Every car lover has watched Speed Racer and if you haven’t, now is the time. This cartoon was the reason why so many people are obsessed with restoring classic cars and finding out new car models before they arrive in a showroom. Although this cartoon series started out as an idea that came to fruition in the 1960s, most baby boomers and millennials have found themselves watching Speed Racer on television and collecting the toys that are now priced high if one were to resell on eBay.
During our childhood, there was a long list of shows such as Transformers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Captain Planet (not to mention X-Men) that had us glued to the TV screen every Saturday morning. Better yet, some of us would run after the school bell rang at the end of our last class to catch our favorite episodes and record them on VHS tapes. We wore the pajamas, re-enacted episodes with our friends while playing toys and became obsessed with these cartoons, but nothing came close to Speed Racer. When we saw the adaptation film in theaters in 2008, most of us couldn’t believe it.
With that being said, almost 50 years later, there are a ton of little-known facts about this mini-series that many of us never knew even until this day. Not to worry, I have you covered! I searched high and low for Speed Racer surprises and behind the scenes stories to give you an inside look at the truth.
20. The Story Behind the Name Speed Racer
Did you know Speed Racer started out with a completely different name? It was at first named Mach GoGoGo with a 3 part meaning. The name of the car is Maha-go (マッハ号) and the main character is Gō Mifune. Fittingly including the word go, the name was meant to pay homage to Toshiro Mifune who was a prominent Japanese movie star.
In the American version, the famous Mach 5 automobile in the cartoon was inspired by the number 5 on the door. In the Japanese language, go (五) is the number 5 and the character Kanji gō (号) which is a part of the name of the car, actually means “item number.” Let’s not forget, "go go go" is a Japanese sound effect for the rumble of a car. Add the program’s title meaning of Mach-gō Gō Mifune, Go! and in North America, we get Go, Speed Racer, Go!
The big letter M that we see on the hood of the Mach 5 car and Gō’s helmet is the emblem of Mifune motors, the name of the family business. Although it is named Mach 5, in Latin America it was called Meteoro. The tradition of symbolism in the cartoon is also seen on the clothing of other characters such as Trixie (Michi) and Sparky (Sabu) with the letter M and S on the front of their shirts.
19. Tatsuo Yoshida’s First Inspiration for Speed Racer
There is nothing more inspiring than finding out the humble beginnings of an artist with a dream that turns into a worldwide success. We watched the cartoon, read the comic books and saw the movie but never took the time to find out who created Speed Racer. The man behind the 50-year-old dynasty goes by the name of Tatsuo Yoshida, who was a Japanese cartoonist that was not only amazing at keeping Japanese cartoon lovers entertained with this series, but he was also a self-taught artist. Tatsuo was also a writer and anime pioneer who founded the anime studio called Tatsunoko Productions. After he decided to take his career in print to the next level, he started to make a name for himself with his anime racing series Mach GoGoGo. Not bad for a writer that became an instant success in the first 5 years of his career.
The Mach GoGoGo manga series was inspired by his Pilot Ace racing series. After Yoshida watched two movies that were popular in Japan named Goldfinger and Viva Las Vegas, he decided to combine the appearance of Elvis Presley into what we now know as Speed Racer. Speed, the main character was also motivated by James Bond’s gadget-filled Aston Martin automobile.
After a few years, the Mach GoGoGo volumes were released and Yoshida welcomed his manga series to Japan with 52 episodes of cartoons for his fans. After selecting chapters of the original Mach GoGoGo series, DC Comics/Wildstorm Productions reprinted the story and named it Speed Racer: The Original Manga.
18. Animal Cruelty Allegations
When any type of creative project is being filmed in the entertainment business, the last thing anyone needs is the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) knocking on your door. Believe it or not, PETA made it very loud and clear with public allegations of animal cruelty against the Speed Racer film. During the actual filming, it was said that one of the 2 chimpanzees on set was beaten after it bit an actor. After the investigation, it was actually confirmed by the American Humane Association (AHA) rep on set that the stand-in actor for Spritle's character was bitten without the animal being provoked. The AHA rep said that at the end of filming, the animal trainer, in an uncontrolled impulse, hit the chimpanzee during a training session.
