- “Go for it!”
- ―Tagline
Turbo is the 27th feature film DreamWorks Animation. It premiered on July 17, 2013.
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 Venice, California, Theo, a.k.a Turbo (Ryan Reynolds), is a garden snail who dreams of being the greatest racer in the world, just like his hero, 5-time indinapolis 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 (Paul Giamatti). 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 (which is actullay an airplane light), "I wish...I wish I was fast". Suddenly, he gets into a freak accident when he gets sucked into the supercharger of a drag racer, fusing his DNA with a nitrous oxide on a street race. This incident finds Theo vested with the power of incredible speed and accuracy, as well as some of the characteristics of a car, such as eyes that light up like headlight, and a shell that blinks red like taillights and make car sounds and 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 (Michael Pena), a "Dos Bros" 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 (Samuel L. Jackson), with his crew Smooth Move (Snoop Dogg), Burn (Maya Rudolph), Skidmark (Ben Schwartz) and White Shadow (Mike Bell), 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 (Luis Guzman), still declines to support him, the neighbors agree to put up the entrance fee and accompany them to Indianapolis. Once there, Tito is refused entry into the race, but a chance meeting with Guy Gagne (Bill Hader) gives Turbo a chance to show off his speed which astounds the race track at the snail qualifying for the race.
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 leaves him trailing in last place.
At a pitstop, Whiplash and his crew give Turbo a vital pep talk, 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 tried to kill the snail while Turbo finds to him alarm 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 dangers to meet up with Whiplash's crew to get to the racer. Seeing his brother and friends arrive riding crows to encourage hime 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
- Maya Rudolph as Burn, Chet's love interest.
- Michael Peña as Tito, a "Dos Bros" taco truck driver
- Luis Guzmán as Angelo, Tito's brother and a "Dos Bros" taco truck driver
- Snoop Dogg as Smoove Move, a snail with Rapping Hard Defense
- Ben Schwartz as Skidmark, a flying snail
- Bill Hader as Guy Gagne, the main antagonist.
- Frank Welker as the Crows, snail-eating crows
- Mike Bell as White Shadow. (Credited as Michael Patrick Bell)
- Ken Jeong as Kim-Ly
- Michelle Rodriguez as Paz
- Kurtwood Smith as The CEO
- Samuel L. Jackson as Whiplash, a snail leader of the racing gang, and Theo's mentor.
- Ben Stiller as Carl, a garden snail leader, Chet's boss.
- Richard Jenkins as Bobby
- 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 Phil the Untucking Snail
Music
- Run DMC - It's Tricky
Blu Ray and DVD release
Turbo will be released on Blu Ray and DVD November 12th 2013.
Spin-Off TV Series
A television series, titled Turbo: F.A.S.T. (Fast Action Stunt Team) will debut exclusively on Netflix in December 2013. As the first original Netflix series for children, it will be available in United States and in the 40 countries where Netflix offers its service. Consisting of 56 11-minute episodes, the series will follow Turbo and his crew on their worldwide exploits while mastering new stunts and competing with villains.
Videos
Gallery