I'm giving this six stars with one caveat. If you must rent this and you know the basic background of the characters, start with scene 14 because that's when the plot begins. Speed is approached by Racer X and Inspector Detector to help bring down a corrupt race fixer by helping an informant win a race. After that, there is some good, plot-driven action and some nice emotional scenes between Speed, his father and mother, his girlfriend, and Racer X. The 13 scenes preceding it are boring and useless. The cuts back and forth between past and present are confusing. Rex comes off heroic while Speed is whiny. Skipping the first 57 minutes will also spare your eyeballs for the frenetic second half. Watching this film is like standing in a pinball machine being played with 100 gumballs. It could cause an epileptic fit in a sloth. The races are ludicrously staged, but you have to suspend a lot of disbelief to enjoy a film like this. In short, if you want to enjoy some flashy escapism, the last hour and fifteen minutes aren't so bad.
Review of Speed Racer
