Caught the preview screening of "Speed Racer" last night at Greece Ridge. When I first heard about this project I groaned. The Wachowskis definitely biffed the last "Matrix" flick (I actually didn't hate the second one), but it seemed like a waste of their considerable directorial talents to have them adapt possibly the most frivolous cartoon of all time. It's a kid who drives cars really fast. That's about it.

But then I saw the previews, and my interest was piqued. The Technicolor visuals looked mighty impressive, and the brief snatches of racing footage excited me -- and I couldn't care less about auto racing in the real world. Could the Wackhowskis actually turn this stupid cartoon into a great movie?

The answer is yes - mostly. The movie has some flaws, specifically that it is too long (it's rated PG and is clearly aimed at kids, and yet clocks in at over two hours) and the plot is way more complicated than it needs to be. But if you can coast through the quieter, plot-heavy sequences, the vision, the characters, and especially the action add up to one of the most satisfying blockbusters I've seen in a long time.

The basic plot follows Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch) as he ascends from local racing favorite to a rising star in the hyper-popular global racing circuit. He's courted by the shysty head of big ol' sponsorship company (Roger Allam, in what SHOULD have been Tim Curry's role), but ultimately passes on a life of luxury out of allegiance to his family, which feels strongly that corporations have ruined racing. This leads us to a complicated plot involving the attempted ruination of Speed's family (which includes perfectly cast John Goodman and Susan Sarandon as his parents, Paulie Litt as kiddie-bait comic relief Spritle, and Chim Chim the monkey), hostile corporate takeovers, the mob, dangerous road races, and ninja assassins.

While adults shouldn't have trouble following the story's overall arc -- although the non-linear timeline occasionally confuses -- kids will likely be totally lost, pulled in every so often by the goofy antics of Spritle and Chim Chim and the intermittent races, of which there are only four. And that is a problem. This movie is clean enough, and CGI is so stunning that I think my 7-year-old nephew would love it. But the long stretches devoted to character arcs would totally lose him and most of his contemporaries.

But oh, those races. It's kind of hard to encapsulate the visual concept for this film. It's certainly Asian influenced, with a Willy Wonka color palette -- everything is crazy bright. The race tracks owe more to outlandish video games like F-Zero or Mario Kart than actual racing. There are huge jumps, hairpin turns, corkscrew twists, and insane obstacles, like 10' spikes lining the track. The cars themselves come with hydraulic jumps, carbonite cutters, chained maces, and in one memorable instance, a beehive catapult. The racing scenes are insane, thrilling, just about the coolest thing I've ever seen. I wanted more more more. If NASCAR looked like this, I'd be in the stands every race.

The cast does a uniformally good job bringing to life what are ultimately simple, iconic characters. Speed Racer doesn't exactly have much depth -- he likes to drive fast, and he's unflinchingly good -- and Hirsch does get somewhat drowned out by all the action and sparkle. Christina Ricci goes mainstream in the role of his helicopter pilot girlfriend, Trixie. She looks and acts fantastic, and the chemistry between Trix and Speed is great (yet wholly innocent). I just wish there was more of her in the film. Used in just the right amount is Racer X (Matthew Fox from "Lost," an inspired, if not entirely age-appropriate choice), the mysterious driver who works to bring down the mob that's been fixing races for decades. There are several great fight scenes involving X, including one with the whole gang in a mountain pass that should be the standard by which all movie fight scenes are judged.

I left the theater feeling satisfied and invigorated -- you know how that last race is going to end, but it's thrilling nonetheless. Unfortunately, the bad buzz is already building for the film, with the fanboy community (read: geeks) openly bitching about how it's too long, and poo-pooing the changes from the original cartoon (a Mach 6 instead of a Mach 5? Quelle horror!). This is unfortunate, but not exactly unexpected. The comic/anime/cartoon/video game nerd community seems to delight in tearing things down, putting a high premium on bashing things online so that they'll look big and tough and cool, and a low premium on independent thought. This can have a domino effect (I just saw one negative review over at Newsarama, in which dozens of commentors responded along the lines of "Boy, I knew this would suck; can't wait to see it fail") and might lead to the film stalling before it even gets out of the blocks. (Sorry, I know; in my defense it's the first bad racing metaphor I've used.) And that's a shame. "Speed Racer" isn't a perfect film, but it's totally better than its source material deserves.