Dana Stevens has a penchant for not knowing much about the history of movies inspiered by TV shows. I was a big fan of speed racer as a kid. Yes it was poorly drawn and dorky but it had a lot of whacky appeal for some reason.

I haven't watched the show in something like 30 years but I do remember that "Racer X" is, in actuality (dum-dum dum!) Speeds "dead" brother Rex Racer. It makes sense when you think about it. Move Racer in front of Rex and you get "Racer Rex" which sounds exactly like Racer X.

Is the movie as bad as Stevens makes it out to be? I don't know but I'll take my kids to see it. Kids are a great excuse to see movies you might be ashamed to see otherwise ("it's for the kids!") They watch losts of Anime that is nearly as static and dumb as Speed Racer was so I'll probaly want to see it more than they do but don't tell anyone...

progressivebulldog:

Dana Stevens has a penchant for not knowing much about the history of movies inspiered by TV shows. I was a big fan of speed racer as a kid. Yes it was poorly drawn and dorky but it had a lot of whacky appeal for some reason.

I haven't watched the show in something like 30 years but I do remember that "Racer X" is, in actuality (dum-dum dum!) Speeds "dead" brother Rex Racer. It makes sense when you think about it. Move Racer in front of Rex and you get "Racer Rex" which sounds exactly like Racer X.

Another possibility is that she knew this, but didn't want to spoil the surprise for movie viewers who are unfamiliar with the original series.

well with a show with as much history as Speed Racer, it's not hard to find out what it's about these days thanks to the internet. wikipedia comes to mind. so does google. just put Speed Racer in a search box and GO GO GO! the fan sites, the movie site, etc all pop up at you screaming, "LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME!" so she wasn't spoiling it for anyone as most ppl should know by now what's going on in that dept at least.

devy:

well with a show with as much history as Speed Racer, it's not hard to find out what it's about these days thanks to the internet. wikipedia comes to mind. so does google. just put Speed Racer in a search box and GO GO GO! the fan sites, the movie site, etc all pop up at you screaming, "LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME!" so she wasn't spoiling it for anyone as most ppl should know by now what's going on in that dept at least.

I think you're missing the point. Of course it's not difficult to figure out who Racer X is for people who want to figure out who he is (if they don't already know). The point is that if people are unfamiliar with the original series and don't want to spoil the movie by researching it beforehand, it may be a bit of a spoiler to say who Racer X is in the movie review. So, I think it's perfectly reasonable that Dana didn't mention that fact in her review.