Turbo is a 2013 American animated sports comedy film directed by David Soren and written by Soren, Darren Lemke and Robert Siegel. It stars Ryan Reynolds, Paul Giamatti, Michael Peña, Luis Guzmán, Bill Hader, and Samuel L. Jackson. In the film, a garden snail (Reynolds) pursues his dream of winning the Indianapolis 500 after a freak accident gives him super speed.
In 2009, DreamWorks Animation organized a competition for its staff to submit a one-page pitch for film ideas. Soren's concept was "The Fast and the Furious with snails" and he won the competition. With no further development for several years, Soren pushed the project again after he and his family moved into a new home with a backyard infested with snails. For the racing elements of the film, Soren was inspired by his son's fascination with race cars.
Turbo premiered at CineEurope on May 20, 2013, and was theatrically released in the United States on July 17, 2013 by 20th Century Fox. It received mixed reviews from critics. Despite earning $282 million on a $131 million budget, the film was a box office failure, and lost the studio $13.5 million. A television series based on the film Turbo Fast was released in 2013.
Plot In a suburban tomato garden of Van Nuys in California, Theo, self-named "Turbo", is a garden snail who dreams of being a racer like his hero, five-time Indianapolis 500 champion Guy Gagné. However, his obsession with racing makes him an outcast in the slow and cautious snail community and a constant embarrassment to his older brother Chet. One night, Theo wanders onto a freeway to admire the traffic and wishes to be fast. Suddenly, he gets sucked through the supercharger of a Chevrolet Camaro during a drag race, fusing his body with nitrous oxide.
Upon waking up the next day, he discovers that he now possesses super speed powers as well as other characteristics of a car. His first attempt at using his newfound speed power ends with him accidentally crashing a boy's tricycle into the tomato garden, resulting in him and Chet getting fired. Chet is then snatched by a crow, but Theo rescues him near a rundown strip mall called "Starlight Plaza". Both are then captured by Tito Lopez, a taco truck driver who works at the Plaza, and they are brought to a snail race held by him and his coworkers. Theo wins the race in a matter of seconds, earning the respect of the snails including their leader Whiplash, and firmly establishing the name "Turbo" as his own.
Tito plans to revive Starlight Plaza with Turbo as a main attraction, but Turbo convinces Tito to enter him in the upcoming Indianapolis 500 as a competitor. After the snails divert and strand a tour bus to see Turbo's superspeed power, bringing impressive business, Tito's coworkers agree to put up the entrance fee and accompany them to Indianapolis. At the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Turbo shows off his super speed powers after a chance meeting with Gagné, qualifying for the race and becoming a social media sensation in the process. The CEO of IndyCar reluctantly lets Turbo compete when Gagné supports him. The night before the race, Turbo has an argument with Chet, who opposes his participation in the race as he fears that he might get hurt or killed by the cars. Sneaking out, Turbo encounters Gagné, who reveals that he solely cares about winning and that he only supported Turbo's participation in the race to get more publicity. He then demoralizes and warns Turbo to back out of the race.
When the race begins, the more experienced competitors leave Turbo in last place. During a pit stop, Whiplash and his crew give Turbo a pep talk, advising him to stop racing like a car. Using his small size to his advantage, Turbo begins to rapidly gain ground. Gagné resorts to cheating and knocks him against the wall, damaging his shell and severely weakening his super speed. However, Turbo refuses to give up, and he eventually takes the lead from Gagné on the final lap. Gagné drives over debris to overtake him on the last turn, only to trigger a crash that involves most of the competitors, including Turbo, whose shell is broken and his super speed powers almost completely gone, causing him to give up.
Having a change of heart, Chet meets with Whiplash's crew and encourages Turbo to continue. Motivated by his older brother's support, Turbo resumes the race. Gagné pursues him by dragging his wrecked car and attempts to kill Turbo by stepping on him, but Turbo narrowly wins the race by tucking and rolling with his broken shell. In the aftermath, Starlight Plaza thrives from Theo's fame; the businesses become spectacular successes and hold elaborate snail races. Turbo discovers that his shell has healed, and his super speed powers has returned.
