I was expecting disappointment based on some of what you alluded to regarding TV to movie adaptation. Instead, I found myself pleasantly and thoroughly entertained by a terrific film that acknowledged and built upon my love of the original material.

It’s a pity that this fine feature doesn’t seem to be on track to garnering the success it really deserves this season.

The pod race is perhaps the only element of Phantom Menace worth emulating. That and maybe the costumes and overall technical precision of the finished piece.

However, I think so many critics go into films prejudging them. Something in the trailer or the filmmakers previous work taints their perspective. This is understandable. While I will admit that the film was too long and that some of the monologues went on forever, I still believe the chief problem with the criticism of this film is that people are confusing innocence with stupidity.

But as the brilliant Roger Ebert recently wrote, one should pay attention to the critic, especially if it is one that you respect, that swims against the stream of the majority. Maybe their own life experiences will allow you an entry point into a film that others are not seeing. I hope this is the case with SPEED RACER and that the film finds its audience on DVD.

And as for Racer X’s sucker punch maybe they were saving some good stuff for a potential sequel, which we will now never see.