“Speed Racer” (2008) 4K UHD Review

A young driver, Speed Racer, aspires to be champion of the racing world with the help of his family and his high-tech Mach 5 automobile. (from IMDB)

For 2026, Warner Bros. is bringing home the 2008 big screen adaptation of the popular Japanese/U.S. cartoon series Speed Racer in glorious 4K. To be completely transparent, I never got into the original cartoon series, and when I saw the trailers for the 2008 film, nothing about it appealed to me. Something about Emile Hirsch, as an actor, rubbed me the wrong way, and the feel of the film just didn’t hook me. Now, 18 years later, with its 4K debut – and knowing it also stars LOST alum, Matthew Fox – I figured I might as well give it a shot.

Approaching Speed Racer as a movie – not considering its source material – it has a very stylized, cartoony feel to it. At times, it seems to work really well, then at others, not at all. Granted, this is a PG-rated film aimed at families, but the content is all over the place for it being geared towards kids. Some scenes are actually shockingly violent – like when some mobsters beat up a young guy and threaten to feed him to a tank of hungry piranha. At the same time, we see Speed’s spunky little brother, Spritle, hamming it up alongside their pet chimp, Chim Chim, and raiding candy stashes. It’s enough to give the viewer whiplash.

I’d imagine the visual style of the film probably would tickle George Lucas’s fancy. It has a very prequel-era-Star Wars feel with a heavy reliance on digitally crafted landscapes. Every shot looks like the actors are in front of a green screen. Again, sometimes it works surprisingly well, other times it doesn’t. The dialog is also often cheesy and noticeably groan-worthy, but other times it’s fine. And then you have performances like those from Emile Hirsch and Matthew Fox who largely play the roles pretty straight and serious, while the villain, Arnold Royalton is played by Roger Allam basically chewing the scenery with an over-the-top Tim Curry impression. Then there’s the racing. The opening circuit is painfully repetitive and monotonous, which gave me serious concern for the film ahead, but then scenes like the desert race sequence (while it might give off some podracing vibes), is far more unique and entertaining.

I’ll tell you what, though – the color in this movie? Amazing. I was marvelling at how beautiful it looks in 4K. Seriously, it’s been a while since I’ve seen a movie quite this colorful. The 4K UHD transfer is gorgeous and I imagine it’ll really appease fans of the film. I had just come across a post on social media the other day comparing the picture of 2006 movies with 2026 movies and begging the question: where has all the rich color in movies gone? I have to agree. And this movie? It’s got an abundance of color. There are few effects sequences – particularly one involving fire and flames – that clearly haven’t aged well, but other than that, the 4K treatment here is truly impressive.

While I would definitely say Speed Racer isn’t my particular brand of carburetor, it is hardly boring. Yes, it’s too long. Yes, it’s too goofy at times. And yes, it’s all over the place with the violence and tone, but it is entertaining enough to not be a complete waste of time. I didn’t mind Hirsch as Speed – although I do think a more immediately likeable actor would have helped the movie some – and the rest of the cast does pretty well, especially the ever-reliable John Goodman as “Pops.” Fox was excellent in LOST, and I never understood why he didn’t get more big movie roles, so it was fun to see him here, even if it was just for a limited amount of screen time. Christina Ricci was good as Trixie, too, and I still can’t get over the fact that Susan Sarandon signed on for a movie likes this. (Was she bribed? Did she owe the studio a favor? Is everything okay, Susan? Do you still need us to call someone for you?) There’s definitely no shortage of talent on screen for this film. Even the fantastic Michael Giacchino (who also scored LOST, by the way – love that music) turned in a decent score here. And the movie does have heart. It could have been done better, sure, but it’s just effective enough in its execution.

For content, though, Speed Racer mostly fits nicely within the PG rating, but it does push the bounds of the rating at times. Again, there’s a kind-of weird subplot involving mobsters that features some gunplay, and then a mobster plugging a hole in the piranha tank with his finger, only for him to get it eaten off screen (we do see blood in the water as he thrashes in pain, though). A young man has a bloodied face after being beaten while tied to a chair – and we see him take a couple more hits, too – and then he’s thrown from a moving truck (but survives). Some ninjas invade a home at night to try to poison Speed and other racers, but it turns into a big hand-to-hand action sequence. Some of it is pretty good; some of it is pretty corny. (And I’m sure they tried to lighten the mood to keep it PG.) Some of the race crashes end in explosions that look completely fatal, but apparently the driver gets protected in a cocoon of bubbles to save them. It’s pretty odd for sure, and it isn’t explicity explained. (Yeah, I was a little confused at first – I admit I thought maybe the drivers were dissolving at first.) Profanity is infrequent, but present. Speed says the lone “S” word during the climactic race, and another “S” word is bleeped out for TV. There’s one use of Jesus’ name in vain from Racer X, and several uses of “*ss,” “h*ll,” “d*mn” and “Oh my G-d” throughout the film. Lastly, there is no sexual content, but we do see some random women in bikini tops or low cut tops.

