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Speed Racer - Episodes 1-11 |
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Speed Racer , Vol. 3 - Episodes 24-36 |
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Speed Racer, Vol. 5 |
Speed Racer the Next Generation - The Beginning |
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Price Range: $11.99 - $19.99
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$13.36 |
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$11.99 |
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$14.77 |
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$14.59 |
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$17.99 |
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$19.99 |
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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
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Reminds me of when I was young! -  |
Speed Racer the Next Generation DVD Review |
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Great movie for young kids. Reminds me of when I was a kid too! |
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Fantastic for kids and parents ! - |
Speed Racer the Next Generation DVD Review |
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Speed Racer the Next Generation - The Beginning is great!
My son LOVES the TV show. That's what it is all about. Entertaining kids. Good, clean fun with some socially redeeming value. I was a teen when the original Speed Racer show hit American TV. I go into while babysitting. It made a lot of sense to do a "next" generation. We also appreciate how they do the animation style. Speed Racer anime style. Highly recommend this DVD (and the TV show!) |
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Chip off the old engine block - |
Speed Racer the Next Generation DVD Review |
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This DVD has the first three episodes of the 2008 television cartoon series, created expressly to promote the movie. The movie however is based on the original cartoon, the only link to this series being that the car is now a Mach 6.
The next generation is exactly that. The only character from the original series is Spritle, who is now middle aged, and Headmaster of a racing academy founded by the Racer family. The new racing champ is X Racer, the oldest son of Speed Racer, the latter having apparently disappeared, but X's thunder is about to be stolen by a new kid on the block, a young man named Speed, who grew up in an orphanage. Speed shows up at the Academy without a race car, but with an impressive collection of fancy moves on the track, reminiscent of the famous racer with the same name. Speed's friends are Conor, a fellow student and gifted mechanic, and Lucy, another student who is very intelligent and more than a little assertive. Conor's robotic monkey, named Chim Chim after the monkey in the original series, completes the group of friends. With lots of racing, bad guys, gadgets and fancy cars, this one seeks to continue in the tire tracks of the original series. I'm guessing that the animation is intentionally old fashioned, because it looks a bit cheesy for a modern day cartoon, but I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt, mainly because my son likes it. There have been two more episodes since this was released, so maybe there will be more DVDs to follow. Considering that I've just had to buy all five DVDs from the original series, my wallet is not amused. Amanda Richards, May 15, 2008 |
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Modern and true to much of the original - |
Speed Racer the Next Generation DVD Review |
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We bought this movie without any inkling of quality and are very pleased with the purchase. Both our daughter and our son enjoy it, and have wanted to watch it many times already.
The quirky characters fast moving storyline and 1 hour run time make it great for kids. The voice acting is good and the art is good (not great) with many backgrounds of classic Speed Racer images. |
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A nice update for the Speed Racer lore - |
Speed Racer the Next Generation DVD Review |
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"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. 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.
Thankfully, there are a few friendly faces at the academy: the sensible Lucy, the quirky Conor and Chim-Chim the pesky, monkeylike robot. 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). Despite a technical mishap with the clunker car he was given, Speed makes an impression. X, determined to reflect the legacy of his father, is getting a mite bit jealous. Lionsgate launches the new Friday-night Nickelodeon animated series with this sleek pilot film. 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. 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! As is often the case, this update of a classic TV icon requires an upgrade. 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. But the academy's wealthy (and sinister!) 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!). Add in a "virtual" racetrack, and you've got some turbo-speed new-millennium fun. Kurt Csolak voices Speed (above right), while Robbie Sublett is X (left). 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). 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. (Listed as "James Palmiotti" here -- so serious, Jimmy???) 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). Previews include a glimpse of Marvel's new DVD take on the Avengers (also "the next generation") coming in August. |
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