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Speed Racer
(2008)
Album Cover Art
Composed and Produced by:

Co-Orchestrated and Conducted by:
Tim Simonec

Co-Orchestrated by:
Jack Hayes
Chris Tilton
Peter Boyer
Richard Bronskill
Chad Seter
Larry Kenton

Performed by:
The Hollywood Studio Symphony

Page LA Studio Voices
Labels Icon
LABEL & RELEASE DATE
Varèse Sarabande
(May 6th, 2008)
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ALBUM AVAILABILITY
Regular U.S. release.
Awards
AWARDS
None.
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ALSO SEE





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   Availability | Viewer Ratings | Comments | Audio & Track Listings | Notes
Buy it... if you like your jazzy action scores to slap you upside the head with their boundless enthusiasm, excessive volume, and roaring pace.

Avoid it... if you're fresh out of painkillers and don't want to risk the inevitable headache that the Speed Racer score will give a high proportion of the listening public.
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EDITORIAL REVIEW
FILMTRACKS TRAFFIC RANK: #1,207
WRITTEN 6/7/08
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Giacchino
Giacchino
Speed Racer: (Michael Giacchino) Exhaustion. For the majority of viewers of the Wachowski brothers' adaptation of the classic Speed Racer cartoon, as well as the music that accompanies it so faithfully, that's the one guaranteed result. A film like this exists to re-define the term "eye candy," for there's little other than the visuals to retain your interest. The old cartoon's story is preserved in the form of the Racer family and the boy Speed Racer's ascension to the top of the future's wild new form of auto racing. The film's style of inserting the live-action actors into a glitzy, inventive universe of colors and movement overwhelms what little interest the story has to offer, or, for that matter, nearly any other production element. Among 2008's early summer competition at the box office, Speed Racer fared poorly, shunned by audiences likely unfamiliar with the historical significance of the show's influence on Japanese animation and not inclined to suffer from the burned retinas that are suggested by the film's trailers and its extremely long running time. In almost every regard, Michael Giacchino's score for the movie suffers from exactly the same set of detracting circumstances. The music, like the film's visuals, only exacerbates the sensory overload, further exhausting the viewer or listener with hyperactive and flamboyant sounds that attempt so hard to fit with the environment (and pay significant tribute to Nobuyoshi Koshibe's music along the way) that a headache is just waiting to happen. Part of this auditory overload is likely due to Giacchino's self-professed love of the show and its music. The composer's loyalty to both the theme of the show and its general instrumental style is extremely impressive, especially in his effort to work fragments of the theme into a wild variety of different circumstances, even if that only entails some creative counterpoint most of the time. Also to be commended is the technical prowess of Giacchino's work, including its orchestration and performance.


Ratings Icon
VIEWER RATINGS
336 TOTAL VOTES
Average: 2.97 Stars
***** 65 5 Stars
**** 66 4 Stars
*** 67 3 Stars
** 71 2 Stars
* 67 1 Stars
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COMMENTS
1 TOTAL COMMENTS
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Exhausting and fun!
Roman (formerly Rally V.) - June 9, 2008, at 9:14 a.m.
1 comment  (2558 views)
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Track Listings Icon
TRACK LISTINGS AND AUDIO
Audio Samples   ▼
Total Time: 60:14
• 1. I Am Speed (0:37)
• 2. World's Best Autopia (1:15)
• 3. Thunderhead (3:07)
• 4. Tragic Story of Rex Racer (4:49)
• 5. Vroom and Board (3:38)
• 6. World's Worst Road Rage (2:41)
• 7. Racing's in Our Blood (1:52)
• 8. True Heart of Racing (4:05)
• 9. Casa Cristo (4:02)
• 10. End of the First Leg (2:20)
• 11. Taejo Turns Trixie (1:37)
• 12. Bumper to Bumper, Rail to Rail (3:07)
• 13. The Maltese Ice Cave (2:04)
• 14. Go Speed, Go! (1:24)
• 15. He Ain't Heavy (1:45)
• 16. 32 Hours (3:49)
• 17. Grand Ol' Prix (6:13)
• 18. Reboot (3:08)
• 19. Let Us Drink Milk (4:33)
• 20. Speed Racer (4:21)

Notes Icon
NOTES AND QUOTES
The insert includes extensive credits, a list of performers, and a note from the composer about the score.
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The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten
or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from Speed Racer are Copyright © 2008, Varèse Sarabande and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 6/7/08 (and not updated significantly since).
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