Turbo (2013)

Who payed the critics

Disappointment for a huge fan!

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Blistering performances.

Theo is an average garden snail but unlike his buddies who make fun of him all the time, he has big dreams of overcoming his condition and become a racer. As unlikely as it sounds, after an accident where he gets infected with nitrous oxide, he gains some very special powers, car powers that is: lights, radio, reverse beeps, the lot, but above all, SPEED! And what is he going to do with it you might ask...well, race of course, but not just anywhere, no sir, in the Indy 500!!! With the help of his new snail and human crew, he's going to give his best shot to win the most prestigious race of all.It's an intriguing story, although a bit over-exaggerated (even for animation standards), which features the great adventures of Turbo, the racing snail, from his humble but harsh beginnings till the moments he truly becomes famous, thus fulfilling his lifetime dream. I truly love this film's animation and its style, not to mention its great music, but its story isn't going to blow your mind, not even close. It's a very good movie but it is certainly left behind by masterpieces like Cars, Brave and others.

Why would no alarm bells go off for the production people of how they are presenting people to little kids? Mexicans boiled down to unsuccessful taco entrepreneurs? The black snail being some sort of hip hop tough guy who thinks he's fast but is slow? Snails are hermaphrodites. Even in this case the primary players are portrayed as male. Male factory leader. Male head speaker. Male main character. Male human characters. Male hero for the snail. Have females again been zipped off the planet again? Allegorical sure, but here's a female. Flirty lipstick snail as girl in a gang. Such opportunities lost.And the world is a big bad world where danger is everywhere. Everyone mocks the hero and continually colleagues die and they collectively shrug. Bird and big are killed for humour I presume. Really? This is the best they could do with the imaginations of themselves and their audience?

This movie is not good, not good at all. There is much better family entertainment than this. It has nice visuals, but the positives stop there. First off, I think this premise is really stupid. It's about a snail who can go 230 MPH. That's really stupid, in my opinion. Next it's a little too predictable for my tastes. I was able to guess exactly what was going to happen in every scene and it made me feel like I'd already seen the movie. Lastly, the side characters in this movie are amazingly annoying. I wanted the the snail characters to get stepped on the entire movie and I wanted the stereotypical human characters to get a good punch in the face. 4/10, would not recommend.

If you're stuck in with Man-Flu & just want an easy going fun loving number that'll make you laugh.. this is the first across the line! The Animation is no where as breath taking as Pixar of course but it's still FULL of vibrant colour & cool effects! The characters & the voice actors fit like a snail's shell! And the story doesn't do anything too clever-dick! They keep it pure, simple, enjoyable & fun.One thing I especially loved about this film is the mixed cultures. It really adds such depth when the characters are your typical white conservative types! ALL the cast members worked overtime to get this off the ground! It does have a more serious moral at heart, but it's never intrusive & the pace of the film is maintained throughout.I was surprised at how enjoyable this film was, & I recommend it for the whole family!