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Turbo Review

TURBO

Director: David Soren.

Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Paul Giamatti, Maya Rudolph, Samuel L. Jackson, Michelle Rodriguez, Snoop Dogg, Michael Pena, Luiz Guzman.

Running Time: 96 minutes.

Certificate: U.

Synopsis: A freak accident might just help an everyday garden snail achieve his biggest dream: winning the Indy 500.

There’s always an animation around trying to find something inanimate among the unexpected and TURBO is no exception. In this instance, the lead character is a snail named Turbo who dreams of being a lot faster than he is – in a speed sense. He loves watching old races on the television and tries to race against everything from rolling old tomatoes to lawnmowers but, you guessed it, he’s still a slow snail.

One day, when he realises that his dream isn’t a reality, he slides off in the rain all downhearted and mentally broken. Through a series of various happenings and a freak accident, this little garden snail is suddenly transformed into a speed racer after he’s exposed to some car chemicals. It’s a bit like the Ninja Turtles but with less pizza, but so begins his outrageously enormous dream of competing in the Indy 500, a real-life car race in the US much like Formula 1, but they drive around in circles. A lot.

Despite many things of a preposterous level, TURBO is funny and at its best when it’s delivering visual jokes and not trying so hard. The first half has numerous astute scenes, some incredibly funny twists and turns with the characters and a healthy dose of reality. At this point, the film with a smaller ensemble concentrates on getting all the little things right. The latter half, however, decides to throw almost double the amount of characters into the mix and it becomes disappointingly generic and you can feel the finale build-up coming.

Although the extra cast are voiced by the likes of Samuel L. Jackson, Snoop Dogg, Ken Jeong and Michelle Rodriguez, there’s such a massive collection of snails and humans alike that it loses focus and with it the cohesive narrative that was comfortably suspending disbelief. This common approach spoils the different – if obscure – idea for an animated movie and DreamWorks here don’t reach those same levels of charm as the likes of Pixar.

On a positive side, there are plenty of sight gags for the kids and undoubtedly a lot of heart involved, and it’s inventive and looks positively stunning. TURBO is a funny but slightly forgettable outing of animated antics with a snail at super speed, but if you like CARS or A BUG’S LIFE, then you’re in the right place with an extra kick of unexpected snail adrenaline.

Three Out Of Five Stars TURBO is released in the UK this Friday 18th October.

Dan loves writing, film, music and photography. Originally from Devon, he did London for 4 years and now resides in Exeter. He also has a mild obsession with squirrels and cake. The latter being more of a hobby. Favourite movies include HIGH FIDELITY, ALMOST FAMOUS, ROXANNE, GOOD WILL HUNTING, JURASSIC PARK, too many Steve Martin films and Nolan's BATMAN universe. He can also be found on www.twitter.com/danbullock

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