Film Review: Turbo

Turbo. Rated G. 96 minutes. Directed by David Soren. Screenplay by Darren Lemke, Robert D Siegel and David Soren.

Verdict: An absolute winner for the whole family.

A cute little snail called Theo (voiced by Ryan Reynolds) who dreams of breaking out of his ordinary little garden-variety existence and winning the Indianapolis 500? What’s not to like? As it turns out, absolutely nothing – as Theo takes on his hero, the vain French-Canadian Indy 500 champion Guy Gagné (Bill Hader), in a supremely entertaining race to the finish line.

Lemke, Siegel and Soren’s screenplay boasts some hilarious moments (a crow’s rather unfortunate demise becomes excellent pay-back), but also wins points for holding fast to its motivational “No dream is too big, and no dreamer too small” through-line. The world of the film refreshingly departs from a typically white, middle-America and takes us into a poverty-stricken mall, where Tito (Michael Peña), a taco truck driver and his taco-making brother Angelo (Luis Guzmán) are struggling to make a living.

Together with the other tenants including manicurist Kim-Ly (brilliantly voiced by The Hangover’s Ken Jeong), mechanic Paz (Michelle Rodriguez), and hobby-shop owner Bobby (Richard Jenkins) who makes custom snail shells for their motley collection of snails, Tito shares Theo’s ambition to be more than anyone else believes is possible. What makes Turbo so engaging is its delightful assortment of original and charmingly idiosyncratic characters – all perfectly voiced by a uniformly excellent voice cast.

Soren, making his feature-length debut, delivers the story to the screen with immense skill and an obvious passion for the journey of his loveable characters, while also making an impression as the snail who can’t ‘tuck’ back into his shell. But if I had to pick a favourite character, it would be the ubiquitous snail White Shadow (Michael Bell), who for some inexplicable reason, made me laugh more than I have laughed in a movie all year.

This review was commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group.