The colorful fantasy car racing scenes are magical, but they’re also emotional, because the underdog main character’s victory is a victory for Justice itself. Speed Racer demonstrates that integrity matters, that you can win by being honest (though not by being naive), that cheaters, in fact, never prosper in the long run. It’s not subtle. It’s not realistic. But it has an awesome kind of purity. There’s nothing quite like it.
It scrambles the timeline in the sequence at the beginning, which seems like genius to me now that I know who all the characters are and where the plot is going, having seen the movie several times. It probably didn’t make nearly as much sense the first time through.
See below for a detailed plot summary with SPOILERS in the form of a beat sheet in the style described in Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat.
BTW, this story perfectly fits the Save the Cat genre called “institutionalized,” in which the main character encounters a group or a system and has to join, escape, or destroy it.
Save the Cat beat sheet plot summary of Speed Racer (2008)
Opening Image
As a schoolchild, Speed Racer (yeah, that’s actually the main character’s first and last name, haha) is supposed to be taking a multiple-choice test, but instead, he’s daydreaming about winning a race car competition. In fact, automobile racing is the only thing he’s capable of thinking about.
Set Up
Speed, a promising young driver who hopes to win the Grand Prix some day, still idolizes his older brother Rex, a dishonored race car driver who died in a racing accident. He lives with his parents and younger brother, Spritle, who has a pet chimpanzee named Chim Chim. His father, with the help of an engineer named Sparky, operates a small company that builds racing cars. His girlfriend Trixie, who he’s known since childhood, is like a member of this close-knit, supportive family.
Theme Stated
A Corporate Investigation Bureau agent and the masked Racer X are among those watching Speed win a race at the Thunderhead track. The agent says, “He’s going to be good.” Racer X says, “No, he’s going to be the best.”
Catalyst
The phone is ringing off the hook because sponsors are calling, hoping to sign a contract with Speed. But they’re all outdone by E.P. Arnold Royalton, head of Royalton Industries, who shows up in a hoverplane at the front door with a bouquet of exotic flowers for Mrs. Racer and a box of hand-rolled cigars for Pops. He joins the family for pancakes and arranges to buy Mrs. Racer’s recipe. Then he invites them all to meet his “family” so that Speed can consider him as a sponsor, even though the whole Racer family has always hated the idea of corporate sponsorship.
Debate
In the hoverplane on their way to their tour of Royalton Industries, the Racer family overlooks the Grand Prix stadium, and Royalton says he has “no doubt” that Speed can win the Grand Prix some day. “Given the right circumstances,” he mutters, “no doubt at all.” An ambiguous statement, it turns out. At the company HQ, everything is luxurious and professional. Speed meets Cannonball Taylor, who says that what he has always cared about is winning, and Royalton can make it happen; another ambiguous statement.
While Speed tries on a custom suit, his father tells Royalton he’s willing to do business with Royalton if Speed wants him to. When Speed comes back, he says he’s not ready to say yes, so Royalton gives him time to think.
At night on a highway, Racer X rescues a racer named Taejo Togokahn from a big red truck where some gangsters, angry that Taejo tried to win a race instead of following the fixers’ orders, are about to feed him to a tank of hungry piranas. But unlike Racer X, Taejo isn’t interested in fighting for Justice, only for himself.
Speed drives Trixie to Inspiration Point and tells her he’s considering signing with Royalton because you have to win to keep racing, and racing is all he knows how to do. And because the money could help his whole family.
Meanwhile, Royalton is hatching some sort of evil corporate plan involving a company belonging to Tetsua Togokahn, Taejo’s father.
Break into Two
Speed comes back to Royalton’s office, where several huge binder-clipped reams of paper (copies of a race contract) wait for his signature on a coffee table. He tells the story of how his father was crushed by Rex’s death, and how he was there when watching a recording of the 43 Grand Prix race reminded him of his calling. Racing is a religion to his father, and sponsors are like the Devil, he tells Royalton, therefore, “This deal isn’t for me.”
Fun and Games / B Story
Royalton laughs and explains that racing is fixed, the Grand Prix is fixed, and—in particular—the 43 Prix was fixed. Why? Because the motor companies want to manipulate their stock prices to make money. “Money is my religion.”
Meanwhile, Spritle and Chim Chim raided the candy stash on Royalton’s hoverplane, overdosed on sugar, and drove a cart madly all over HQ. They also happened to see an illegal device (Chekov’s spearhook) being tested before they were caught.
One last time, Royalton offers Speed the chance to “grow up and be a real racer,” and Speed again says no. Royalton describes what will happen next.
In the next race, he says, “You won’t win, you won’t place. I guarantee you won’t even finish the race.” We see this happen: despite help from Racer X, whose driving style reminds Speed of Rex, Speed crashes at the Fuji Helixicon, where he’s defeated by a cheater: a driver using some sort of illegal spike device to immobilize and destroy his car, taking him out of the race.
Then we are back in the office with Royalton, who says that then there will be IP theft accusations that don’t even have to be true to ruin Racer Motors. We see this happen too, just as the Racer family returns, defeated, from Fuji.
Then we are back in Royalton’s office, where Royalton gives the command to have “this Racer trash” (Speed, Spritle, and Chim Chim) thrown out of the building. “See you in Fuji,” Speed says, undaunted.
Midpoint
Speed talks to Burns in the locker room after his defeat at Fuji, and Burns admits that his rivalry with Stickleton in the 43 Prix wasn’t real. In other words, Royalton was right about the future (Speed would lose at Fuji), and Royalton was also right about about the past (the Grand Prix was fixed). Everything apparently really is stacked against honest drivers like Speed.
