Go, Speed Racer, Go!

LibrarianThorne

This movie came out last week. If you've not seen it, here's a brief description:

Speed Racer is the son of Mom and Pops and part of Racer Motors, a small independent racing team. Following in the footsteps of his brother Rex Racer (later killed in the Casa Cristo race), Speed becomes one of the top racers in the country in his car, the Mach 5. Courted by Royalton motors, Speed goes on to discover the corruption endemic in the World Racing League. Aided by the mysterious Racer X, Speed goes on to challenge in the greatest race of them all, the Grand Prix...

Some will say this is a kid's movie. They're right. Some will say this movie is colorful and they're right, too. This movie is also goddamned excellent and a visual feast unlike anything else released this year. This is a movie that revels in schlock and fun and joy.

This movie also features John Goodman and the word "Nonja." What are you doing reading this post? Go see Speed Racer.

HadjiQuest

Ohh man I need to take a nap so I can go see this later tonight.

Aridhol

LibrarianThorne wrote: »

What are you doing reading this post? Go see Speed Racer.

Because no one else has!


http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20199172,00.html?iid=top25-20080511-%27%27Speed+Racer%27%27+crashes+at+the+box+office
Speed Racer Crashes at the Box Office

[Tycho?]

I've heard it wasn't very good. The dialog is apparently terrible, and rotten tomatoes gave it under 40% (although the fans seemed to have liked it).

Cantido

I don't watch things that make me sink in my chair.

BigBear

I still wonder why they bothered making this in to a movie. I bet most kids today don't even know who the hell Speed Racer is.

I mean, he hasn't even been on TV since what, reruns in the early 90s?

devoir

Cantido wrote: »

I don't watch things that make me sink in my chair.

This is the best insult for a movie I have ever seen.

BigBear wrote: »

I still wonder why they bothered making this in to a movie. I bet most kids today don't even know who the hell Speed Racer is.

I mean, he hasn't even been on TV since what, reruns in the early 90s?

I'm 22, and I only very vaguely remember it being on.

HadjiQuest

BigBear wrote: »

I still wonder why they bothered making this in to a movie. I bet most kids today don't even know who the hell Speed Racer is.

I mean, he hasn't even been on TV since what, reruns in the early 90s?

Yeah.

But this remake has been in pre-production hell since even before that.

My opinion is they missed their opportunity with Generation X and the Speed Racer nostalgia wave of the 90s.

Also, it feels like most of these critics have never seen Speed Racer to begin with, as it sounds like their expectations were pretty high.

Kevin Smith and that whole wave of ironic, witty hipster-isms taking on pop culture would've pushed it that much further.

Not saying that stuff's not still around, as it never really went away, it just toned itself down and moved on to later trends.

Olivaw

John Goodman fights ninjas in this movie

How can anyone not want to see that

Nohbody8

Olivaw wrote: »

John Goodman fights ninjas in this movie

"More like non-jas."

Cantido

devoir wrote: »

Cantido wrote: »

I don't watch things that make me sink in my chair.

This is the best insult for a movie I have ever seen.

Remember 21? I got exited for when Amon Tobin played, but I wanted the main character to go to jail and get raped to death. Instead he got away with everything and got into Harvard.

I sunk down into the floor and shall be lifted nevermore.

-SPI-

The trailer was so colourful it made me want to vomit. Sitting through a full feature length film of that would probably make me go blind.

LondonBridge

Wow, did not expect the film to do so poorly. Though it did have a lot of effects it still had a lot of faults.

1. For a kid's movie, its long and complicated.
2. Had some very slow scenes.
3. Speed Racer is a very old cartoon from the 1960s. The movie should have been made during its nostalgic hype back in the 90s when it was replayed on Mtv.

I have a question about the first trailer though. Is the music used on the soundtrack or another CD that I can buy?

http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/speedracer/trailer1a/large.html

Qingu

I would not recommend seeing this movie without drugs.

Or maybe not at all. Jesus Christ.

I have a theory that the movie is actually an elaborate way for the Wachowski brothers to make fun of the studio executives who floated the idea of a Speed Racer movie.

Edit: by the way, you've all literally ruined the best and possibly the only redeeming part of this movie.

Gihgehls

I smoked ganja and had a few drinks at City Walk before seeing this on IMAX and it was fucking awesome.

LibrarianThorne

[Tycho?] wrote: »

I've heard it wasn't very good. The dialog is apparently terrible, and rotten tomatoes gave it under 40% (although the fans seemed to have liked it).

