The littlest of kiddies will enjoy this cute animated tale of a snail who feels the need for speed. Young Turbo (Reynolds) doesn’t want to slowly crawl around a tomato plant with his fellow snails all day, he dreams of being a race car driver like his hero Guy Gagné (Bill Hader), and rather unrealistically wants to race alongside cars in the famous Indy 500. His doom-predicting brother Chet (Giamatti) tries to dissuade him, but when Turbo gets sucked into the fuel system of a souped-up car and is blasted by nitrous oxide, he discovers that not only has it given him a glow in the dark shell, but he can now travel at super speeds. With the help of a few streetwise snails and human Tito (Peña), it looks like Turbo could make his dream come true.
Brightly animated and with some sweet humour, this is a simple story of a creature determined to realise his dreams (even if he does need a little chemical help to get there). Similar in plot to Planes and Cars, it – ahem – speeds along at a fair pace and features a fun central character who children will enjoy. Parents and older kids may be a little bored at the predictability of it all, but it’s inoffensive stuff, perfect for the younger viewers (under-sevens) it’s aimed at.
Is Turbo suitable for kids? Here are our parents’ notes...
Very small children may be frightened by an early scene in which you think Turbo is going to be squished in the garden.
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