Turbo

TURBO

Director : David Soren

Year : 2013

Genre : Animation

Rating : ***1/2

Despite telling a very typical underdog story, 'Turbo' manages to overcome it's conventional elements to become a fun and very entertaining computer animation from the usually substandard Dreamworks. Featuring the voice talents of Ryan Reynolds, Paul Giamatti, Michael Pena, Luiz Guzman and Samuel L. Jackson, 'Turbo' tells the story of Theo, a small snail who after falling into the engine of a sportscar, ends up becoming supercharged and capable of moving at lightning speeds. With colourful animation, a good script and likable characters, 'Turbo' is a wonderfully energetic cartoon that is sure to thrill children and adults alike and while the narrative sags when various human characters are introduced at the half way mark, the movie manages to hold our attention with invention and visual splendour. Moving at a zippy 87 minutes, 'Turbo' is a quick, slick and beautifully realised vision that is sure to enthrall kids across the world.

Theo (Reynolds) is a lowly but passionate snail living in the garden of a large house with his colony. Bored of his slow lifestyle, Theo dreams of becoming a racer and watches endless footage of formula one and the hallowed Indianapolis 500 tournament on TV. But after an accident nearly costs him his life, Theo wanders away from his home to admire the night time traffic and forget his worries. A strong updraft suddenly blows him off his platform and soon the small snail finds himself in the engine of a large sportscar where he is submerged in nitrous fluid and his DNA is miraculously changed. After escaping from certain death, the snail realises that the nitrous fluid has made him incredibly speedy and after falling into the care of two taco shop owners, Theo finds himself racing in the Indianapolis 500.

'Turbo' is director David Soren's first film, having been a successful storyboard artist on many of Dreamworks biggest hits including 'Chicken Run', 'The Road To El Dorado' and 'Over The Hedge'. Filling the screen with colour and kinetic movement, Soren leaves no room for filler and constantly throws visual invention and hilarious sight gags at us for the entire running time of the film. The first section in the large garden allows Soren and his designers to come up with some brilliantly inventive stuff and the miniaturised world of the snails is fantastically realised, much like 'Antz' and 'A Bugs Life' did nearly two decades ago. We get the sense that anything larger than the creatures could be a potential threat and Soren uses this threat to great comedic effect. Blooming with greens, reds and whites, we are submerged into the undergrowth and we become fully enveloped into the world of the little molluscs thanks to the fantastic eye of cinematographer Chris Stover and visual consultant Wally Pfister who is best known for his work with Christopher Nolan. However, when the movie moves from the shrubbery to the taco shop, 'Turbo' becomes a lot more generic, exploring the not very interesting relationship between two hispanic brothers and side stepping the true stars of the film, the snails. This part of 'Turbo' isn't bad at all but it sadly doesn't feel as exciting or as inventive as the previous half an hour. Thankfully, the movie picks up speed again in it's final act and the racing scenes at the Indianapolis 5000 are some of the best racing scenes in animation history, putting 'Cars' and 'Cars 2' to shame.

The vocal talents of the actors are put to good use and while many stars are in 'Turbo' to merely there to fill  poster space, each one does a pretty good job of giving their characters dimension. Ryan Reynolds is very good as the central protagonist whose excitement and determination is palpably felt throughout the film. It's not easy to make me root for an animated gastropod, but Reynolds puts so much passion and heart into his performance that it is impossible not to. Paul Giamatti is great fun as Theo's bitter and pessimistic brother and while their voices are not exactly recognisable, Maya Rudolph, Snoop Dogg and Michael Bell are good as Theo's snail-y friends. Of course, Samuel L. Jackson's voice could stand out in a crowd in Wembley stadium and hearing his voice coming out of an animated snail is both funny and strangely odd. While their characters are not as interesting or as dimensional as the snails, Luiz Gusman and Michael Pena give a lot of heart to the two taco shop owners who only want the best for each other. If I have one criticism of 'Turbo', it is that it doesn't really have a central villain. It tries to make an antagonist out of a jealous French racing driver, but this element comes so late into the film that it feels more like an afterthought. Now, this lack of enemy doesn't detract from the entertainment value of 'Turbo'; after all, I found myself rooting for the small creature straight away. But I do think that a central antagonist would have helped to give the characters more depth and more drive.

Underdog stories seem to be a popular choice of narrative for animations today. This year alone, we have had 'Epic', 'Monsters University', 'Planes' and 'Wreck It Ralph'; all underdog stories and while 'Turbo' may not as good as 'Wreck It Ralph', it is certainly superior to many of the animations released this year. I hope that scriptwriters and directors will stop using this now cliched plot device and instead write original and interesting ideas like the landmark animations of recent years such as 'Shrek' and 'Toy Story 2'. However, if an underdog story has to be done, then 'Turbo' is certainly the right way to go about it. Funny, exciting and visually splendid, 'Turbo' is a fast paced, beautiful looking adventure that shouldn't bore adults and should certainly keep the children glued to the screen. Sure to generate many sequels in the future, a fantastic merchandising empire and a TV show that is already in the works, 'Turbo' could be Dreamworks next big franchise since the death of the 'Shrek' series three years ago. And I never thought I'd be saying that about a computer generated snail movie!