Don't trust critics. I'm of the opinion, particularly in regard to Speed Racer, that the Wachowski's previous work made critics expect something like the Matrix and not something like Speed Racer. For my part, I think that the Wachowskis reveled in the fact that they got to make a bright, colorful movie and this was a total 180 from previous expectations (Matrix and sequels were dark/green, and V was just dark).

The dialog is, for the most part, actually pretty solid, particularly John Goodman's and Susan Sarandon's interactions, as well as her interactions with Emile Hirsch. Sure, the little kid is annoying but dammit, that little fucker was annoying in the show too so I'll chalk that up to the Wachowskis staying true to the source material.

What sells it are the special effects, I think. It's been some time since a movie this bright and colorful was made, and given that every other big movie this summer will be grim, dark, and largely colorless you should see Speed Racer for a change of pace.

Also, because it can't be emphasized enough: John Goodman fights ninjas.

Æthelred

Will this do in place of an F-Zero / Wipeout movie for now?

Kartan

Qingu wrote: »

I have a theory that the movie is actually an elaborate way for the Wachowski brothers to make fun of the studio executives who floated the idea of a Speed Racer movie.

That is my take on it as well. I have only seen the trailer, but once they got to the ninjas I just assumed it was a parody on popular culture action movies. Just for my sanity's sake.

manaleak34

Æthelred wrote: »

Will this do in place of an F-Zero / Wipeout movie for now?

In all intents and purposes yes. The racers rocket around the tracks which feature loops, spikes, jumps, and every number of crazy stuff. And while going at 100+ miles per hour they're continually attempting to check and wreck one another in a glorious explosion of colors.

Really this movie is just plain fun if it wasn't as colorful and silly as it was it just wouldn't be true to the show and not as great. I know lots of people have described it as a live action cartoon which is very correct.

Also both John Goodman and Mathew Fox kick some serious ass in this movie.

tofu

This movie is excellent.

If you say otherwise it means your inner child is dead.

Stupid Mr Whoopsie Name

[X-posted from SE]

I like that the movie is 90% greenscreen cos the Wachowski's took advantage of all of that CGI to it's fullest--unlike the Star Wars prequels that were also about 90% CGI but tried to be as photorealistic with it's interpretation as possible, Speed Racer celebrates its use of CGI by delivering a vibrant palette and inspiring visuals that takes full advantage of the medium.

I kind of view it the same as getting a tattoo--you either don't get one or you go all out and get a motherfucking work of art. That's what the Wachowski's did. Instead of trying to create as realistic a looking world/film as possible, they took advantage of being able to push a kaleidoscopic world.

Hell, even down to some of the simple set and costume choices, they kept in full mind what color combinations were being pushed and complimented.

I can see why this type of presentation wouldn't be for everyone, especially if what people were expecting was a remake in the typical fashion of movies like The Brady Bunch or Starsky and Hutch. However I think it's a little premature to call this movie a failure simply because it didn't make X better than Y.

I really felt like the movie was made with a loving care and respect for the source material while still interjecting the Wachowski's own flavor.

King Riptor

tofu wrote: »

This movie is excellent.

If you say otherwise it means your inner child is dead.

Nostalgia is a wonderful tool. It's what made people think the Transformer movie was good.

Cimmerii

I saw this, and it was good. Just don't walk in expecting any form of seriousness. It has a great story, and the characters are well played. I'd advise those with epilepsy to avoid it tho.

Also, It's terrible what passes for a ninja these days.

Randall_Flagg

The New Yorker wrote:

Gluttons for “Duck Soup” will remember the scene in which Groucho is faced with an official document. “Why, a four-year-old child could understand this report,” he says. “Run out and find me a four-year-old child.” My sentiments exactly, as I sat in a cathedral-size auditorium, wreathed in the ineffable mysteries of “Speed Racer.” This is the latest offering from Andy and Larry Wachowski, bringers of “The Matrix,” and, if it is about anything, it is about the quest to overwhelm a particular stratum of the masses. A four-year-old will be reduced to a gibbering but highly gratified wreck; an eight-year-old will wander around wearing a look that was last seen on the face of Dante after he met Beatrice. But what about the rest of us? True, our eyeballs will slowly, though never completely, recover, but what of our souls? I reckon the M.P.A.A. should use the advent of “Speed Racer” to revive an old ratings symbol: a big Roman X, meaning “of no conceivable interest to anyone over the age of ten.”

