Speed Racer: The film is all heart.

"Swoosh!" That's the sound your brain will make during Speed Racer as it tries to keep up with your over-stimulated eyeballs. The cinematic equivalent of Pop Rocks, this Wachowski Brothers riff on the '60s Japanese animated cult favorite could make your head explode from all of its sugary goodness. I'm still buzzed and beaming from the contact high I got at a recent preview screening, and can't wait to return for a second go-round with Speed, Mom, Pops, Chim-Chim and the whole Racer clan.

The plot is as elemental as a fairy tale - or a 40-year-old Japanese 'toon. Speed (Emile Hirsch with a black dye job to tone down the whole Leonardo DiCaprio doppelganger effect) is just starting his racing career as the movie opens. He's still haunted by the (presumed) death of his race-car driver older brother Rex, but the Racer family chugs merrily along. Pop (John Goodman) designs race cars, natch; Mom (Susan Sarandon) makes killer hotcakes and keeps the home fire burning; and precocious tyke Spritle (Paulie Litt) gets into lots of typically boyish mischief with the help of his inseparable pet chimpanzee, Chim-Chim (Kenzie and Willy who give the best darn simian performances I've ever seen).

Things take a whiplash turn for the Racers when billionaire mogul Royalton (Roger Allam) pays a visit one day and attempts to seduce Speed into joining his super-snazzy racing team. After Speed turns him down, Royalton wreaks havoc by unleashing an army of goons on the Racer family. Galloping to their rescue is mysterious masked man Racer X (Matthew Fox) who may - or may not be - Rex redux. Oh yeah, there's also a subplot about a sports corruption investigator (Benno Furmann) trying to nail the dastardly Royalton. The Wachowskis even find time for a little innocent hanky-panky between Speed and childhood sweetheart Trixie (the ageless Christina Ricci). While this is hardly Shakespearean stuff, the skeletal narrative is mostly an excuse for the Brothers to strut their stuff and play with the new Sony F-23 HD camera.

My favorite scene is also one of the quietest. "It's beautiful and inspiring; it's everything art should be," Mom tells Speed while explaining what his racing means to her. Apparently the Wachowskis feel the same way because they've crafted a beautiful and, yes, inspiring work of art that deserves to become a monster hit. Despite the fact that virtually the entire film was shot on greenscreen, this is the antithesis of your typical "all-CGI, all-the-time" megillah like Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow or Beowulf that, for all their airbrushed perfection, are basically soulless commodities devoid of heart.

Ebullient and joyful, Speed Racer is all heart, and it never stops dazzling or surprising you. The Wachowskis combine the breathless kineticism and heart-pounding action of the Bourne movies, the un-ironic family values mandate of the best Disney flicks and the gravity- and elasticity-defying, anarchic zaniness of classic Looney Tunes into one you-ain't-seen-nothin'-yet! package. It's the most original, wigged-out thrill ride Hollywood has served up in eons. To describe the film's Crayola color palette as Day-Glo would be an understatement. Day-Glo on acid is more like it. The vroom-like editing - imagine being strapped to a conveyer belt and pummeled with the lushest, most glittering eye candy for two exhilarating hours of non-stop entertainment - makes a typical Michael Bay ADD-fest seem positively arthritic by comparison. This is the Spy Kids movie that Robert Rodriguez always dreamed of making if he'd had the imagination, skill and cutting-edge software at his disposal.

Opens Friday areawide