The AHA Film department went on to say that the abuse was "Completely inexcusable and unacceptable behavior in the use of any animal." It was unfortunate that the AHA rated the movie Speed Racer as an “unacceptable” movie because of what happened. They ended off by adding, "The aforementioned training incident tarnishes the excellent work of the rest of production," and it "Has no method of separating the actions of one individual in the employ of a production from the production as a whole." It is always sad to see these types of things happening during the filming of an epic piece of art. We can only hope that this incident didn’t have an impact on feedback from movie critics.
17. The Idea for a Second Sequel
When we fall head over heels for a good movie, we leave the theater thinking that it would be great to see a sequel. Entertainment news site Variety mentioned that there would be a possible sequel, if and only if Speed Racer had a good box office turn out. In 2008, the Wachowskis contemplated an idea of a sequel when the Korean R&B/pop singer Rain was asked why his character (Tejo Togokha) was happy for Speed winning. They replied by stating that the explanation would be included in the next film. Rain shared his thoughts on this by saying that even though he was hired for 3 years, it did not guarantee a sequel would be released.
As the rumor continued, Christina Ricci chimed in by saying "When we [the cast] were all leaving, we were like 'Write the sequel!' 'We want to come back.' And they [the Wachowski’s] were like, 'I know. I know. We're going to. Don't worry.'" She mentioned that adding more action scenes to her character was her goal. Joel Silver, the movie producer, said that the Wachowskis had "a great story idea for a sequel" but that there is more than just a great idea that goes into making a movie.
According to the website Comicbook.com, Tatsunoko Production is in the development stages of rebooting a Speed Racer series for the new age audience. Who knows what is next? With the way that movies and television shows are produced these days with remaking classic entertainment, I wouldn’t be surprised if this is true.
16. The Struggles Of Getting The Movie Made
As a Speed Racer fan, I had no idea about all of the actors, actresses and directors that didn’t end up in the movie. Shia LaBeouf and Joseph Gordon-Levitt were considered for the lead role of Speed Racer. What about his girlfriend Trixie? While Christina Ricci won the role, both Elisha Cuthbert and Kate Mara were almost selected to play this part.
During the summer of 1995 (June to be exact), the famous Johnny Depp was cast to play the lead with production to begin in October in the state of California and Arizona. With an unexpected turn of events in August, Johnny Depp asked for time off to take care of business that ended up delaying production. At this time, the film was over budget and the director Julien Temple walked away from the project. After Depp found out the project was without a director, he officially rejected the part.
The studio was considering director Gus Van Sant with no writing privileges but Gus eventually turned it down. In December 1997, Alfonso Cuarón was asked to jump on board as the director but it was unsuccessful as well.
Who remembers the infamous hip-hop music video director turned movie director Hype Williams? Well, in the fall of 2000, he was hired by Warner Bros. to take on this project but this partnership fell through the cracks because 4 years later, the director and writers ended up leaving the project. Even Vince Vaughn showed interest as an executive producer by presenting his own ideas for the film with stronger characters. At that time he was cast as Racer X but with a lack of production, he detached himself from the conceptual project.
15. Box Office Success or Failure?
The movie made its way to theaters on April 28, 2008 at the Nokia Theatre, and at regular theatres in North America it was released on May 9, 2008. Speed Racer grossed over $93 million. The irony of the big financial gains was it the movie was considered a box office bomb because of high production costs. Despite this setback, it was nominated in multiple categories at the Teen Choice Awards. The criticism arrived shortly after the film aired because of the storyline, dialogue and characters. However, it received praise for its ability to entertain the desired audience, in addition to the performance of the entire cast.
The infamous website for its honest reviews on box office movies, Rotten Tomatoes, rated and Speed Racer as “rotten.” Only 39% of movie critics gave positive reviews based on a 208 critical reviews, with an average 5.1 out of 10 rating. The website's general consensus on the movie says, "[The Wachowskis] have overloaded Speed Racer with headache-inducing special effects, and neglected to develop a coherent storyline."
Metacritic gave the Speed Racer film an average score of 37 out of 100. When you recreate a classic cartoon, it is never easy, even for the best directors on the planet.
14. Why Critics Hate Speed Racer
Avid movie goers usually take movie critics' opinions with a grain of salt but when the criticism is being delivered by an internationally known publication, it can negatively affect box office numbers. The New York Times stated that Speed Racer "Sets out to honor and refresh a youthful enthusiasm from the past and winds up smothering the fun in self-conscious grandiosity." Ouch! That definitely hurt the cast, writer and director's feelings. A similar critique by The New Yorker mentioned that the film could end up “Bleached of fun” because of the impact of the Wachowskis' influence from The Matrix Trilogy and how movie lovers have a high expectation of CGI in movies.
