With legal rights to popular American comic franchises, like the upcoming “Watchmen” and “G.I. Joe,” being literally pulled off the shelves and made into movies, Warner Brothers and the Wachowski brothers took flight to Japan and transformed a popular manga turned anime from the 1960’s into a big budget picture. The result is the live-action film “Speed Racer,” starring Emile Hirsch (“Into the Wild”) as Speed, Christina Ricci as Trixie, and “Lost’s” Matthew Fox as the mysterious Racer X.

This flick is an exhilarating, yet sometimes seizure inducing, adaptation that lacks the dark tone the Wachowskis have built their brand upon (i.e. “The Matrix” trilogy and “V for Vendetta”).

In this kaleidoscopically vibrant and colorful reality, focus is placed on the surreal racing environments that trash all concepts of gravity. The racetracks resemble pinball machines and “Sonic the Hedgehog” video games with loops, chutes and traps awaiting racers at every turn.

Considering the pure-hearted competitors’ spirit of Speed and the Racer family, it has poetic truth that the antagonists are multi-billion dollar corporations more concerned with stocks than the stock cars themselves. Young or old, “Speed Racer” is a satisfying visual appetizer that preps the palette for soon to come summer blockbusters.