Turbo
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 He's fast. They're furious.
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Turbo is a 2013 American computer-animated sports comedy film directed by David Soren, produced by DreamWorks Animation and released by 20th Century Fox. The film stars the voices of Ryan Reynolds, Paul Giamatti, Michael Peña, Snoop Dogg, Maya Rudolph, Michelle Rodriguez, Samuel L. Jackson and Bill Hader. It was released on July 17, 2013. A television series based on the film, titled Turbo Fast, with only Ken Jeong and Mike Bell reprising their roles, was put into production a year before the film's release, and it first aired on Netflix on December 24, 2013.
Plot
Theo/Turbo (Ryan Reynolds) is a speed-obsessed snail with an unusual dream: to become the world's greatest racer. This odd snail gets a chance to leave his slow-paced life behind when a freak accident gives him the power of superspeed. Newly revved-up, Turbo embarks on an extraordinary quest to enter and win the Indianapolis 500. Accompanied by a dedicated pit crew of trash-talking adrenaline junkies, Turbo becomes the ultimate underdog by refusing to let his limitations get in the way of his dreams.
Why It's Going Turbo Indeed
- Great animation, which is just to be expected from a DreamWorks movie, and the visual effects look nice.
- The voice acting is excellent, even from Ryan Reynolds, Paul Giamatti, Samuel L. Jackson, Maya Rudolph, Ben Schwartz, and Bill Hader (his character Guy Gagne, although he is a terrible twist villain, has a pretty cool, yet almost hard to recognize French accent).
- Plenty of funny moments, like the scene where Turbo accidentally plays hip hop music with the other snails watching.
- The characters are likable and funny, including Turbo himself.
- The film has a great pace.
- The designs for the snails are pretty cute and truly appealing to look at.
- Every scene where Theo/Turbo charges his energy and uses his speed is COOL!
- Awesome soundtrack, with notable highlights being the score by Henry Jackman, who would later compose Disney's Big Hero 6 (also starring Maya Rudolph) and previously composed Wreck-It Ralph, and of course the song "That Snail Is Fast!" by Nomadik and V12, which is absolutely catchy and awesome.
- The adult humor is clever and smart for a change.
- "NO! I WILL NOT LOSE TO A SNAIL!"
- Although the concept was ridiculous, it was surprisingly well-executed.
- The writing is decent.
- Chet becomes more likable in the third act of the film, where he finally warms up to Turbo's interest in racing.
- Some great messages, like never giving up.
- The scene where Turbo's shell gets destroyed by Gagne is kinda heartbreaking.
- The ending where Theo gets his speed back is AWESOME!!!
- WHOA! THAT SNAIL IS FAST!
Bad Qualities
- The story, while not bad, can get a little predictable and kind of cliché sometimes, and some elements are noticeably similar to Cars and Ratatouille.
- Chet can be rather unlikable and overprotective at times, due to how he treats Turbo (though to be fair Turbo wasn’t exactly a race snail from the beginning, so it’s somewhat justified but still). However, he does redeem himself and become better near the end.
- Sometimes, the adult humor, while intelligent for a change, can be a little off for younger audiences.
- Sometimes, it relies on some toilet and racially offensive humor and childish jokes.
- Speaking of this, a few characters can come off as racial stereotypes.
- Sometimes, it relies on some toilet and racially offensive humor and childish jokes.
- This film arguably has one of, if not, the worst DreamWorks twist villain with Guy Gagne. Similar to Charles Muntz from Up, Chester V from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 and Ernesto de La Cruz from Coco, Guy is never set up as a villain until the big twist, but unlike those villains however, the twist is rather executed horribly and afterwards acts like a self-absorbed jerk in front of the crowd, which he never did in the rest of the film.
- The twist doesn't even work since even taking it out of the story entirely, Guy would still need to try and win against Turbo, making it entirely pointless.
- A lot of the film's supporting characters are very forgettable and fairly one-note, only serving as drawbacks and support systems for Theo's journey.
- Some Verizon product placements, but this can be understandable since they sponsored the Turbo game for the movie.
Reception
Turbo was met with mixed to positive reviews. The review aggregator website, Rotten Tomatoes, reported a 66% approval rating with an average rating of 6.1/10 based on 113 reviews. The website's consensus reads "It's nowhere near as inventive as its off-the-wall premise might suggest, but Turbo boasts just enough colorful visual thrills and sharp voice acting to recommend as undemanding family-friendly fare.". Another review aggregation website Metacritic calculated a score of 58 out of 100 based on 30 reviews. The film earned an "A" from general audiences polled by CinemaScore, and an "A+" from audiences under age 18.