Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Paul Giamatti, Michael Peña
Theo (Reynolds) is a common garden snail who spends his days catching over-ripe tomatoes that fall from the tomato plant. In his spare time, he dreams of being a racer like Guy Gagné (Bill Hader), much to the annoyance of Theo's more down-to-earth brother, Chet (Giamatti). When Theo's sucked into the engine of a street-racer, nitrous oxide gets into his body and makes him an extremely fast snail/car mutation and Theo renames himself Turbo.
The latest offering from Dreamworks, Turbo is as fun and energetic as the name implies, but is held back a little by a few faults. Turbo doesn't do any favours for Dreamworks, as successful as they are, wanting to completely escape the shadow of Pixar, with this film inviting easy comparisons with A Bug's Life (1998), Cars (2006) and Ratatouille (2007). However, the film's dialogue is pretty enjoyable, with a particularly amusing opening act and the humour's surprisingly dark in places (though not so dark as to upset any but the youngest or most sensitive of youngsters). The juxtapositions between the snail world and our own also opens up to some predictable, but still rather funny, moments.
In terms of story, the film falters a little later on when we get our first real glimpse of our supporting human cast. Michael Peña plays Tito, who owns a taco restaurant with his older brother (played by Luis Guzman) and whilst Tito is likeable to an extent, he can become tiresome. Meanwhile Ken Jeong plays another eccentric asian with a strong accent (although a woman this time) and Michelle Rodriguez plays yet another slightly sultry/slightly masculine woman who knows her way around machines. Still, there are few people who will deny that there's anything cooler than a snail who sounds like Samuel L. Jackson whilst Ryan Reynolds makes for a fittingly, and enjoyably, energetic lead as Theo.
Visually, Turbo isn't the most attractive film ever made. Snails make for a natural creature to animate well without much difficulty but humans have always been difficult for CGI and the abundance of them here does little favours. Meanwhile, the 3D does manage to succeed with one strong usage (a fantasy of Theo's as he tries to get a big tomato away from an advancing lawnmower) but is otherwise pointless. As flawed as Turbo is, however, its got enough energy and pizazz to still ensure it isn't blown off the track.
Next time, Paula Patton has just thirty days to find the man of her dreams in Baggage Claim.
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