- “He’s fast. They’re furious.”
- ―Tagline
Turbo (also known as Ready, Set, Slow) is a 2013 American 3D computer-animated sports comedy film, the 27th feature film by DreamWorks Animation and the second film distributed by 20th Century Studios. It premiered on July 17, 2013. The film was met with generally positive reviews, but grossed $282 million worldwide against it's $127 million budget. Due to the film's performance, the studio had to take a $15.6 million write-down.
Synopsis[]
Turbo is an ordinary garden snail with an impossible dream: to become the fastest snail in the world. When a freak accident gives him extraordinary speed, Turbo sets out to try to make his dream come true.
Plot[]
In Van Nyes, California, Theo, a.k.a Turbo, is a garden snail who dreams of being the greatest racer in the world, just like his hero, 5-time Indianapolis 500 champ, Guy Gagne. His obsession with speed and all things fast has made him an oddity and an outsider in the slow and cautions snail community, and a constant embarrassment to his cautious older brother, Chet. Turbo desperately wishes he could escape the slow-paced life he's living, but his one chance to live proves a near fatal disaster when he tries to recover a prize tomato and needs to be rescued by his brother, Chet.
Demoralized, Theo wanders onto a freeway to admire the traffic and wishes on the very first star. Suddenly, he gets into a freak accident when he gets sucked into the supercharger of a drag racer, fusing his DNA with nitrous oxide on a street race. This incident finds Theo vested with the power of incredible speed and accuracy and some of the characteristics of a car, such as eyes that light up like headlight and a shell that blinks red like taillights and makes car sounds music from a radio.
Unfortunately, Theo's first attempt to show this power off ends with him crashing a Big Wheel tricycle into the garden in disaster that get himself and Chet fired from the garden crew. As the siblings quarrel, Chet is snatched by a crow, but is pursued and rescueed by Theo at a run down strip mall where they are then captured by Tito, a taco truck driver and is brought to race with other snails. Theo astounds both humans and snail alike with his speed and earns the respect of the snails, led by Whiplash, with his crew Smooth Move, Burn, Skidmark and White Shadow, who have impressive skills of their own.
Inspired by this extaordinary snail, Tito dreams to revive the strip mall with Theo as an attracion, and eventually with the help of the snails who manage to divert and strand a tour bus and drum up impressive business. At this success, Theo convinces Tito to try to enter the snail in Indianapolis 500 as a competiter. While Tito's brother Angelo, still declines to support him, the neighbors agree to put up the entrance fee and accompany them to Indianapolis 500 . Once there, Tito is refused entry into the race, but a chance meeting with Guy Gagne gives Turbo a chance to show off his speed which astounds the race track at the snail qualifying for the race, because he set a new record.
This impossible feat soon becomes a sensation on social media, and the owner of the race gives in to the pressure, egged on by Gagne himself, to let the snail compete. However, the night before the race, Turbo is demoralized when his hero, Gagne, sneers at his attempt to race while Chet confesses that he cannot bear to see his brother endanger himself. Regardless the next day, Turbo is in the race, but the dangerous racetrack and far more experienced competition leave him trailing in last place.
Whiplash and his crew give Turbo a vital pep talk at a pitstop, advising him to race like a snail. Back in the race, Turbo realizes what they mean and uses his small size to maximum advantage with maneuvers around and under the competition that no human racer can emulate. With the snail rapidly gaining in the standings, Gagne races dirty and tries to kill the snail while Turbo warns him that his speed power is starting to fade. Finally, in the final stretch with Turbo in the lead, Gagne tries a desperate maneuver to beat the snail and gets into a major crash that snarls all the competitors in a major pileup. Similarly, Turbo is thrown, injured with a damaged shell, and finds to his despair that his speed power is gone.
Alarmed at seeing Turbo giving up and retreating into his shell barely a few feet from the finish line, Chet puts himself into incredible danger to meet up with Whiplash's crew to get to the racer. Seeing his brother and friends arrive riding crows to encourage him to continue, Turbo resumes the race. Unfortunately, Gagne singlemindedly pursues him by dragging his wrecked car after the snail and attempts to crush him. At the last second, Chet tells Turbo to tuck into his shell and roll at Gagne's latest blow, and the force allows him to turble past the finish line to win.
At this victory, the strip mall becomes a major attraction with all the businesses becoming spectacular successes, including extremely elaborate snail races with Whiplash's crew getting special propulsion aids for their shells, while Chet is content as the track referee. As for Turbo, his happiness is enhanced with discovering that his shell has healed, and with that, his superspeed power has returned.
Cast[]
- Ryan Reynolds as Theo, aka Turbo, the main character of the film.
- Paul Giamatti as Chet, Turbo's brother
- Michael Peña as Tito, a "Dos Bros" taco truck driver
- Luis Guzmán as Angelo, Tito's brother and another "Dos Bros" taco truck driver
- Bill Hader as Guy Gagné, the main antagonist.
- Snoop Dogg as Smoove Move, a snail with Rapping Hard Defense
- Maya Rudolph as Burn, Chet's love interest.
- Ben Schwartz as Skidmark, a flying snail
- Mike Bell as White Shadow. (Credited as Michael Patrick Bell)
- Richard Jenkins as Bobby
- Ken Jeong as Kim Ly
- Michelle Rodriguez as Paz
- Samuel L. Jackson as Whiplash, a snail leader of the racing gang, and Turbo's mentor.
- Paul Dooley as Carl, a garden snail leader, Chet and Turbo's boss.
- Kurtwood Smith as The CEO/Phil
- Frank Welker as the Crows, a trio of snail-eating crows
- Aaron Berger as Danny
- Aidan Andrews as Big Wheel Boy
- Jen Cohn as a Reporter
- Paul Page as Announcer 1
- Jason Marsden as Announcer 2
- Jeff Bennett as the Untucking Snail
Trivia[]
- The second DreamWorks Animation film to be released in July, after Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas.
- This is the second DreamWorks film to be voiced by Ryan Reynolds, following The Croods.
- This is the 12th computer-animated film by DreamWorks Animation to be produced at their Glendale studio, along with Shark Tale, Over the Hedge, Bee Movie, Kung Fu Panda, Monsters vs. Aliens, How to Train Your Dragon, Shrek Forever After, Kung Fu Panda 2, Puss in Boots, Rise of the Guardians, The Croods.
- This is also the 15th overall film produced by their Glendale studio, which also includes their four hand drawn films such as The Prince of Egypt, The Road to El Dorado, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, and Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas.
- The movie's tagline could be a reference to the Fast and Furious film franchise.
Music[]
- Run DMC - It's Tricky
- That Snail is Fast!!
Blu-Ray and DVD Release[]
Turbo was released on Blu-Ray, DVD and Digital on November 12th 2013.
Spin-Off Web Series[]
A web series, titled Turbo FAST debuted exclusively on Netflix in December 2013. As the first original Netflix series for children, it is available in the United States and in the 40 countries where Netflix offers its service. Consisting of 56 11-minute episodes, the series follows Theo/Turbo and his crew on their worldwide exploits while mastering new stunts and competing with villains.
Gallery[]
External Links[]
- Turbo at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia