Along with Iron Man it could be said Speed Racer marks a trend of character actors being deployed to fill out roles in summer blockbusters this year. Any comparison between the two movies essentially ends here, though it’s fair to say Speed Racer does go some way to meeting the fun quotient required of silly season movies. Reading an article with Christina Ricci recently she corrected a misconception of her that she is interested in art, or the artistry in her movies, her primary concern is how much she is getting paid. And just as much as any of us perform our jobs with such objectives I choose to respect her for this and still see some talent in how she, and the rest of the cast ably lend some themselves to portraying cartoon characters in a movie so unapologetically aimed at creating a live action version of the cartoon and little else.

The first of a psychadelic image spiralling at us from the screen, my company turned to me and told me how he was worried he might suffer motion sickness during the movie. Aside from this side effect there are a number of health warnings that should come attached to this movie. First and foremost I don’t know when I was last so annoyed by a character as Speed’s younger brother. I don’t even care what his name was so let’s call him Scrappy, the hammy over acting, irritant made my skin peel and the 2 ¼ hour running time would have been well served by having his character cut or at the very least have the story see him and his stupid monkey mangled in a car wreck. Next up is a danger of some form of fit or seizure at how busy the film is. Only for a brief few minutes does the camera sit still, other wise every conversation, action, movement and furl of an eye brow is accompanied by panning rotating heads, split screens, flashes, stupid kids flying through the air and CSI type cross sections. One benefit does come to mind - if you feel you have become desensitised to colour in any respect, then go see this movie - the wardrobes, the animated backgrounds, and most of all the rollercoaster cataclysm of colour for each races overflows in rich colour. Insert here any relevant comparison with drugs or alcohol induced experiences you may have had. The combination of this crazy arcade museum of colour and action surely has some sinister motive of maybe trying to subliminally convince you to forgive the Wachowskis for the Matrix sequels, moreso the effect is to leave you so dazed and confused you will be unsure whether you like the film or not or in this writers case unsure he could find the words to describe it all coherently.

The start to the film is slow, helped along by a taster of the races to come, we get our exposition through an excessively cut flash back and forwards introducing the characters and back story. Next Speed, rising star that he is, is caught up between family loyalty and mega sponsor perks before events see him racing to defend his family and achieve self fulfilment. Now I was surprised at how much story there actually is, with there being as much as a 4 part structure to the film. The only thing is said plot is intensely boring and the overly verbose badly accented villains, and vanilla family life of Speed means all this story telling resembles scraping nails on a blackboard and takes us away from the race track and increases the possibility of that stupid kid being on screen. The movie comes to life when the starter pistol fires at the beginning of each race – the trailers may have had you recoiling at the synthetic look to the film but the action is wholeheartedly of another futuristic world. This allows you accept the boldness and flare of the racing and enjoy it, and the excellent thrill rides they are, especially the final Grand Prix race.

So against all my instincts I lasted the running time and will go as far as saying I enjoyed the movie. There are genuinely moments where you may question the price of the cinema ticket as some of the mania unfolds on screen and Speed Racer being second off the starting blocks this summer cannot stand up to the standard set by Iron Man, but it successfully underachieves and these are the terms under which I give it it’s rating. A fan of the series, certainly see it, a movie fan interested in the style and delivery of the movie then venture out, however if your cinema trips are anyway rare or you’re looking for a teaser to coming attractions this summer you will be left wanting.