As we head to the Mid-west of the United States, the Chicago Sun-Times expressed its disappointment with the film, calling it “A manufactured widget, a packaged commodity that capitalizes on an anthropomorphized cartoon of Capitalist Evil in order to sell itself and its ancillary products."
That comment had to hurt more than New York’s comments! On the other hand, IGN, the San Francisco-based game and media company, stated Speed Racer "Is not merely the best film that it could be, it's pretty much exactly what it should be: full of exciting, brilliantly-conceived races, primary-color characterizations and an irresistible sense of fun."
On the bright side, The Chicago Tribune described it as "Buoyant pop entertainment," and noted the Wachowskis respected "the themes of honor, dishonor, family loyalty and Visigoth-inspired barbarism behind the wheel" of the original cartoon.
13. The Transformation of the Mach 5
In the original 1967 Speed Racer series, the Mach Five car is white, with the letter “M” which is written on the vehicle's hood. Most viewers thought that "M" stood for Mach 5, when it actually is “Mifune”; Go’s last name and the name of his father’s company. When the American remake took place in 1993, the design of the car was changed completely. The Mach Five’s original name came from the fact that speeds above Mach 5 are referred to as hypersonic. On the contrary, the Mach 5 can’t reach Mach speeds. Let’s dig deeper. The name is a pun for two languages. Although the word “five” in the Japanese language is go, “go” was used for the car’s name as a suffix to the names of ships, etc. In the Japanese version, it is simply named the “Mach.”
The race cars that resemble the Mach Five are the Japanese Grand Prix (1966) Prince R380(1965)/Nissan R380-II(1966-68) and the Ford 250 Testa Rossa that was designed by Scagliette during 1958 to 1961. It also looks like the Aston Martin DBR1, the Ford GT40 that just so happens to be a popular racecar. Last but not least, add the Chaparral 2C to the list. A prototype of the Mach Five with cutting blades was produced in 2000. In 2001, the Chevrolet Corvette chassis was built to look exactly like the Mach Five. The original plan was to have 345 horsepower with a price tag of $124,000 to $475,000 each. There were 100 production models designed to be street legal in 2002.
12. The Purpose for Each Mach 5 Button
As I pointed out the more obvious Speed Racer facts, let’s take a look at what each button in the Mach 5 car means:
Button A, Auto Jack (オートジャッキ Ōto Jakki, Auto Jack): 4 jacks that boosted the car when it needed to be repaired. However, the auto jacks were mostly used to jump the car short distances to avoid toppling over a waterfall, or it was used as a braking system.
Button B, Belt Tires (ベルトタイヤ Beruto Taiya, Belt Tire): special gripped tires that provided traction over icy, firm, ocean floor or mountainside terrain.
Button C, Cutter Blades (カッター Kattā, Cutter): very powerful rotary saws from the front of the car that removed obstacles in its way that included trees.
Button E, Evening or Illuminating Eye or Special Illumination (イブニングアイ Ibuningu Ai, Evening Eye): controls for illumination that traveled through high speeds giving the headlights an opportunity to view objects at far distances.
Button F, Frogger Mode (フロッガー Furoggā, Frogger): used when the car was under water. The cockpit supplied oxygen and the periscope was raised to scan the surface while traveling under water.
Button G, Go Homing Robot (ギズモ号 Gizumo-gō, Gizmo): released a robot bird from the front area of the car. This bird can fly and take pictures, tape recordings, handwritten messages, rope, X-ray film and Egyptian statues. It was used as a last resort as a means of defense.
Button H, Homing Device (ホーミング Hōmingu, Homing): located on a console that was between the seats rather than on the steering wheel. Now, how cool is that?
11. The Controversy Over Speed Racer and Elvis
We all know or have met at least one obsessed Elvis fan. You may have heard the stories of people that believe he is still alive or have seen him in person even though he was announced dead. To say the least, it was a well-known fact that Yoshida was inspired by Elvis’ style and influence that he had over Western culture when he started creating the mini-series.