The plot, coiling backward and forward in time, is like the knotted laces of a broken boot: barely worth unpicking. To get some idea of the Wachowskis’ finesse, all you need to know is that “Speed Racer” tells the story of a race-car driver, known to be very speedy, by the name of Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch). Does that not suggest a preëmptive strike by his parents, Mom Racer (Susan Sarandon) and Pops Racer (John Goodman), as they dandled him at the baptismal font? What if the poor child had grown up wanting to raise delphiniums? Speed has a younger brother called Spritle (Paulie Litt), and he once had an adored older brother, Rex (Scott Porter), who was killed at the wheel. Apparently, Rex had dragged the sport of racing into disrepute; now it’s up to Speed to restore the Racer name. Along the way, he must make nice to Trixie, who is said to be his girlfriend but hangs out with the family as if she were his sister. Trixie is played by Christina Ricci: an odd coincidence, since Trixie is just the kind of marshmallow-brained creature that the Ricci of old—the funky Ricci who played Wednesday Addams—would have roasted over a naked flame.

The film revolves around cars, yet there are practically no cars. Almost all the vehicles you see are digital creations, as is the track itself, and they cannon and collide with the harmless mayhem that anyone versed in Hot Wheels will recall with pride. The entire movie, indeed, is what Tom Wolfe would call a Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby, complete with achingly blue skies, customized deserts, fantastical mountains, and everything from Goodman’s shirt to Ricci’s fingernails daubed in lollipop hues; it makes the world of Pee-wee Herman look like Anselm Kiefer. So how did this rainbow of velocity end up bleached of fun? The answer lies with those darn Wachowskis, and with the theory, mooted in the first “Matrix” film and clung to ever since, that all of us, whether we know it or not, are squirming under the thumb of dark controlling forces. Hence the sneering hulk of Royalton (Roger Allam), who tries to recruit Speed to his racing team, a subsidiary of the giant Royalton Industries, and who, when spurned, vows to crush him with “the unassailable might of money.”

Oh, please. There have always been filmmakers who lauded the home-baked virtues of the family enterprise, but none, perhaps, have done so with such a gaping want of irony. Faux-leftish paranoia about big business should be slightly harder to peddle when a chunk of your paycheck comes from Time Warner, whose revenues make it the largest media conglomerate on the planet, but the Wachowskis are unabashed; they want everything both ways, stuffing the cast with multinational actors (“Speed Racer” is based on a Japanese comic book and TV show from the nineteen-sixties) yet still supplying the hero with a pancake-flipping mother, a father who builds a winning car in his own garage, and a glass of cold milk on the victor’s podium. Though the film is not as criminally poor as “V for Vendetta,” which the Wachowskis wrote in 2005, it struck me as more insidious. There’s something about the ululating crowds who line the action in color-coördinated rows; the desperate skirting of ordinary feelings in favor of the trumped-up variety; the confidence in technology as a spectacle in itself; and, above all, the sense of master manipulators posing as champions of the little people. What does that remind you of ? You could call it entertainment, and use it to wow your children for a couple of hours. To me, it felt like Pop fascism, and I would keep them well away.

Hilger

Randall_Flagg wrote: »

The New Yorker wrote:

Gluttons for “Duck Soup” will remember the scene in which Groucho is faced with an official document. “Why, a four-year-old child could understand this report,” he says. “Run out and find me a four-year-old child.” My sentiments exactly, as I sat in a cathedral-size auditorium, wreathed in the ineffable mysteries of “Speed Racer.” This is the latest offering from Andy and Larry Wachowski, bringers of “The Matrix,” and, if it is about anything, it is about the quest to overwhelm a particular stratum of the masses. A four-year-old will be reduced to a gibbering but highly gratified wreck; an eight-year-old will wander around wearing a look that was last seen on the face of Dante after he met Beatrice. But what about the rest of us? True, our eyeballs will slowly, though never completely, recover, but what of our souls? I reckon the M.P.A.A. should use the advent of “Speed Racer” to revive an old ratings symbol: a big Roman X, meaning “of no conceivable interest to anyone over the age of ten.”

