‘Turbo’ takes viewers for a fun ride

ANIMATED adventure imparts valuable lessons.

A snail with a need for speed is a wild enough idea, but a little garden snail that competes in the loud and breakneck world of car racing might be taking it a bit too far. However, as Dreamworks’ new animated flick, “Turbo,” takes viewers for a ride, the implausibilities are practically forgotten, and the audience soon finds itself cheering the minuscule mollusk on to make his hilariously delirious dream come true—against all odds!

The movie has a whiff of Pixar’s “Cars” to it: The racing theme tied up with that of a small, forgotten town hoping to get itself on the map, so its residents can make a decent living has definitely been done before. But, the similarities end there.

At the heart of the small dreamer-big dream storyline are the parallel lives of two loving brothers—struggling taco entrepreneurs, Tito and Angelo, and ostracized gastropods, Theo/Turbo (voiced by Ryan Reynolds) and Chet (Paul Giamatti)—with the former pair seemingly relentless in chasing its own rainbows and the elder siblings acting as their devoted albeit reluctant supporters.

Goal

While their goals may seem far-fetched, the fish-out-of-water pair of Tito and Turbo keeps pushing forward at the daunting Indy 500 race track. And, when all hope seems lost for the story’s tiny hero, it is the very grounded Chet, as well as their flashy race-snail friends, who inspire him to do what he does best—“snail up!”—to win the race and finally achieve his impossible dream.

The movie imparts valuable lessons and visual candy in its little snail’s tale. While the underlying storylines tug at viewers’ hearts, the vibrant colors and authenticity in the animation—especially of the race track, from the bright lights to the dangerous rubber debris that comes off the wheels of the race cars—will keep viewers’ eyes glued to the screen!