However, this doesn’t stop Elvis fans from having an opinion. The movie that I mentioned earlier that Yoshida (the creator of Speed Racer) watched named Viva Las Vegas chose Elvis to be the race driver in a city-to-city race.
Elvis’ music may not be of interest to us in this present day and time but the cars that were filmed in Viva Las Vegas were a collection of mid to late 1950s sports vehicles that go down in history as classics. Some critics say that the plot of Speed Racer was very similar to this movie with the use of good and evil characters, in addition to the theme of car races. Depending on how good you are at recognizing cartoon characters and real people, it is said that when Elvis was young he looked a lot like Speed. At the end of the day, there are no issues here if you ask me. In this present day, Elvis’ estate never had an issue with this and artists always admit to being inspired by legends of the past.
10. The Success Of The Video Games
The movie wasn’t on the top 5 list in the mid 2000s of most movie critics but the video game caught the eye of fans. Each Speed Racer video game version had a different control method. On the PS2 it had a standard control setup with the buttons being used for attacking enemies and driving. The DS game system had a stylus with a touch peripheral. In contrast, the Wii version is controlled by using a combination of buttons and motion controls that includes waving the Wii Remote from the left to the right for the vehicle to slide in any direction.
With a wide range of 20 selectable characters taken from the film in the video game, each player has their very own vehicle. Sounds good to me! To add to this point, each player has a specific rival if the player destroys or finishes the race before receiving bonus points. As an example, Speed Racer’s rival is Jack “Cannonball” Taylor. In some gameplay modes, video game players can join allies with other racers to help beat the rival. Each character's car has different states with 4 in total.
Overall, the Wii had an average score of 68% which was based on 7 reviews, and 69 out of 100 on Metacritic with average reviews. For Nintendo DS, it was given a rating of 78% on Game Rankings and an average of 75% on Metacritic. If you still have your Wii, PS2 or Nintendo, DS in your garage, pull it out, get these games and be the judge. There’s nothing like playing a fun racing video game.
9. Where Racer X Shows Up In Pop Culture
One of the interesting parts about Racer X is the many unknown facts about his character that continue to leave fans confused. In the original mini-series (volume 1) it was uncertain as to whether he was Speed’s brother or not. In volume 2, it is confirmed that he is in fact related to Speed. Throughout the cartoon, he changes characters and somehow manages to take on a double life. This might explain why there are plenty of examples of him popping up in pop culture.
Whether you know their music or not, there was a 1980s heavy metal band that was literally called Racer X.
In a less extreme case, the band Slow Roosevelt has a song titled "Racer X" on their album named Weightless. There was also the band Big Black, that had an EP in 1984 named Racer X which has many Speed Racer references in the lyrics.
In the show Dexter’s Laboratory, in the Speed Racer parody episode named "Mock 5," Dexter’s sister Dee Dee portrays Racer X and Spritle's characters.
A comic strip named Liberty Meadows had a section in a story with a wiener dog race. One of the dogs that entered the race was Wiener X, wearing a mask much like the Speed Racer character.
There was an amateur bicycle racing team in Denver that called themselves Racer X Cycling.
In Episode 1 during the 4th Season of Fetch with Ruff Ruffman, Scruff represented Racer X during a Luge Race.
8. Speed Racer Unknown Comic Book Facts
This one is for all of my comic book fans that have classics sealed in plastic covers in secret places. You keep telling yourself you will sell a series on eBay but you stop yourself, because it’s all about holding onto quality despite financial quantity.
In 1985, NOW Comics had launched an American Speed Racer comic book series that became an instant hit thanks to the high production quality of airbrush artist Ken Steacy. The comic was a success for a number of 40 issues with a spin-off Racer X series and cross overs. Another mini-series called The New Adventures of Speed Racer was released with art by Oscar Gonzalez Loyo. In the 1990s, NOW Comics couldn’t resist getting back on the band wagon by publishing a four-issue crossover with Speed Racer and characters in Ben Dunn’s Ninja High School.
In 1999, a new Speed Racer comic series was released by Wildstorm Productions and was the #1 pick of industry publication by a magazine named Wizard. The look of the original anime was captured which helped the industry-wide rebirth of comic adaptations of many other classic animated series during this time.