The plot, coiling backward and forward in time, is like the knotted laces of a broken boot: barely worth unpicking. To get some idea of the Wachowskis’ finesse, all you need to know is that “Speed Racer” tells the story of a race-car driver, known to be very speedy, by the name of Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch). Does that not suggest a preëmptive strike by his parents, Mom Racer (Susan Sarandon) and Pops Racer (John Goodman), as they dandled him at the baptismal font? What if the poor child had grown up wanting to raise delphiniums? Speed has a younger brother called Spritle (Paulie Litt), and he once had an adored older brother, Rex (Scott Porter), who was killed at the wheel. Apparently, Rex had dragged the sport of racing into disrepute; now it’s up to Speed to restore the Racer name. Along the way, he must make nice to Trixie, who is said to be his girlfriend but hangs out with the family as if she were his sister. Trixie is played by Christina Ricci: an odd coincidence, since Trixie is just the kind of marshmallow-brained creature that the Ricci of old—the funky Ricci who played Wednesday Addams—would have roasted over a naked flame.

The film revolves around cars, yet there are practically no cars. Almost all the vehicles you see are digital creations, as is the track itself, and they cannon and collide with the harmless mayhem that anyone versed in Hot Wheels will recall with pride. The entire movie, indeed, is what Tom Wolfe would call a Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby, complete with achingly blue skies, customized deserts, fantastical mountains, and everything from Goodman’s shirt to Ricci’s fingernails daubed in lollipop hues; it makes the world of Pee-wee Herman look like Anselm Kiefer. So how did this rainbow of velocity end up bleached of fun? The answer lies with those darn Wachowskis, and with the theory, mooted in the first “Matrix” film and clung to ever since, that all of us, whether we know it or not, are squirming under the thumb of dark controlling forces. Hence the sneering hulk of Royalton (Roger Allam), who tries to recruit Speed to his racing team, a subsidiary of the giant Royalton Industries, and who, when spurned, vows to crush him with “the unassailable might of money.”

Oh, please. There have always been filmmakers who lauded the home-baked virtues of the family enterprise, but none, perhaps, have done so with such a gaping want of irony. Faux-leftish paranoia about big business should be slightly harder to peddle when a chunk of your paycheck comes from Time Warner, whose revenues make it the largest media conglomerate on the planet, but the Wachowskis are unabashed; they want everything both ways, stuffing the cast with multinational actors (“Speed Racer” is based on a Japanese comic book and TV show from the nineteen-sixties) yet still supplying the hero with a pancake-flipping mother, a father who builds a winning car in his own garage, and a glass of cold milk on the victor’s podium. Though the film is not as criminally poor as “V for Vendetta,” which the Wachowskis wrote in 2005, it struck me as more insidious. There’s something about the ululating crowds who line the action in color-coördinated rows; the desperate skirting of ordinary feelings in favor of the trumped-up variety; the confidence in technology as a spectacle in itself; and, above all, the sense of master manipulators posing as champions of the little people. What does that remind you of ? You could call it entertainment, and use it to wow your children for a couple of hours. To me, it felt like Pop fascism, and I would keep them well away.

That's the kind of thing I read and think, "Hey, it must be really easy to be a movie reviewer."

"That movie was fascist, mannn."

WyndhamPrice

This movie is excellent and the most fun thing I've watched in a while. I am 18, I have no fond memories of Speed Racer. I came into this fairly fresh and loved it. It's cheesy and over the top and fully embraces that. I guess it won't be for everyone but give it a chance. I think word of mouth more than anything may help it out, because I really pity any movie that comes out a week after the 100 million Juggernaught that is Iron Man.

Couscous

Is the New Yorker always like that?

There’s something about the ululating crowds who line the action in color-coördinated rows; the desperate skirting of ordinary feelings in favor of the trumped-up variety; the confidence in technology as a spectacle in itself; and, above all, the sense of master manipulators posing as champions of the little people. What does that remind you of ? You could call it entertainment, and use it to wow your children for a couple of hours. To me, it felt like Pop fascism, and I would keep them well away.

Are sporting events fascist now?

Sceptre

I saw this and loved it. Yes it's dumb.

But holy fuck is it awesome. The racing sequences were some of the best I've ever seen.

And the ending....

the ending is orgasm in visual form.

So so awesome.

tofu

King Riptor wrote: »

tofu wrote: »

This movie is excellent.

If you say otherwise it means your inner child is dead.

Nostalgia is a wonderful tool. It's what made people think the Transformer movie was good.

That's what I thought, until people who have never seen the cartoon have stated it was awesome.

Then I realized I wasn't crazy.

Transformers is awful by the way.

Nohbody8

Does anyone else think it's weird that the villain for two summer event movies in a row was a greedy corporate villain?

ViolentChemistry

tofu wrote: »

King Riptor wrote: »

tofu wrote: »

This movie is excellent.

