposing the Japanese pop-aesthetic to a live-action context (albeit, under green-screen surroundings, a la SIN CITY), the directors achieve the look and feel of anime with great synergy, overzealousness and panache – sure to invoke great nostalgia for LSD futurism (i.e. TRON) and Saturday morning cartoons. Although oddly toned and ambivalent as entertainment for either children or adults, this can be enjoyed on basic narrative terms, turbo-boosted by the Wachowski’s striking, if headache-inducing, three-dimensional visuals.