There was a prequel comic that was released as the graphic novel Speed Racer: Born to Race and a mini-series with the character Racer X featured in Chinese artwork. IDW Productions released another Wildstorm series called Speed Racer/Racer X: The Origins Collection with the help of a previous published issue from NOW Comics as Speed Racer Vol. 1-5. This series catapulted the new mini-series Speed Racer: Chronicles of the Racer.
7. Little Known Facts of the Speed Racer App
When I was a little girl, I never thought twice that Speed Racer would have relevance and now ladies and gentlemen, it is available on many different apps. It was turned into a gaming app on iOS devices created by Speed Racer Enterprises Inc. and Playlithium. The game only costs $0.99 to download on the iPhone. Game players can take on the role of Speed Racer and drive the iconic Mach 5 car through a number of stages to be the greatest car racer in the game. Expect to jump your way over obstacles and trigger powerups. The car jumps when pressing the letter G that just so happens to be a recreation of the buttons on the Mach 5 steering wheel. If you haven’t watched the mini-series or read point number 12 in this article, you might start asking yourself why the jump button is G and not J. Another fun feature about this game is the speed booster which is a virtual button in the lower right area of the screen.
The only way to get a point without spending credits with your own money in the video game by getting past the first two levels. For the gamers reading this article, Speed Racer is a very difficult game app to win. The game only offers a limited number of lives to get ahead to the next round and it can become frustrating. Overall, the music is decent and the artwork is eye catching but it may not live up to its mini-series reputation.
6. The Need for an International Audience
What is a movie without international acclaim? This movie was financially supported by multiple investors with over $80 million in marketing efforts. You will never guess what franchises invested in the film Speed Racer! The partners include Lego, Mattel, McDonald’s, General Mills, Target, Esurance, Topps and Petrobas. Best believe that these companies had high hopes that they would receive a return on their investment. Even companies outside of the United States were interested in a piece of the Speed Racer pie to help attract a wider audience.
With the hope that the film would not become an R-rated movie by the Motion Picture Association of America, the directors Larry and Andy Wachowski that were asked to be a part of Speed Racer by the studio to write and direct the film. They were successful as the movie found international success as a fun family film.
Time magazine selected Speed Racer on its list of "The All-Time 25 Best Sports Movies" and "Top 10 Movies of 2008." Time magazine added “Not every avant-garde FX masterpiece receives instant audience validation," and described the movie as "A rich, cartoonish dream: non-stop Op art, and a triumph of virtual virtuosity."
5. Speed Racer from Japan to the Americas
Let’s take it back to the very beginning. The English-speaking rights to Mach GoGoGo was purchased by the syndicator we now know as Trans-Lux when the company (in the 1960s) brought modern theaters to suburban communities in the United States.
Speed Racer later premiered on American television in the fall season of 1967. This is when the world fell in love with Yoshida’s vision. In the television series, Speed’s full name became Speed Racer. Peter Fernandez, the voice director that translated the English-language version of Speed Racer when it was presented in Japanese had no idea that the cartoon would appeal to audiences decades after the 1960s.
What made it famous was the dubbing of English words over Japanese dialogue. At that time, it seemed awkward but the effects and story line had children and people interested. What was even more exciting is the show has found even more success beyond America. In Latin America, an adaptation series was named Meteoro that was featured in Argentina and Mexico.
In the early years of 1990s MTV played reruns in the morning. There were a few typographical errors that included Jack Grimes misspelled as Jack Crimes, Hiroshi Sasagawa was misspelled as Hiroshi "Sasacawa," and "Yomiko" was misspelled "Yumiko." We must not forget about how Speed Racer took the toy industry by storm! The Collector division of Barbie turned Speed and Trixie’s characters into toys for children by making them into dolls. Mattel created UB Fun Keys into a Speed Racer zone of toys.
4. Little Known Trivia Facts About the Characters
There were little details that were used to strengthen the characters in Speed Racer and one of these examples is the red socks that Speed wore. These socks were considered to be “lucky socks.”
Speed’s father, Pops (named Daisuke Mifune in the original), was a former wrestler that changed his career to a race car owner and builder. After Pops quit his job at a corporate car manufacturing company, he opened his own business Mifune Motors, which was changed in the American series to Racer Motors.
In the anime, Trixie had dark brunette hair but in the live action movie in 2008, Christina Ricci played her character with an auburn bob haircut and bangs.
The infamous Racer X’s character wasn’t seen by the human eye until fans watched the show called “The Trick Race.”