If you say otherwise it means your inner child is dead.

Nostalgia is a wonderful tool. It's what made people think the Transformer movie was good.

That's what I thought, until people who have never seen the cartoon have stated it was awesome.

Then I realized I wasn't crazy.

Transformers is awful by the way.

See, I actually always hated the Speed Racer cartoon, but I want to see this, because it looks like it's absolutely obnoxious in the best ways possible.

Robos A Go Go

titmouse wrote: »

Is the New Yorker always like that?

There’s something about the ululating crowds who line the action in color-coördinated rows; the desperate skirting of ordinary feelings in favor of the trumped-up variety; the confidence in technology as a spectacle in itself; and, above all, the sense of master manipulators posing as champions of the little people. What does that remind you of ? You could call it entertainment, and use it to wow your children for a couple of hours. To me, it felt like Pop fascism, and I would keep them well away.

Are sporting events fascist now?

The New Yorker will condemn every blockbuster that comes out this summer, and every summer thereafter.

JAEF

Went into this without expecting much, was pretty much blown away by the quality. Very much enjoyed the movie. I'll go ahead and agree with the Transformers was weak sentiment here, and I watched neither Speed Racer nor Transformers growing up (I did watch a bit of Beast Wars though... glorious summers of Beast Wars..)

Loren Michael

ViolentChemistry wrote: »

tofu wrote: »

King Riptor wrote: »

tofu wrote: »

This movie is excellent.

If you say otherwise it means your inner child is dead.

Nostalgia is a wonderful tool. It's what made people think the Transformer movie was good.

That's what I thought, until people who have never seen the cartoon have stated it was awesome.

Then I realized I wasn't crazy.

Transformers is awful by the way.

See, I actually always hated the Speed Racer cartoon, but I want to see this, because it looks like it's absolutely obnoxious in the best ways possible.

Exactly.

And that New Yorker piece is pretty idiotic.

LibrarianThorne

Randall_Flagg wrote: »

The New Yorker wrote:

Gluttons for “Duck Soup” will remember the scene in which Groucho is faced with an official document. “Why, a four-year-old child could understand this report,” he says. “Run out and find me a four-year-old child.” My sentiments exactly, as I sat in a cathedral-size auditorium, wreathed in the ineffable mysteries of “Speed Racer.” This is the latest offering from Andy and Larry Wachowski, bringers of “The Matrix,” and, if it is about anything, it is about the quest to overwhelm a particular stratum of the masses. A four-year-old will be reduced to a gibbering but highly gratified wreck; an eight-year-old will wander around wearing a look that was last seen on the face of Dante after he met Beatrice. But what about the rest of us? True, our eyeballs will slowly, though never completely, recover, but what of our souls? I reckon the M.P.A.A. should use the advent of “Speed Racer” to revive an old ratings symbol: a big Roman X, meaning “of no conceivable interest to anyone over the age of ten.”

The plot, coiling backward and forward in time, is like the knotted laces of a broken boot: barely worth unpicking. To get some idea of the Wachowskis’ finesse, all you need to know is that “Speed Racer” tells the story of a race-car driver, known to be very speedy, by the name of Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch). Does that not suggest a preëmptive strike by his parents, Mom Racer (Susan Sarandon) and Pops Racer (John Goodman), as they dandled him at the baptismal font? What if the poor child had grown up wanting to raise delphiniums? Speed has a younger brother called Spritle (Paulie Litt), and he once had an adored older brother, Rex (Scott Porter), who was killed at the wheel. Apparently, Rex had dragged the sport of racing into disrepute; now it’s up to Speed to restore the Racer name. Along the way, he must make nice to Trixie, who is said to be his girlfriend but hangs out with the family as if she were his sister. Trixie is played by Christina Ricci: an odd coincidence, since Trixie is just the kind of marshmallow-brained creature that the Ricci of old—the funky Ricci who played Wednesday Addams—would have roasted over a naked flame.

The film revolves around cars, yet there are practically no cars. Almost all the vehicles you see are digital creations, as is the track itself, and they cannon and collide with the harmless mayhem that anyone versed in Hot Wheels will recall with pride. The entire movie, indeed, is what Tom Wolfe would call a Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby, complete with achingly blue skies, customized deserts, fantastical mountains, and everything from Goodman’s shirt to Ricci’s fingernails daubed in lollipop hues; it makes the world of Pee-wee Herman look like Anselm Kiefer. So how did this rainbow of velocity end up bleached of fun? The answer lies with those darn Wachowskis, and with the theory, mooted in the first “Matrix” film and clung to ever since, that all of us, whether we know it or not, are squirming under the thumb of dark controlling forces. Hence the sneering hulk of Royalton (Roger Allam), who tries to recruit Speed to his racing team, a subsidiary of the giant Royalton Industries, and who, when spurned, vows to crush him with “the unassailable might of money.”

