TURBO, the new fun-loving colourful kids film that stars a snail who has larger than life hopes and dreams, is released just in time for the October school holidays.
TURBO is a high speed 3D animated comedy about a snail who dares to dream big. After a freak accident, Turbo sees himself faster than any other snail. He dreams of winning the Indi 500. With the help of like-minded snails he meets along the way, Turbo proves no dream is too big and no dreamer too small.
Director David Soren (Madagascar, Shark Tale) has created quite the enjoyable and creative kids film. With having a reputation for creating successful animated kids films, there’s no doubt TURBO will be a success at the box office. While the narrative is rather predictable, the film offers comedic relief with jokes making you chuckle and the kids laugh out loud. There are suspenseful scenes which work quite well and create a positive tension within the cinema.
The voice acting is good. Ryan Reynolds plays Turbo, was seems to be getting a fair bit of work with voice acting. Paul Giamatti plays his brother Chet, and the rest of the snails are played by Snoop Dogg, Maya Rudolph, Samuel L. Jackson, Mike Bell among many others. There’s a good combination of characters within this land of snails, especially with the group of racing snails. They are different and themselves, such a range of personalities which creates that awkward and ‘what the?’ humour.
There are two humans in the movies that own a taco shop, Tito (Michael Pena) and Angelo (Luis Guzman). These two brothers are much the same as Turbo and his brother. One is a realist that lives quite a practical and boring life, while the other is an optimist with hopes and dreams. Although we know what Turbo’s dreams are, we also learn Tito’s. About half way through, there’s this sudden change of focus of whose dream we’re following. We end up finding Tito’s more interesting and grow to love his character and friends as the film progresses. Although we still love Turbo and am cheering for him from the side line, Tito is a human and so are we. I think this was the main reason for the sudden change.
Watching cars race around a track over and over is kind of boring after a while. Make it cinematic and add fancy camera angles and shots under cars and you’ve got my attention. The soundtrack is also a winner, with songs from a range of different eras and famous films and using music as a manipulation to make the audience excited or invested in a particular scene was rather smart. The sound design is also fantastic.
As for the narrative being generic. Well, it’s a snail that wants to be a racer, but can’t because snails are slow moving animals – until the impossible happens. They became who they’ve always wanted to be, but realise the magic was inside them all along and so on. I already knew how the ending would pan out before I went into the cinema and could see it unfolding as I was watching the film. David Soren has done well by balancing the generic storyline with some witty jokes and laugh-out-loud moments.
I quite enjoyed TURBO and would definitely be my pick for the school holidays. I’m giving this film 6 out of 10 stars. Check it out.