Voice cast Ryan Reynolds as Theo/Turbo, the main protagonist, a garden snail who dreams of becoming a non-human racer in the next Indianapolis 500 champion and obtains superspeed powers during a street race. Paul Giamatti as Chet, Turbo's overprotective older brother and later becomes Burn's boyfriend. Michael Peña as Tito Lopez, a taco seller who finds and befriends Theo. Bill Hader as Guy Gagné, an arrogant, 5-time French-Canadian Indianapolis 500 champion who is Theo's racing hero and later becomes Theo's racing arch-nemesis. Samuel L. Jackson as Whiplash, the leader of the Starlight Plaza Snail crew with a shell resembling a stereotypically modified muscle car. Snoop Dogg as Smoove Move, the flexible member of Whiplash's crew who is themed after a lowrider. Maya Rudolph as Burn, a maternal sassy red snail who becomes Chet's love interest. She is themed after tuner scene vehicles. Ben Schwartz as SkidMark, Whiplash's "feisty #2" whose shell is modelled after a dragster. Michael Patrick Bell as White Shadow, a large white snail with a Monster truck shell. Luis Guzmán as Angelo Lopez, Tito's older brother and employer. Richard Jenkins as Bobby, a shopkeeper at a hobby store in Starlight Plaza who makes and sells custom models and snail shells. Ken Jeong as Kim-Ly, a short, middle-aged Asian manicurist at Starlight Plaza. Michelle Rodriguez as Paz, a car mechanic at Starlight Plaza. Kurtwood Smith as the Indianapolis Motor Speedway CEO Dario Franchitti as Scottish Anchor and Male Tourist James Ryan as Takao Noguchi, a Japanese Indianapolis 500 racer. Will Power as himself. Power's Verizon car also appears in the film Mario Andretti as Indianapolis Motor Speedway Traffic Director Paul Page and Chris Parnell as Announcers Paul Dooley as Carl, Chet and Theo's boss. Jonathan Silver Scott as The Little Dog Drew Scott as The Little Cat Chris Miller as Tour Bus Driver Lloyd Sherr as Spanish DJ
Production Turbo was directed by first-time director David Soren, who also came up with the idea for the film. The origins of the film lie in a competition, In 2009, DreamWorks Animation organized for all employees to pitch a one-page idea. The night before, Soren conceptualized Fast & Furious with snails and won the competition. The studio bought the idea, and let it "simmer" for more than five years. When Soren and his family moved into a new home with a backyard infested with snails, he pushed for the idea and "got it back on the fast track." Soren explained why he chose snails: "For me, it was less about trying to make a racing movie and more about finding an underdog that I could really latch onto. I think that a snail is inherently an underdog. It's smashed, eaten by people, the butt of slow jokes around the world. It just seemed loaded with obstacles. Obviously, the opposite of slow is fast, and that's where racing came into the picture." For the racing side of the film, Soren was inspired by his six-year-old son's fascination with race cars.
DreamWorks Animation partnered with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the IndyCar Series to make the racing as authentic as possible. Dario Franchitti, four-time IndyCar champion, was a technical consultant on the film, advising on how Turbo should navigate the speed and competition through the eyes of a snail.
The film used HP equipment for rendering. It took 75 million render hours to render.
The film was dedicated to character effects animator Nicholas Sanger Hoppe, who died before the film was released.
The current lack of rule specifying the inability of a snail to race in the Indianapolis 500 also fails to prohibit the racing of sponges, beams of light, the abstract concept of justice, pepper shakers, nuclear ibexes, or photosynthesis.
Music
On March 22, 2013, Henry Jackman was announced as the film's composer, making it the third film he composed for DreamWorks Animation, following Monsters vs. Aliens (2009) and Puss in Boots (2011). The soundtrack was released on July 15, 2013, by Relativity Music Group. The soundtrack with an additional 11 songs was released on the deluxe edition. Snoop Dogg, who voiced Smoove Move in the film, also contributed to the soundtrack with an original song titled "Let the Bass Go", which was played over the closing credits. According to Dogg, the song is "something upbeat that everyone in the house can enjoy. I'm on my old-school rap style there: we took sounds from the Eighties like an 808 bass to give it that 'Planet Rock' and 'Going Back to Cali' feel. It was about paying homage, while at the same time taking the movie to the next level."
Release Turbo had its world premiere on May 20, 2013, at the CineEurope film distributors' trade fair in Barcelona, Spain. It was theatrically released in the United States on July 17, 2013. Turbo was originally scheduled for a June 7, 2013 release, but delayed to July 19, 2013, before finally being pushed to July 17, 2013.
In Chile, this film was the first feature film to play in the 4DX motion format, featuring strobe lightning, motion, wind, water sprays, and aroma effects, which premiered at a Cine Hoyts theater in La Reina.
Home media Turbo was released digitally on October 22, 2013, having in its first week the highest box office to digital unit ratio for DreamWorks Animation. It was released on DVD, Blu-ray, and Blu-ray 3D on November 12, 2013. The Blu-ray and DVD both come with a wind-up Turbo toy. As of April 2015, 7.1 million home entertainment units were sold worldwide.
Video games A video game based on the film, titled Turbo: Super Stunt Squad, was released on July 16, 2013, on Wii U, Wii, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. Published by D3 Publisher, the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii U versions were developed by Vicious Cycle Software under the Monkey Bar Games label. In the HD versions, the gameplay is similar to the Tony Hawk video games. The Wii, Nintendo 3DS, and Nintendo DS versions were developed by Torus Games. In the game, the snails have to perform stunts to build up their skills and win the race. The game received mostly negative reviews from critics, with Metacritic giving the PS3 version a 38/100. It was the last DreamWorks Animation game to be published by D3 Publisher and also the last DreamWorks Animation game to be released on Nintendo DS.