Speed Racer

Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch) is an 18-year-old whose life and love has always been racing. Racing is "in his blood": his parents, Pops (John Goodman) and Mom (Susan Sarandon), run an independent business building race cars; and his older brother, record-setting racer Rex Racer (Scott Porter), was killed in Speed's childhood in the running of the Casa Cristo, an incredibly intense cross-country racing rally notorious for rough and foul play. Before his death, Rex was rejected by his father for his choice to run the Casa Cristo, and publicly defamed for appearing to cheat underhandedly in a race. Now, Speed Racer is quickly sweeping the racing world with his artistic skill, driving the Mach 5 (and later the Mach 6) of his father's design, but remains interested only in the art of the race and the well-being of his family.

When Mr. Royalton (Roger Allam), owner of conglomerate Royalton Industries, offers Speed an astoundingly luxurious lifestyle in exchange for signing to race with him, Speed is tempted but declines, knowing that his father would never wish Speed to sign with the very power-hungry corporations he so mistrusts. When Speed refuses Mr. Royalton's offer, Royalton reveals that top corporate interests, including Royalton himself, are fixing the races to gain profit, and then threatens Speed's career success and very life when he still does not agree to sign on. When Royalton later proves ready to make good on his threats, Speed teams up with his girlfriend Trixie (Christina Ricci), his one-time rival, Racer X (Matthew Fox), and shifty racer Taejo Togokhan (Rain) to enter the Casa Cristo 5000 – known as "The Crucible" – in part of a plot to uncover the treacheries of Royalton and save the Racer business.

Speed begins to suspect that Racer X is actually his brother Rex in disguise, after they drive together and work naturally as a team. Despite his father's initial anger at his racing in the Crucible, Speed's family eventually joins up as well, as Speed overcomes Royalton's brutal team and many seemingly insurmountable obstacles to win the Casa Cristo 5000.^[4] It is, unfortunately, a sham victory, as it's revealed that Taejo's purpose was simply to make himself - and, by association, his father's racing company - look better, so the stock price would rise, and a proposed Royalton-arranged company buyout would be more expensive.

An angry Speed hits the old track his brother Rex used to take him as a boy, and the arrival of Racer X leads Speed to confront X, demanding to know the truth as to whether or not he is Rex. Racer X removes his mask, revealing an unfamiliar face, and tells Speed that his brother Rex truly is dead. Speed returns home, and Taejo's sister Horuko (Yu Nan) arrives, giving Speed Taejo's automatic invitation to the Grand Prix, as she felt bad for what her brother had done, noting that Taejo had declined to accept anyway. After 32 hours of family effort, the Mach 6 is rebuilt (having been destroyed in the race following Speed's refusal to sign with Royalton), and Speed hits the Grand Prix for the greatest race of his life, with a bounty on his head from the other drivers, and pitted against legendary Hall of Fame driver Cannonball Taylor.

Speed's battle in the race succeeds in exposing Royalton, and returning racing to its true purpose. Furthermore, it is revealed to the audience at the movie's end that Rex did not die (and also did not cheat), but instead underwent plastic surgery to re-emerge as Racer X, helping his younger brother finally save his family and his sport. He chose not to reveal his identity to his family, presumably for their protection. In the end of the movie, Rex is heard saying that even if he made a mistake hiding from his family it would be a mistake he had to live with, as he felt that it would do more damage to return to them rather than continue to live in hiding. As the cameras flash, Speed scoops Trixie up and kisses her, as he had promised to do at inspiration point, and Spritle starts getting overly excited; swinging the trophy from side to side while shouting. The "Magazine Montage" at the end confirms that Royalton's perversities were finally disclosed to the public and that he is sentenced to jail for life, and it also states that "Cheaters Never Prosper".