12 Movies You Didn't Realise Were Just Ripping Off Video Games

6. Speed Racer = Mario Kart

The Video Game: The Mario Kart franchise has long been one of Nintendo's mainstay series, and with good reason. Who can resist picking a beloved character like Mario, Luigi or Toad, finding a hilarious vehicle for them to cruise in, and then racing around a track while collecting absurd power-ups with which to destroy your opponents? The Movie: Though The Wachowskis' 2008 action flick Speed Racer is of course based primarily on the 1960s animated series, it's hard not to look at the style of the piece and see inspiration from Mario Kart. For one, the visual palette resembles a Mario Kart game perfectly: the bright colours, the absurd physics, outlandish characters, varied locales and crazy power-ups. While it's frankly surprising that Nintendo haven't made their own Mario Kart movie yet, this is a pretty solid substitute, even if neither audiences nor critics responded to it particularly well.