Turbo

So a snail gets super speed and competes in the Indy 500...

.........dafuq.

I had no idea what to think going into this movie. I guess it looked cute enough, I guess it looked fun. But it just looked so strange. Who greenlighted this idea? Who decided that it would be an idea worth investing into? Realistically - who wants to watch a movie about snails racing, even if one is super fast?

But what I got was an adorable film with a bunch of really likable characters, some dynamite voice performances, and a really fun story. There. I said it.

Unlike its premise suggests, Turbo isn't a zany stupid story about an animal in a non animal situation. Rather, it handles itself more like a superhero story, with a zany way for him to get his powers sure, but (unlike man of steel), it leaves you satisfied with how he got his powers rather than trying to dumbly explain how they all work. It worked far better than I could have imagined it working. Especially the introduction scenes, which showed effectively how much of a liability he actually was. And considering we were seeing snails being eaten every other scene for a little while, it puts in perspective how terrified this clan of snails actually is. Again, simply put, it just works.

The story is hilariously perfect. Why would a snail compete in the Indy 500? Well because what else is a snail going to do? They fit this story really nicely into a scenario controlled by the humans, as it would be considering snails can't exactly do anything themselves. Sure, he gives the idea for it by circling around a giant Indy 500 ad, but the humans control of the situation is just silly enough but just believable enough that it works. Things that could potentially happen to a snail in that situation happen, and the scenes of him actually racing are pretty damn exciting. Plus, it shockingly had me guessing. Who would have guessed?

The voice acting in this was phenomenal. Ryan Reynolds proves himself to be a great voice actor, despite his horrendous performance in The Croods. Michael Pena proves to be zany enough and perhaps a bit racially insensitive enough to be funny, but soft enough to be really likable and fun. But true props have to be given to Bill Hader for this film. I had no idea he was even in this movie, and when the credits rolled around my jaw dropped. He's amazing. Period.

All in all, is this a great animated movie? Nah. Is it in the same league as Pixar? Not a chance. But is it a shocking amount of fun, surprisingly sentimental, and even a bit unexpected? Hell yeah it is.

Rank - 3.5/5