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Speed Racer | 2008 | PG | - 2.5.3

The Racer family (John Goodman, Susan Sarandon, Emile Hirsch and Paulie Litt) has built racecars for many years and has always been successful. After the eldest son (Scott Porter) is killed in a fiery crash, the family struggles to regain the love they had for racing. When they are approached to have another Racer son drive and be sponsored by a large corporation it becomes clear how much influence the sponsors actually have over the outcomes of races. Also with Christina Ricci, Matthew Fox, Kick Gurry, Benno Furmann, Ji Hoon Jung, Richard Roundtree, Christian Oliver, Nayo K. Wallace, Hiroyuki Sanada and Roger Allam. Directed by Larry & Andy Wachowski. [2:15]

SEX/NUDITY 2 - A young man and a young woman wearing a low-cut dress (revealing cleavage, bare shoulders and a bare knee) sit in a car at a romantic overlook, they talk and lean in to kiss each other, but they are interrupted.
 A woman wears a low-cut and short dress that reveals cleavage and upper thighs. A woman wears a low-cut dress that reveals cleavage and that is also slit up the front to the mid-thigh. A woman wears low-cut dresses that reveal cleavage in several scenes throughout he movie. Several women wear low-cut tops and dresses that reveal cleavage, shoulders and bare back in several scenes in the movie. A woman waving the signal flags at a race wears short shorts that reveal her upper thighs. Two women wear tight-fitting leotards (bare thighs and cleavage are visible). A man is shown bare-chested in a fight scene.
 A young man and a young woman kiss. A young woman hugs a young man.

VIOLENCE/GORE 5 - A hole breaks in the side of a fish tank, a man is forced to put his finger in the hole, and piranhas swarm to his finger (we hear him scream and see him flailing, we see the water turn red and bubble and we see the man later with a bloody bandage where his finger used to be).
 A drug is drizzled down a thread and into a sleeping young man's mouth and he is incapacitated but alive; several other people are shot with drug-laced darts.
 A car chases a truck along narrow winding roads, the people in the truck shoot guns at the car, causing explosions, the truck swerves on the road and a young man is thrown out of the back of the truck and onto the road.
 During several race scenes with crashes, we see the cars spin out, explode and burn and the driver is ejected from the car encircled in bubbles (presumably uninjured). During race scenes, cars drive at high speeds around treacherous tracks that include jumps over precipices. We see several newsreel-type scenes that show racecars in fiery crashes, and one shows a man in flames running. A package containing a bomb explodes in a street (people stand nearby no injuries).
 A young man is held by two men (he has a bloody nose from having been beaten), his hand is placed inside a tank that contains piranhas, the fish swim toward his hand, and his hand is pulled out before been bitten. A man holds a young man by the throat and over the ledge of a tall building (he does not fall).
 Two men fight with many punches and kicks, and one is kicked into a wall and squeezed behind a sofa. Two men fight with punches and kicks, and one twists the other's arms and fingers and we hear crunching and cracking. A young man is punched in the face. A man swings another man around by the feet and flips him in the air, and then onto a table and pushes him out a window. Several people fight with punches and kicks, and one man is kicked in the crotch and poked in the eyes. A boy punches another boy in the face, then tackles him to the ground and a teacher tries to break them up. A young girl punches another girl in the face and she falls to the ground.
 We see a boy with a bandage on his head and his front teeth missing and a man with a cut on his head after a car crash. We see a person on an operating table (there's no blood) and we see a man with bandages on his head and face (there's no blood).
 We see a car crash into the side of a mountain and burst into flames (we hear that the driver was killed). During a race, cars bump together on a winding track with obstacles, they swerve back and forth through large spikes, one car crashes onto a spike and explodes, another flips and crashes over the side of the track, and one car swerves to avoid a crashing car. A snake is thrown into another driver's car, the driver panics and swerves, and the car flips and explodes.
 A driver shoots a gun at another driver during a race. During a race a car cuts another car's tire. A driver throws a buzzing beehive into another driver's car, and the driver swerves off the road. During a race a female driver speeds next to a young male driver, she bumps his car from the side; she sticks her tongue out at him (we see a diamond stud piercing in her tongue), and another female driver speeds to his other side and the two cars squeeze together. During a race cars, bump together on high narrow roads through treacherous and icy mountains, one car dumps grease onto the road, a driver loses control of his car, drives over the sheer cliff face, drives down, and then maneuvers his way back up to the road. During a race a car falls off a ledge and the driver parachutes out of the car before it hits bottom. A car shoots a tethering device into the underside of another car and they speed along the track stuck together.
 A boy opens a door and sees a man wearing a mask; the boy yells and calls the man "harbinger of doom." A man talks about a plot to take a driver out (implying to kill him). A father and his adult son argue and the father tells the son never to come back. We hear many people talking about a man, using derogatory terms and describing him as "dirty." A cartoon character on TV says, "I will eat your soul." A man says, "Break his legs and make him walk back." A boy tells a young man and a young woman who are about to kiss, "I'm gonna hurl." A boy makes a remark about "cooties" while a young man and a young woman kiss.
 A man tries to punch a young man in the face but is stopped by another man (we hear the man yelling). Men taking part in a race are threatening in posture and demeanor.
 A house shakes and we hear a loud roar from outside, and the people in the house fear that it is an earthquake (it turns out to be an airplane in the front yard).
 A boy and a monkey pretend to be in the action of a cartoon on TV and do martial arts-type moves. A young boy driving a miniature motorized car crashes through rose bushes and falls onto the ground (he's OK). A young boy imagines driving a racecar and speeds past cars crashing and exploding (the cars are animated and we see no injuries). A man wears a gun on his belt. We see a funeral where mourners are gathered.
 A boy shoots a man in the head with a slingshot, and a monkey throws feces at him (we see feces on the man's face).

LANGUAGE 3 - 1 obscene hand gesture, 1 bleeped scatological term, 1 mild scatological term, 3 anatomical terms, 2 mild obscenities, name-calling (dumb, retard, insane, naive chump, bumpkin, head hunters, coward, trash), 1 "dang," 4 religious exclamations.

SUBSTANCE USE - People drink alcohol at a party, a woman holds a martini, and people hold glasses of champagne. A hookah pipe is shown on the floor next to several men (we do not see them smoke from it). A boy eats a lot of candy and is later shown acting frantic.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Winning at all costs, profit vs. love of the game, family, doing the right thing, death of a child, pride, respect, truth, death of a sibling, independently owned business, sponsorship, power, extortion, blackmail, money, greed, conspiracy, the truth can be painful, corporate corruption, fixed races, courage, integrity, control of the media.

MESSAGE - Cheaters never prosper. Things can change.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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