Overall, Speed Racer makes a far better 4K transfer than an actual movie, so fans hoping for a really good 4K transfer can rejoice — this thing looks good. And hey, maybe 2008’s Speed Racer, from the then-brothers who gave us The Matrix trilogy, isn’t peak cinema… but it isn’t Jupiter Ascending either.

– John DiBiase (reviewed: 5/17/26)

 Sex/Nudity: A woman’s top shows cleavage; Trixie and Speed go to kiss during a romantic moment at a romantic lookout point, but are interrupted by his little brother; The woman firing the race starting pistol shows cleavage in her dress; We see a brief shot of women in bikini tops; Speed and Trixie go to kiss but are interrupted by Spritle warning the audience of cooties.
 Vulgarity/Language: 1 “S” word (and 1 bleeped out), 1 “J-sus,” 4 “a” words, 1 “d*mn,” 2 “h*ll,” 2 “What the-?” 2 “Oh G-d,” 3 “Oh my G-d,” 1 “G-d help them,” 1 “G-d,” Spritle gives the middle finger.
 Alcohol/Drugs: A woman holds a martini; People are drinking at a banquet, and we see lots of champagne flutes; A man is drugged while sleeping with the liquid dripping down a string into his mouth; We see people drinking champagne before a race.
 Blood/Gore: A man is tied up in a chair getting smacked in the face. He has blood on his mouth, nose and chest; During a shootout, a piranha tank is shot and a mobster is forced to plug the hole with his finger. We then see him screaming and writhing from behind as blood starts to fill the tank; The injured man is thrown out of the moving truck. We see blood on his face and hand; In a flashback, Rex has a bloody cut on his forehead. Little Speed has missing teeth and a bandaged head.
 Violence: A child’s doodle shows two cars crashing into each other; A race car flips around and explodes; A little girl punches another girl in the face; Little Speed crashes a buggy into some bushes and spills onto the grass; Rex puts a ticking package into a buggy and pushes it into the street where it explodes; Young Speed punches a boy in the face, then tackles him to the ground; We see a car on fire on TV; A man is tied up in a chair getting smacked in the face. He has blood on his mouth, nose and chest; A mobster removes a piece of meat from a bloody wrapper and feeds it to a tank of piranha; The mobsters start to put a man’s hand into the tank of piranha but he’s saved by a call; Mobster stick their guns through openings in the side of a truck and shoot at a car. During the shootout, the piranha tank is shot and a mobster is forced to plug the hole with his finger. We then see him screaming and writhing from behind as blood starts to fill the tank; The injured man is thrown out of the moving truck. We see blood on his face and hand; Spritle and Chim Chim drive a cart recklessly through a crowded tunnel; A car crashes and explodes during a race; Another car crashes and explodes; Two cars spin into each other and explode; Speed’s car sticks to another car and crashes; In a flashback, Rex has a bloody cut on his forehead. Little Speed has missing teeth and a bandaged head; A man is suspended off the side of a tall building by the throat; We see extended racing action with cars bumping into each other. Cars crash into each other and explode and crash into other things; A driver uses spikes on their tires to damage Speed’s car. Blades emerge from the front of Speed’s car to fight back; A beehive with bees is thrown into a driver’s cockpit, causing them to lose control; Cars fly through the air and hit each other; A racer angrily clears food off a table onto the floor. He goes to punch Speed in the face but Racer X stops his fist; A guard is hit in the neck with a dart; A man is drugged while sleeping with the liquid dripping down a string into his mouth; A man fights a ninja and kicks him against a wall. He then kicks a chair to pin him against the wall (folding him in half with his legs sticking straight up); A ninja with syringe tries to stab Speed but Speed fights him. His friends and family then join in the fight. Pops throws the ninja through a large vase and then lifts him over his head and spins him in the air so fast that throwing stars fly off of him and hit the wall. Pops then throws him down onto a food cart and kicks it so he flies out the window; We see more racing action where a snake is thrown into a driver’s cockpit, scaring the driver; A man hits and chokes a man with a gun; Speed threatens a driver with his car’s spinning tire near their face while they’re driving; Mobsters shoot at the Racer family and their friends with machine guns. It turns into a slapstick fighting with Racer X, Pops, Trixie and others. Chim Chim repeatedly hits a man with a wrench in the head. Everyone points a gun at each other. Chim Chim hits a man in the face with his poop; A car spins and explodes; Speed hits an oil slick and goes off a cliff; A driver pulls out a gun and shoots at Speed repeatedly. Speed knocks him off the cliff and his car explodes after he ejects; Speed and Racer X bump their cars repeatedly; During the final race, we see many more cars crashing and exploding, and other racing action violence.