Turbo ★★★

DREAMWORKS’ Turbo is an underrated animated film boosted by a collection of interesting voice performers.

It’s a classic story about succeeding against all odds, in this case a snail who realises his ambition to win the Indy 500 car race.

Ryan Reynolds plays young Theo, aka Turbo whose obsession with speed makes him an outcast in the garden snail community in which he resides with his frequently exasperated older brother Chet, played by Paul Giamatti.

After nearly getting killed by a lawnmower while trying to retrieve a fallen tomato, Theo wanders off alone to admire the traffic on a nearby freeway.

Through a series of mishaps Turbo ends up on the bonnet of a Chevrolet Camaro during a street race. But his elation turns to fear when he is sucked into the supercharger.

Turbo emerges from the situation with a hugs dose of nitrous oxide that remarkably gives his body the characteristics of a car, including super speed.

After another accident that ends up getting Turbo and Chet ostracised from the snail colony they end up being adopted by a couple of Latino food business owners, voiced by Michael Peña and Luis Guzmán, who see Turbo’s potential and help him achieve his dream.

Other fun voice performances come from Samuel L. Jackson as Whiplash, the leader of the Starlight Plaza Snail crew, Snoop Dogg, Michaelle Rodriguez, Ben Schwartz, Richard Jenkins, Bill Hader and Ken Jeong.

It’s a stacked cast who have a lot of fun.

Watched on Netflix.