Go, Speed Racer, Go!

The dialogue's stilted, the whole thing's geared toward the under-12 crowd and it's way too long.

So how is it that the Speed Racer movie, box office poison a year ago, won me over tonight?


Chalk it up to an immensly likeable cast (including Emile Hersch, Matthew Fox, Susan Sarandon, Christina Ricci and John Goodman) and stunning visuals that gave our Blu-ray player a real workout.

There's way too much set-up, and a lot of the kiddie stuff should have been cut (sorry Spritle and monkey). Once you get past all that, it's a surprisingly hip update to the stilted classic I've long loved. While the early stuff sticks in first gear, the Wachowski brothers are just revving up for the big races later on -- a splendid technicolor extravaganza.

Sure, this movie probably deserved to flop at the box office. That just makes it strangely under-rated.

I can already see myself watching it again.

Go, Speed Racer, Go!