CGI visuals drive cartoon-level script in neon-powered 'Speed Racer'

"Speed Racer" shifts through its narrative gears with the G-force of a rocket booster, whisking us along on a surrealistic trip through a neon-illuminated video-game universe populated by Hot Wheels bumper cars outfitted with so many gadgets and weapons that 007 himself would feel at home.

This eye-grabbing and disorienting adventure, based on the 1967 animated TV series (based on an earlier Japanese manga series "Mach Go Go Go"), comes from Andy and Larry Wachowski, the Chicago brothers who last directed the cutting-edge blockbuster "The Matrix" and its two bloated sequels.

More Coverage Video Gire reviews 'Speed Racer'

At two hours and nine minutes, "Speed Racer" feels bloated, too, except that the Wachowskis keep their pedals to the metal from the opening titles to the closing credits. They move their film so fast that the kaleidoscopic collision of sights and sounds starts to annoy long before it begins to bore.

The Wachowskis combine the comic book surrealism of "Batman" (the 1960s TV series, not the movies), the grossly exaggerated villains from a Dick Tracy comic strip and the dumbed-down scripting of a Saturday morning cartoon to re-create "Speed Racer" as a live-action/CGI family tale.

Ever since he was a lad, Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch, projecting a delicate balance of dedication and blandness) has lived to become a champion race car driver.

Speed lives under a shadow of guilt ever since his racing superstar older brother Rex (Scott Porter) died in a fiery crash during the cross-continent Casa Cristo Race.

Speed comes from a working-class family of independent racing buffs. His dad, Pops Racer (John Goodman), designs the souped-up cars Speed drives. Mom (Susan Sarandon, possibly the sexiest woman to hold this domestic title) supplies her boys with PBJ sandwiches.

Speed's little brother Spritle (Paulie Litt, resembling Goodman as a Munchkin), lives for racing with his constant companion, Chim Chim the chimpanzee and moppet marketing magnet.

The story hook has Speed being courted by the slick, snakelike tycoon Mr. Royalton (Roger Allam, funneling Tim Curry, but without the actor's crafty lilt and twinkle-in-the-eye delivery).

Revealing himself to be the satanic tempter of the story (no surprise, actually), Royalton drops the polite pretense and threatens to wipe out the Racers and independents who won't play ball with big business. What's more, Royalton reveals that every winner of the Grand Prix race -- Speed's lifetime dream -- has been fixed!

Before Speed can utter, "Say it ain't so," he becomes a racer with a cause, not just to save the Racer family name and business, but to stand up for the very existence of idealism and ethics in a septic-tank world flushed with greed and corruption.

"Justice?" says a champion Asian racer (played by Korean pop superstar Rain). "That's a commodity I don't waste my money on!"

"Speed Racer" presents a black-and-white child's view of the world, a perspective that the Wachowskis cheerfully exploit to the max. Adults looking for anything more challenging than a Saturday morning cartoon on visual steroids might be miffed.

Christina Ricci, resembling a 16-year-old Betty Boop with a Dutch Boy coiffure, supplies the obligatory vague and sexless romantic interest as Speed's friend Trixie.

"Lost" star Matthew Fox lands the film's showcase role as the enigmatic Racer X, a mysterious kindred spirit protecting Speed, who suspects he might be his dead brother Rex.

But how?

In a Wachowski world, anything is possible.

"Speed Racer" seldom conforms to the laws of gravity or physics, so its computer-created cars perform impossible moves that would bewilder, if not downright mystify, Wile E. Coyote's Roadrunner at full throttle.

"Speed Racer"

3 stars

Starring: Emile Hirsch, Christina Ricci, John Goodman, Susan Sarandon, Matthew Fox.

Directed by: Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski.

Other: A Warner Bros. release. Rated PG. 129 minutes.