Realistic Artificiality: Stop steering and start driving. This ain't no dead piece of metal.

(Caption: Epic Racer X Maneuver)

Racer X (In gimp bondage gear) - "It doesn't matter if racing never changes. What matters is if we let racing change us. Every one of us has to find a reason to do this. You don't climb into a T-180 to be a driver. You do it because you're driven. "

I was also one of the lucky few that saw Speed Racer on the massive face melting IMAX screen (I wager there’s about three of us in the entire world). The sound-vision that assaulted me over the head until I bled rainbows is more justly covered in the article by Philip Decloux (HERE), so I’ll jump right to the second time I sat down for a little speed.

The screen was barely bigger than the first television I had as a kid. I’m certain I heard the theater managers giggle when they told themselves I was paying full price to get in. The room was about 1/4 full and everyone, except for me and a female partner in crime, were families with kids under 10 years of age. The adults were wearing thousand-mile-stares that reminded me of war victims that wanted the horror to be over with. The kids squealed in the ways kids squeal. Candy was involved. (Ed. Trust me, candy makes this film better. And root beer, delicious root beer)

Then the movie started.

“Oh! This film isn’t animated” my friend said, almost relieved, as we watched a young speed bob his cute Hollywood child actor’s head .

Then Speed stepped out into the street.

“Why does the world look like that?” my friend asked. The candy colored, completely fabricated universe that popped off the screen pitched the audience on its side. Many fell to their death and only the strong held on. Some adults grimaced. Others kept smiling the forced smile of parental responsibility. The kids kept watching as if nothing had changed. As “mature individuals” we’ve come to terms with what we accept and what we deem as ‘silly’ in the entertainment we consume. Aliens? Okay. If they aren’t TOO weird. Serial Killers? They exist. I’ll buy it. Ghosts? Yea. Sure. My mom saw one once. Crazy car tracks that loop-the-loop? NO WAY! Impossible!!! THE CAR WOULD FALL! We can handle little tea-spoons of disbelief, but a whole, ludicrous film is really pushing the limit. It’s not like “STAR WARS” where they’re working in a genre (Science Fiction) ingrained into us from birth. It’s new. And we’re scared. It takes more effort to for us get lost in the world then it takes to fight it and push away the reality they're trying to apply. So why do we always throw the first punch? The narrative itself invites us to delve into other, unexplored worlds. We don't need to wear life-vests if we want to go deep sea diving.

The husband and son team in front of me watched passively at first, the father poking his son every time the monkey made a silly face, but eventually it was the kid who was laughing all on his own. By the end of the film every child was literally on the edge of their seat as Speed Racer zoomed down the track. My friend even had her hands to her mouth, eyes wide as saucer plates. Everyone above 10 knew that Speed was going to win the race, but through the sheer skill of storytelling and creativity they where mesmerized. It didn’t matter that the screen was two feet across, or that the sound was fuzzy and distorted or that everything was fake. All that mattered was the experience.

The closest example I can think of this kind of willing suspension of disbelief is found in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” As a child, I didn’t care if some characters were cartoons, they were all real to me because it was all on the screen. The special effects didn't seem out of place to me. It just WAS. As adults watching that film we could relate to the cartoons we grew up with during our youth. With Speed Racer it’s nothing like we’ve experienced before. The closest comparison people make is “It’s like a Video Game” but that’s kind of a knee jerk reaction caused by the wholesale use of CGI in the film.

At one point in the showing, Speed is down and out, the Mach 6 has busted a fuse or something, and everyone is on edge. We've spent 2 hours with this character and this world. We care. And as we care, Speed Racer listens to the car, the living metal his brother taught him to hear. The brother who is watching him right then and there, sending him mental lightning bolts across the track. The Speed jams it into 5th. The Mach 6 ROARS into action!!!! A five year old threw his fist in the air and yelled “GO SPEED RACER!”

Then everyone burst into applause.

In today’s diluted, white-washed society, a piece of entertainment that gets that kind of reaction out of the collective of brain-dead kids is something that should be cherished.

Now, go let your kids drive the car. Don't you want to encourage their creativity?