Oh, please. There have always been filmmakers who lauded the home-baked virtues of the family enterprise, but none, perhaps, have done so with such a gaping want of irony. Faux-leftish paranoia about big business should be slightly harder to peddle when a chunk of your paycheck comes from Time Warner, whose revenues make it the largest media conglomerate on the planet, but the Wachowskis are unabashed; they want everything both ways, stuffing the cast with multinational actors (“Speed Racer” is based on a Japanese comic book and TV show from the nineteen-sixties) yet still supplying the hero with a pancake-flipping mother, a father who builds a winning car in his own garage, and a glass of cold milk on the victor’s podium. Though the film is not as criminally poor as “V for Vendetta,” which the Wachowskis wrote in 2005, it struck me as more insidious. There’s something about the ululating crowds who line the action in color-coördinated rows; the desperate skirting of ordinary feelings in favor of the trumped-up variety; the confidence in technology as a spectacle in itself; and, above all, the sense of master manipulators posing as champions of the little people. What does that remind you of ? You could call it entertainment, and use it to wow your children for a couple of hours. To me, it felt like Pop fascism, and I would keep them well away.

You know how I talked about reviewers just not getting it earlier? This. A thousand times this.

Speed Racer, unlike The Matrix and V, is not about depth. It is not about large philosophical questions and the resolutions of them. It is a story about a boy, his family, and his car, and about how goddamned motherfucking awesome movies can be.

Narian

What the fuck does "pop fascism" even mean?

Couscous

Robos A Go Go wrote: »

titmouse wrote: »

Is the New Yorker always like that?

There’s something about the ululating crowds who line the action in color-coördinated rows; the desperate skirting of ordinary feelings in favor of the trumped-up variety; the confidence in technology as a spectacle in itself; and, above all, the sense of master manipulators posing as champions of the little people. What does that remind you of ? You could call it entertainment, and use it to wow your children for a couple of hours. To me, it felt like Pop fascism, and I would keep them well away.

Are sporting events fascist now?

The New Yorker will condemn every blockbuster that comes out this summer, and every summer thereafter.

Is it that pretentious?

tofu

How can you hate Speed Racer?

Speed Racer

I just kind of scratch my head at people who criticize the plot for being silly and the actors for being over-the-top. It's a campy adaptation of a an unintentionally hilarious and poorly animated cartoon from the 60s, what else were you expecting?

The movie as a whole never took itself seriously and fully understood that the entire premise was downright silly. The fact that it embraced that made a lot of scenes downright hilarious, and honestly they managed to really get you into it a few times. The movie did a great job of combining "fuck yes" action moments with hilarious bits of cheesy dialogue and monkey shenanigans. Then when you pile on the jaw-dropping candy-coated CGI effects, the whole package just becomes that much more amazing. The whole time I was pinballing between laughing like a crazy person, yelling out "FUCK YEAH!" (it was just me and a few friends in the theater, which was otherwise closed), and being in total awe of the crazy special effects. When I walked out of the theater I had a gigantic shit-eating grin on my face that didn't go away for about an hour.

As far as I'm concerned, this movie is right up there with Adam West's Batman: The Movie as the perfect film to make you smile. It really makes you feel like you're a six-year-old on a sugar-high again.

Big Dookie

I really want to go see this, and I want to take my 7-year-old nephew with me because he'd probably love it, which would make me enjoy it more. It just looks so fun.

HadjiQuest

I was so sleep deprived by the time I finally saw this (I've only had about 10 hours of sleep in the last 4 days due to insomnia and a crazy work schedule) that I was just blown away and touched at the end.

As soon as

speed places first in the grand prix, and CG goes fucking timeforce

it was like the film connected to my psyche somehow, and just made me warm and tingly all over and I almost cried.

This is probably one of my favorite films of all time. It didn't feel the need to modernize itself and decentralize the main sell the way Transformers did. It found humor and heart in its original premise, and it told the hero's journey in an entertaining fashion, and that's what I love most about movies.

Transformers just had no soul, and the humor was so low-brow and removed from the context that it will probably consistently stay the worst-written movie I've ever seen.