Sparky reads a newspaper article slandering Racer Motors. Pops says, never mind, the truth will come out. Speed isn’t so sure. His dad reminds him that he’s always loved racing, in spite of the danger. His mom tells him she loves what he does on the track, that it matters, that, in fact, it’s beautiful.
The CIB agent and Racer X visit the Racer family and ask Speed to join Taejo’s team in the next race. If Taejo’s team wins, Taejo’s father won’t become a victim of Royalton’s scheme, and in return, Taejo will hand over a file of information that can help the CIB take down Royalton. Unfortunately, the only race left is not a track race, it’s a rally. Casa Cristo. The one that killed Rex. Pops, understandably, forbids Speed to go.
However, Speed and Trixie discuss the situation alone in his car in the rain, and decide that they will “go skiing” and secretly join the rally. The stakes have been raised: Speed will win and beat Royalton… or, you know, die trying.
Bad Guys Close In
The CIB adds defensive weapons to Speed’s car, which turn out to be very useful, since several other teams have been bribed to attack him. Speed, Taejo, and Racer X manage to fight off the attacks, with Trixie spotting from a helicopter, but they don’t finish the first day at the front of the pack. Taejo is upset.
That night, Speed’s family show up at Speed and Trixie’s hotel room during their dinner. Pops orders Speed to pack to go home. Speed says he’s not a child. Pops can’t tell him how to live his life. Pops says, “You think you can drive a car and change the world? It doesn’t work like that!” He says, “Maybe not, but it’s the only thing I know how to do and I gotta do something.” Pops changes his mind and sends Sparky to make adjustments to the car.
Taejo, Racer X, and Speed are attacked by ninjas during the night. Taejo is poisoned and can’t drive the next morning. Trixie takes his place as driver, Taejo’s sister takes Trixie’s seat in the helicopter, and Taejo dresses up like his sister. After fighting their way up a mountain, Speed’s team stops at a rendezvous point to put Taejo back in the car. They’re ambushed by the gun-wielding gangsters, but overcome them with martial arts. The delay lands them in second place going into the deadly ice caves during the next stage of the race. Nevertheless, thanks to the car’s upgrades and Speed’s intrepid driving, they manage to crash the competition and finish first. Taejo is thrilled.
All Is Lost / Dark Night of the Soul
After the win, despite his promise, Taejo doesn’t turn over any file of incriminating information. He manipulated Racer X and Speed into helping him win because he wanted to drive up his father’s company’s stock price before the company’s sale to Royalton.
Speed goes to Thunderhead and drives like a madman; Racer X drives with him. Speed says the partnership with Taejo was all for nothing, that “Racing hasn’t changed and it never will.” Racer X says, “It doesn’t matter if racing never changes. What matters is if we let racing change us.” He’s telling Speed to hold on to his integrity.
Speed goes home and packs his things. He plans to leave, just like Rex did. But his father, who regrets angrily telling Rex never to come back, asks him to sit and talk first, and tells him he has his support and his love. His other family members and Trixie emerge from where they’ve been hiding in the kitchen. Then the doorbell rings.
Break into Three
It’s Taejo’s sister. Ashamed of her brother’s dishonest behavior, she offers Speed an invitation to the Grand Prix that will enable him to compete. He accepts.
Finale
Speed’s whole family works together to build him a new car in record time. The CIB ensures that he is allowed to join the Grand Prix despite Royalton’s angry protests. Tension builds: Speed’s arrival has changed the mood of the whole stadium. Royalton offers a million dollars to anyone who can take out Speed, and says he’d prefer he never even makes it out of the locker room.
A car stops right in front of Speed at the start, but he escapes and makes up for lost time. He flashes through the other cars and obstacles. Eventually he encounters Cannonball Taylor, who, in desperation, deploys a spearhook, preventing Speed from being able to control his own car. Speed jumps his car so that the race cameras can see the illegal device. This move destroys Taylor’s car and stalls his own.
He sits and listens, intuitively sensing how to restart the engine. The car roars back to life. In a trance—in the most amazing, climactic sequence of music and visuals and flashbacks and emotions imaginable—Speed Racer blasts through the other cars, ultimately overtaking the last two competitors in a fireball of victory just before crossing the finish line in a blaze of color. The crowd goes wild.
The underdog has beat the odds. Royalton is wild with anger. Taejo is celebrating. Burns declares that it’s a “Whole new world, baby!” Similarly, the CIB agent says, “This could change everything.” Racer X says, “It already has.”
Racer X has a flashback that reveals that he really *is* Rex Racer, as Speed suspected; he faked his death and underwent plastic surgery to look different to protect his family from the enemies of Justice. And he can’t tell them the truth now for the same reason, and also because he’s been pretending to be dead for so long.
Closing Image
Speed is on the podium with Sparky, his family, and Trixie, and the audience is cheering madly. His childhood dream has come true.
Epilogue
Taejo testifies against Royalton, who goes to jail, because “Cheaters never prosper.”
But wait, there’s more:
I found a script of Speed Racer online. (It doesn’t completely match the theatrical release.)
The TV tropes page for Speed Racer is informative.
From the (largely negative) Roger Ebert review:
“[T]he visuals resemble ‘Blade Runner’ reinterpreted by Roger Dean (of Yes album cover fame), [or] ‘The Jetsons’ rendered by Maxfield Parrish.” Well. I happen to love Roger Dean and Maxfield Parrish. So, yeah. Fine with me!
