Movie review: Speed trap

Entertaining in fits and starts, "Speed Racer" gets the one thing wrong it should get right: its race scenes.

Highly stylized, colorized and otherwise computerized, Andy and Larry Wachowski's (the "Matrix" trilogy) adaptation of the 1960s Japanese anime series bursts with vibrant colors, superimposed images and up-to-the-minute animation technology merged with live action.

It's all there: the whoosh and bash of close-contact racing, the raised-oval sliding, the loop-de-loops. All but the ability to discern what's going on.

As the race cars whiz and jump past, trailing action- obscuring CGI vapor, "Speed Racer" looks like a video game in which the player lacks a car, and therefore a focal point. A scene in which Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch) employs an automatic tire shield to combat a rival's dirty trick is noteworthy not so much for its ingenuity as for its comparative clarity.

The racing scenes, along with a "message" lacking in gravity and a two-hour-plus running time that will try kids' patience, downgrade the PG-rated "Speed Racer" from dazzling to frustrating. But the main characters are likable throughout, starting with the young man behind the wheel of the Mach 5.

Hirsch ("Into the Wild") taps Speed's love for all things fast but also his sense of loss. Speed's older brother and hero, Rex Racer (Scott Porter, from TV's "Friday Night Lights," memorable in a small role), died in a mysterious crash.

Soulful in his fitted racing jacket and slicked-back hair, Hirsch resembles James Dean more than the anime character from the series. His performance, and those of Susan Sarandon and John Goodman as Speed's supportive mom and car-building dad, help ground this hyper-real film in reality. The sense of familial warmth extends to Speed's mischievous little brother, Spritle (a lively Paulie Litt), and Spritle's pet monkey, Chim-Chim.

Christina Ricci, by contrast, gives off a chill as Trixie, Speed's girlfriend. Sporting a Suri Cruise haircut and exhibiting a self-awareness, Ricci seems more intent on replicating the anime look in real life than on giving a performance. Then again, there's not much to her character. Perhaps Ricci focused on the hipness/anime angle to keep herself awake.

Yu Nan makes more of an impact in the small role as the sister of a driver (Korean pop star Rain) who teams with Speed in an effort to fight race-fixing among big sponsors. Leading this fight is Racer X (Matthew Fox, from "Lost"), a good guy in a black mask.

Fox exudes charisma and kindness, but the fight for justice in which he and Speed engage seems, well, minor. In a summer movie season full of superheroes, saving the integrity of racing doesn't seem like much.

The race-fixing angle is revealed – kind of – in a laborious sequence involving the efforts of a corporate bigwig named Royalton (Roger Allam) to charm/coax/bully Speed into accepting his sponsorship. Though Allam compels as a man whose villainous nature seeps through even when he's being complimentary, Royalton's spiel about the history of the sport is as inscrutable as some of the film's race scenes.

The Wachowskis at least throw us a bone during this interlude by intercutting scenes of Spritle and Chim-Chim cavorting in the hallways of Royalton's wondrous, Willy Wonka-esque headquarters. It's funny, but despite the reds-a-poppin' color palette and whooshing animated backdrops of "Speed Racer," the only scenes to inspire curiosity about the creative process are those featuring the expressive Chim-Chim.

As in, how did they get that monkey to act?

Speed Racer

2 stars

CAST: Emile Hirsch, Roger Allam, John Goodman, Susan Sarandon, Matthew Fox, Christina Ricci, Yu Nan, Rain and Paulie Litt

DIRECTORS/WRITERS: Andy and Larry Wachowski DISTRIBUTOR: Warner Bros.

THEATERS: Century (Downtown Plaza, Folsom, Greenback, Laguna, Stadium), Regal (Auburn, El Dorado Hills, Natomas, Placerville), UA Roseville, Holiday Davis, Sierra Grass Valley

135 minutes

Rated PG (sequences of action, some violence, objectionable language and brief smoking)

About the writer:

• Call Bee movie critic Carla Meyer, (916) 321-1118. Hear her discuss the week's movies at 4:40 p.m. on Fridays on NewsTalk 1530 (KFBK). Read her blog at www.sacbee.com/21q.