Turbo Movie Reviews

‘Fast and furious’ may be the movie’s tagline, but the message is a feel-good one about the underdog rising up, reaching out to glory. Produced by DreamWorks, which is known for its innovative animated stories and production values, and directed by David Soren, the film holds the flag up for dreaming big: no dream is too big if you set your mind to realising it.

Theo ( Ryan Reynolds) is a despondent little garden mollusc. His protective big brother Chet (Giamatti) and their ilk work at a tomato harvesting plant. Each morning, one hapless snail gets gobbled up by a wily crow. Theo, who idolizes a French race driver called Guy Gagne (Bill Hader), dreams of being able to race someday. Chet thinks Theo's speedy dreams will come to naught. Then one day, Theo gets sucked into a race car's engine air intake

"No dream is too big and no dreamer too small". This is the mantra of this simple underdog sports movie, which spurs the audience to pursue one's dreams. It is an animated tale of Theo, the snail who dreams big after being motivated by a French car-racing champion, Guy Gagne, whom he hero worships by watching late night TV and VHS cassettes of his idol. Adventurous and inspired, Theo moves out of his comfort zone to explore

In delivering a film about a garden snail that dreams of winning the Indy 500, it's as if the makers of Turbo had been pressed to come up with the most extreme underdog tale they could think of. Or else animators really are running out of ideas for original new characters. An attractively designed but narratively challenged, one-note film, Turbo skews younger than the norm for big animated features these days and has limited appeal for little girls

Although this movie is no Toy Story or Shrek, it is nicely paced, energetic and entertaining enough in 3D. And as an underdog story, its message is positive and simple enough – one should never give up one one’s dreams and aspirations in life, no matter what the odds.

Director David Soren, in his first animated feature, manages to keep things moving faster than a speeding TURBO. The script manages to create a very entertaining ride with the 3D element. Kids are bound to love this film, as for the adults they would find “Turbo” a bit trivial.