Speed Racer the Next Generation

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Speed Racer the Next Generation - The Beginning

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Editorial Reviews:


The venerable Japanese animated series Speed Racer zooms into the not-so-distant future in this breezy American update. Speed himself is nowhere to be seen in this hourlong feature (he appears in an subsequent episode of the Nicktoons series), but his son, X Racer, is on hand, and showing that he's a chip off the old man's block by holding down the top spot at his family's Racing Academy. But the arrival of an orphan named Speed with even greater racing skills challenges not only X's position at the Academy, but everything he knows about his long-absent father. On the plus side, Speed Racer: The Next Generation honors its history by including elements from the original series like the Mach 5 and Speed's brother Spritle Racer (voiced here by Peter Fernandez, who also played Speed for the American dub of the original series), as well as a mechanized Chim-Chim. But it's also unnecessarily complicated in its plotting, and the dialogue is awfully trite (though the original didn't win any prizes in that department). The animation is also disappointingly mediocre and sterile, which may be the kiss of death for both fans of the original series and younger viewers looking for state-of-the-art craftsmanship. The DVD includes a making-of featurette which looks at the challenges presented in updating the series for a new audience, and a fun Virtual Racing game that emulates the track at the Academy. Text bios for the main characters are also included. --Paul Gaita

Speed Racer the Next Generation - The Beginning

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User Comments About Speed Racer the Next Generation - The Beginning

Reminds me of when I was young!

Great movie for young kids. Reminds me of when I was a kid too.

Fantastic for kids and parents !

Speed Racer the Next Generation - The Beginning is great. Good, clean fun with some socially redeeming value. Entertaining. Speed Racer anime. My son LOVES the TV show. I was a teen. babysitting. It made a lot of sense to do a "next" generation.

when the original Speed Racer show hit American TV. kids. Highly recommend this DVD (and the TV show). That's what it is all about. style. I go into while. We also appreciate how they do the animation style.

Modern and true to much of the original

We bought this movie without any inkling of quality and are very pleased with the purchase. The quirky characters fast moving storyline and 1 hour run time make it great for kids. Both our daughter and our son enjoy it, and have wanted to watch it many times already. The voice acting is good and the art is good (not great) with many backgrounds of classic Speed Racer images.

A nice update for the Speed Racer lore

X, determined to reflect the legacy of his father, is getting a mite bit jealous. Much like the new "Knight Rider" movie turned the 2000 KITT model into the 3000, the Mach 6 is now the engine to beat in this show, after the resurrected Mach 5 takes an unexpected spill. "Just watch me when I get on the track," Speed Racer tells the headmaster on his first day at the Racing Academy, where everyone's rather amused that he shares the name of the founder and major idol of the facility. Thankfully, there are a few friendly faces at the academy: the sensible Lucy, the quirky Conor and Chim-Chim the pesky, monkeylike robot. So begins the journey of the animated "Speed Racer: The Next Generation," which takes Speed unaware that he's actually the son of the legendary Speed Racer on a quest to find his missing father and get to know his brother, X, who's developed quite a following of his own. Lionsgate launches the new Friday-night Nickelodeon animated series with this sleek pilot film. As is often the case, this update of a classic TV icon requires an upgrade.

Add in a "virtual" racetrack, and you've got some turbo-speed new-millennium fun. investor, Zile Zazic, doesn't want Speed or anyone else to take the wheel of this technologically advanced Mach 6, amazingly powered without gasoline (a timely issue). Previews include a glimpse of Marvel's new DVD take on the Avengers (also "the next generation") coming in August. He and his new friends find the "real" Speed Racer's car, the Mach 5, in pieces at the junkyard, and the key that was left with young Speed at the orphanage powers up the grand old machine. Kurt Csolak voices Speed (above right), while Robbie Sublett is X (left). Despite a technical mishap with the clunker car he was given, Speed makes an impression. (Listed as "James Palmiotti" here so serious, Jimmy.).

Bringing the original series, which ran for just 52 episodes in 1967 and 1968, up to speed, the movie allows its main character to discover his true identity rather quickly. Included in the movie's writing crew is Jimmy Palmiotti, the mastermind behind "Painkiller Jane" and the sweetie-pie that I used to love to say hello to at comic cons through the latter '90s. After a little trash-talkin' with the other students at the academy, the kids hit the track (where the visuals lush, bright and heavy on the oranges and blues like the original until now turn more photographic and three-dimensional and CG). The DVD's extras include a featurette on the making of the TV show (Fernandez and others offer their thoughts), full bios of the characters at the Racing Academy, a trailer gallery and the "Virtual Track Racing Game" (using the arrow keys on your DVD remote). But the academy's wealthy (and sinister). Peter Fernandez, who voiced Speed and Racer X in the original and even wrote the lyrics for the original theme song, voices Spritle, headmaster of the academy and brother of the legendary Speed Racer (Fernandez does a cameo on the live-action flick, too).

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