'Speed Racer' reviewed

"Speed Racer" Warner Bros. Pictures Rating: 1 1/2 stars (out of 4)

Garish would only half describe the film adaptation of the 1960s Japanese anime "Speed Racer." Larry and Andy Wachowski, the creators of "The Matrix," have invested in an overwhelmingly plastic world, in which the bounds of reality are more than broken - they are entirely ignored.

The monotonous plot, excessively prolonged dialogue and extravagant car races seem to bewilder the film's target audience: videogaming teens. Beyond the film's reliance on a flashy color scheme and spacey, exotic sets, it lacks a sense of foundation. It seems to float aimlessly with a pricey clash between a Bollywood music video and "The Jetsons," resulting in a nauseating explosion of neon surrealism.

The film goes lengths to abandon resemblances to the original cartoon, and such unconventionality undermines the believability of the plot. The filmmakers' attempt to provide social commentary on corporate corruption and crime is futile in such a distracting, artificial atmosphere.

Emile Hirsch, who stepped into the limelight with "Into the Wild," is far from fitting for the role as Speed. During the first half of the film, he hardly says a word. Even after the engines begin to roar and the dialogue rolls into a heap, he delivers nothing more than a pretty face over a headache of eye-splitting visuals. The role could doom Hirsch to a series of mediocre roles - such as with Halle Berry trying to recover her career after playing "Catwoman."

The film is like a rollercoaster without seatbelts, launching the audience into the air, blowing their eardrums with fireworks and violating every health code before reaching the grand finale, which resembles a fidgety 3-year-old screaming for more candy.

The problems have not resolved themselves evern after launching through a cobweb of subplots. A linguist could not decode the motiveless complexity and rambling speeches, drawn out in attempt to intellectualize evidently commonplace ideas.

If "Speed Racer" is a marker for what is to be expected from big-budget animated features, then there will be a sad future of psychadelic acid trips with little real substance, outside of formulaic action sequences.

While "Iron Man" and "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" wrap up the spring season with satisfied audiences, "Speed Racer" took a wrong turn somewhere down the track. After the 135-minute campaign to lead the summer blockbuster, the film lost its brakes and coincidently crashed into a high-budget junkyard. At least the explosion was colorful.

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