Theo (a.k.a. Turbo, voiced by Ryan Reynolds) is an outcast in the garden: he loves speed much to his brother’s embarrassment (Paul Giamatti, who brings his argumentative worrywart character to the mollusk world).The Associated Press
The premise is absurd – a snail enters the Indianapolis 500. Not some anthropomorphic snail-world version of the Indy, but the real deal, snail versus cars. Theo (a.k.a. Turbo, voiced by Ryan Reynolds) is an outcast in the garden: he loves speed much to his brother's embarrassment (Paul Giamatti, who brings his argumentative worrywart character to the mollusk world). But a freak accident flushes Turbo with super powers and the gastropod goes from travelling at a snail's pace to sliming at about 200 miles per hour. Anything is possible – including challenging his hero, French Canadian Indy champ Guy Gagné (SNL's Bill Hader, who sounds more Italian than Québécois). I didn't buy it. But I'm admittedly older than the film's target demographic. So I got a 13-year-old's perspective.
Bethany, we've seen a lot of animated movies – how does this one compare?
It was all right, not great. It was too predictable. All kids' movies are like that. Obviously, the main character is going to win.
The poster says Turbo is "from the makers of Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda" …
Really?
Yeah, but you didn't like this one as much?
Madagascar was better by far. This movie reminded me of Cars. That's what I thought it was at the beginning, I thought it was Cars 3. Even the crash scene in this movie was like in Cars, when Lightening McQueen jumps over the bad guy. It was supposed to be funny but I didn't find anything funny at all. I didn't laugh out loud once.
What age do you think would like the movie?
Well, there were all these six year olds that were talking excitedly about how terrified they were during the race scene.
It did feel like we were racing around with them – the 3-D effects were good. And that underdog theme really hits home on the racetrack. But did you find it too far-fetched, the whole snail at the Indy idea?
Well, Guy Gagné did say no dream is too small.
So that message sunk in. Does it make you believe that, maybe, anything is possible?
Sometimes. It depends on the dream.
Do you think we're too old to enjoy Turbo?
I'm not too old for animated movies. I like them, but they have to be good, they have to be funny. I'll go see Despicable Me 2 but I don't think I want to watch Turbo again.