Turbo

What if a snail gained the ability to go really fast?  That's a plot that seems a little too easy and kinda dumb, but it works for a kids' movie. 

 

Turbo keeps the problems of a standard DreamWorks animated film:

1) bland snark instead of actual humor

2) characters who just make loud noises and/or get hurt

3) blaring dated pop music to necessitate "funny" dancing 

and combine them with the emotionally manipulative clichés of sports movies.  Those clichés actually elevate Turbo to a film that is not just watchable but even occasionally enjoyable.

 

Turbo is about a snail named Theo (but call him "Turbo") who worships race car driving and dreams of being speedy.  Trouble is the other snails make fun of him and his brother discourages his fantasies.  Turbo runs away from home and after he is submerged in nitrous oxide, finds himself able to blaze around at speeds in excess of 200 mph (he also can tune in the radio, has an alarm system, and his eyes become headlights).  He teams up his a young taco stand employee (whose brother also discourages his dreams) and the two set off with a rag-tag crew of racing snails and people to enter Turbo in the Indy 500.  Once in Indianapolis, Turbo must battle his inner demons and some race cars.  But can a snail actually win the Indy 500?

 

There's a few things I liked about Turbo.  Despite the snark and sarcasm that plague DreamWorks animation, sometimes it was funny (chuckle funny not a full-on laugh).  This is probably due to Ryan Reynolds' delivery.  He's somewhat of a master of that kind of dialogue and it help keep Turbo from a being a groaner.  I really like the dynamic between the taco stand brothers, Tito and Angelo, but hated the dynamic between Turbo and his brother.  The difference is that Tito's dreams are largely selfless and vastly beyond his over-estimated skills.  Turbo's aspirations , however, only serve himself.  I also liked the look of the movie.  DreamWorks animated films tend to have a very generic look.  While the characters in Turbo still maintain that generic look, the rest of the movie is really of a much higher quality than I expected.

 

Keep an eye out for product placement.  It's not hard to spot.  The Verizon plugs are the most obvious, especially when a video of Turbo goes viral.  The Chevrolet plugs are also pretty blatant.  The only cars with emblems are Chevys and they're also actually Chevy models.  It makes the Chevys stand out since all the other cars are just generic animated cars.  Firestone also gets some good screen time too as well as Sunoco.  If you somehow miss the product placement in the rest of the picture, you'll notice it during the race.  The only cars with company sponsorship are the Verizon, Chevrolet, and Sunoco cars.  I don't hate product placement.  I actually got a kick out of how clumsily it was handled (except the race cars where it felt somewhat natural).

 

Turbo isn't a great movie, but it's not bad either.  Rent it for your children.  They'll like it and you won't spend the movie thinking back to the times before you had kids.  Plus you can have a long discussion about why Samuel L. Jackson's snail is black but Snoop Dogg's and Maya Rudolph's aren't.  In fact, no snail except Jackson's matches the actor skin tone.  Turbo can help introduce your children for the minefield that is racial issues.

 

5.5 out of 10