The funny looking animal name Chim Chim came from the character's appearance of a Chimpanzee.
Did you know Captain Terror’s character was transformed? In the anime, he existed but was replaced by Snake Oiler, a character who is also easily angered. With the change of Captain Terror’s role in the manga series to the Snake Oiler character, Captain’s role in the Alpine Race was eventually replaced completely thanks to Snake. It goes to show that not only real live actors can be replaced but cartoon characters can too.
3. Speed Racer Epic Sports Cars
Whether you were a bigger fan of the cartoon series or the movie, we can’t forget how amazing it was to watch the cars go vroom vroom vroom.
The Shooting Star had many high-tech features that gave Racer X a chance to keep his eyes on his younger brother Speed Racer. In the movie, the car showed up but it was not given a name. The Shooting Star (in addition to the Mach Five) was the only car that was built with weapons that included machine guns that were mounted on top of the cockpit and under the chassis.
The Mammoth Car had an engine for each wheel with 1,500 horsepower (1,100 kW). This means it had a total of 30,000 horsepower (22,000 kW). This car can go as fast as 500 miles per hour on any kind of terrain you can name. In a movie that sounds safe but in real life, not so much.
The Mammoth Car was designed with CGI after the original anime design, but it was missing its grill and other details that were in the original.
The Melange was what Speed recalls as the name of Napoleon’s horse that saved Speed many times in battles. As a side note, the name of the car was Marengo, but it was changed to Melange because of erroneous translation from the Japanese to English language.
The GRX was an engine but it later became a gold-colored car that had an engine shown in the series episode “The Fastest Car on Earth.” This was one of the many errors that came along with English dubbing.
In episode 1, the GRX’s speedometer had a maximum speed of 400 kilometers per hour but after a continuity error in the Japanese animation, the speedometer tops at 440 km per hour!
2. Who Owns the Rights of Speed Racer?
Although the English rights to Mach GoGoGo were acquired by syndicator Trans-Lux, with Speed Racer premiering on American television in 1967, Jada Toys eventually held the rights and jumped on the opportunity to produce replicas of the Mach 5 in the original anime series.
The Speed Racer franchise started to grow in the early 1990s when a company by the name of Speed Racer Enterprises decided to acquire the rights to the original series. Because of the Speed Racer Enterprises (SRE) ownership, the original 1967 series came back with a vengeance through reruns on MTV. In 1993, the series was rebroadcasted in syndication and side by side with a brand new American-created remake. Since all of the rights were scooped up under Speed Racer Enterprises, all of the references to the original rights that were held by Trans-Lux were eventually removed.
If this story doesn’t get any more entertaining, in December of 2013, Tatsunoko Yoshida gained all of the rights to the Speed Racer franchise as part of a court settlement of lawsuits between Speed Racer Enterprises and the animation studio. At that time, Tatsunoko claimed that SRE had gone over its contractual rights in continuing to license the property after 2011. At the end of the day, it was Tatsunoko that birthed this internationally known cartoon and he deserved a piece of the Speed Racer pie because of this.
With the amount of success Speed Racer had around the world, in Latin America during the 1970s, an Argentine company published a Spanish language comic book. A magazine in Brazil was also published by Editora Abri in 2000.
1. Why Some Fans Never Watched the Movie
When I first heard Speed Racer was re-created into a film, I was not inspired to watch it and here’s why. It takes a seasoned professional group of writers, directors, and entertainers to pull off a remake of a movie that aired on television almost 50 years ago. Although it was very unfortunate that Yoshida wasn’t alive to be able to watch his cartoon creation turn into a movie, no one will have the creative skill to turn his masterpiece into a classic film. His creative input, fresh new ideas and hand selected pick of actors and actresses to star in the movie would have hugely benefitted the film.
To add to this point, there is no amount of CGI that can make the legacy even better than it already was. We watched it when we were young and not comparing ourselves to the Generation Z audience, but we grew up during the best time in cartoon history. Captain Planet, Marvel Comic cartoon series, Transformers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, I can keep going. We lived and breathed real talent for anime and cartoons. This amount of talent can’t be captured by only 2 people alone. A room full of directors are needed and from the long history of directors and producers that picked up the script and left it where it was found, it was only a sign that critics would be equally underwhelmed by the final product. I will be very interested to see how well Speed Racer 2 does if it ever comes to fruition.