Khoi Vinh on Speed Racer and Graphic Design vs. Cinematic Storytelling

Khoi Vinh on Speed Racer and the perils of combining graphic design and cinematic storytelling:

Don’t be fooled by its juvenile source material — an American adaptation of a Japanese anime franchise that originated in the late 1960s — or its unabashed formulation as a would-be summer blockbuster. It really is one of the only movies I’ve seen this year that really qualifies as high art, not just entertainment, but a leap forward in filmmaking. For designers, this movie should also be of some interest: its disappointing reception amongst both the cognoscenti and the popular moviegoing public are a testament to my theory that the combination of graphic design and cinematic storytelling is a surefire recipe for failure.

Vinh’s is one of my favorite defenses of Speed Racer, which, for the record, I think has been vastly underrated and greatly misunderstood.