Here we are in the midst of the summer blockbuster season, and its time to reflect on how are you choosing to spend your movie experience. Perhaps you’re giving M. Night Shyamalan yet another chance to impress you with his new found “R” rating coupled with a throwback sci-fi menace that will leave you longing for Donald Sutherland’s point and scream at the end of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”. Or perhaps you’re watching Hulk Version 2.0 smash things twice as efficiently with 60 percent less character growth and 98 percent more references to upcoming Marvel movies. Speaking of which, when exactly did early product branding (AVENGERS MOVIE OUT 2011) somehow get repackaged as fan-friendly referencing (Look, Captain America just waved at the Hulk!!)? If DC follows Marvel’s lead and I get a “Dark Knight” post-credit stinger of Superman and Green Lantern eating a sandwich, I’m going to scream.
But I digress, the point is this: amidst all the splendor of the studio tent-pole films raking in the cash, there has been one casualty, that of young Speed Racer. While Indiana Jones whips his ass out of retirement for the 300 million mark, Speed Racer has failed at the box office in every country its been released in, with only Japan left as a potential success (which would be fitting, given the show’s origins). Maybe by now you’ve heard the talk of your peers telling you that Speed Racer is too long, aimed at audiences with the attention span of hummingbirds, outlandishly cartoonish or just plain bad. Well, it stands to reason that these people are not your friends, nay, they are the voice of the predictable movie-going audience. I say is easy to be lazy and give Speed Racer a pass for all the wrong reasons. Back when the movie first came out WAMG‘s Travis gave the film a positive review, and I’m here on my knees in the dirt to back him up with 5 final reasons why you should give the obvious choices a rest this weekend and throw Speed Racer a little charity on its way out the door: