Before they repeated themselves to exhaustion, Andy and Larry Wachowski came up with a good idea and then brought it to screen in their revolutionary The Matrix. Now, they are asked to bring some of that chaotic energy to Speed Racer.

The enduring popularity of this cult favorite defies explanation. Maybe those who grew up watching the 1960s Japanese cartoon (i.e., anime) might be more inclined to embrace this over-caffeinated wreck.

The uninitiated, however, can be forgiven for wondering why some wizened movie heads decided to resurrect this hoary franchise (answers may be found in the $200 million Iron Man made last weekend).

Befitting a child’s cartoon, Speed Racer boils down to a battle between good and evil. And also befitting the times, corporate greed represents one of opposing forces in a battle being played out through car racing competition.

On the good side is Speed (Emile Hirsch), scion of the Racer family: Pops (John Goodman), Mom (Susan Sarandon) and Rex (Scott Porter), who mysteriously died in the Crucible, a cross-country race. Speed rejects the offer of joining the evil Royalton racing team and finds himself the target of various attacks and assaults.

Blah, blah, blah  Turkey Purple Fox­trot.

Yes, it’s all total nonsense, more suitable for a child’s cartoon than for a reported $120 million extravaganza. None of the puerile plot matters however, because it simply serves the incessant sequences in which the Wachowskis assault the senses.

In a movie too long for adults and way too long for kids, the Wachowskis fill their screens with bright primary colors, either in the sets, the computer-generated speedways, the cars, or just about anything to which they can stick their cinematic paintbrushes. The confusing and often redundant flurry of ongoing images never achieves its aims of titillating and entertaining.

Speed Racer plays out in a heightened otherworld impossible to embrace. The frantic pace and onslaught of noise, clashing cars and cutesy character mannerisms quickly become draining. Corporate villains screaming vengeance contrast with Speed’s kid brother Spritle (Paulie Litt) stuffing himself with candy and endlessly mugging with the Racer’s pet chimpanzee.

Any time a movie resorts to frequent cutaways of a chimpanzee, it has obviously run out of ideas.

Speed Racer

* 1/2

Rated PG, 129 minutes. Opens today.