Garden snail Theo (Ryan Reynolds) has always dreamed of living a faster life. Every night, he watches videos of Indy races, pretending he is right there on the course. He even calls himself Turbo, and has painted checkered flags and a number 5 on his shell. The more sensible Chet wishes his brother would get his head out of the clouds and just accept his position working in the tomato garden.

When Turbo wanders off one night, he is accidentally thrust into the engine of a street racer where he comes in contact with some Nitrous Oxide and suddenly finds himself with super powers. A series of events causes Turbo and Chet to find themselves at a rundown strip mall where they meet a gang of street snails—Whiplash (Samuel L. Jackson), Smoove Move (Snoop Dogg), Burn (Maya Rudolph), Skidmark (Ben Schwartz), White Shadow (Mike Bell). The human shop owners like to race the snails, and when Tito (Michael Peña) sees what Turbo can do, he sets his sights on entering the snail in the Indy 500.

Turbo is an uplifting, inspirational film that’s a lot of fun to watch. I really enjoyed the positive message it gives about never giving up on your dreams. There are two similar, intertwining stories of optimistic dreamers who change the hearts and minds of those around them. Turbo and Chet have a dynamic that is mirrored in relationship between Taco truck owner Tito and his pragmatist brother Angelo (Luis Guzmán). Both Angelo and Chet want to support their brothers and their dreams, but it’s come to the point where the lack of results has caused them to give up. Similarly, the other shop owners have all but given up hope that their businesses will turn around. So it is up to Turbo and Tito to lift everyone’s spirits and make them believe again.

In addition to the heart, Turbo is also a very funny film, with many different styles of humor—from physical humor with snails getting it by falling tomatoes, to humorous situations like Chet’s reactions when the humans constantly think he is a female snail, to witty dialogue and just simple sight gags like a crow snatching an unlucky snail mid sentence. I found myself laughing out loud quite a few times during the film. In addition to those already mentioned, the cast also includes Ken Jeong as nail salon owner Kim Ly, Michelle Rodriguez as garage owner Paz, and Bill Hader as race car driver Guy Gagné. They all bring a lot of humor through their performances.

And if heart and humor aren’t enough, the film has some amazing action sequences. The exhilarating races are so realistic that you really feel like you are right there on the course. There’s also a lot of action as the snails try to escape from terrifying attacks by crows, tricycles, lawnmowers or other vehicles that are literally trying to crush their spirits.

This Blu-ray looks amazing. Whether it’s the high speed races, the slow-motion Matrix-style moves or anything inbetween, the picture flawlessly presents all the details, and the audio track captures all of the excitement, bringing you right into the action of the race. You can tell a lot of scenes have been specifically designed with 3D in mind, so if you have the capability to watch 3D, consider picking up the 3D Blu-ray release!

I found the bonus features on the disc to be a little disappointing, at least for an adult viewer. There’s only a single deleted scene and a single storyboard comparison. The other bonus features include three short featurettes that feel more like promotional pieces or rehashes of existing footage, rather than new content. Plus, there’s an hour of demonstrations on how to draw the characters from the film. I would have loved to see more deleted footage and storyboards or some interviews with the talented voice cast.

All told, Turbo is a fun, entertaining film with a lot of action and heart that’s definitely worth checking out.

What’s Included:

Film (1:35:35):

Blu-ray:
• 1080p / Widescreen 2.35:1
• Audio: English DTS-HD MA 7.1, English Descriptive Audio 5.1, Spanish DD 5.1, French DD 5.1, Portuguese: DD 5.1, Russian DTS 5.1, Estonian DD 5.1, Thai DD 5.1, Arabic DD 5.1, Latvian DD 5.1, Lithuanian DD 5.1, Ukrainian DD 5.1
• Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Russian, Estonian, Thai, Latvian, Lithuanian, Ukrainian

DVD:

• Widescreen 2.35:1
• Audio: English DD 5.1, English Descriptive Audio 5.1, Spanish Surround DD 2.0, French Surround DD 2.0
• Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French

Digital Copy: (Redemption Deadline 11/12/2015)

• iTunes Digital Copy
• UltraViolet DigitalHD Copy redeemable via Vudu or Flixster

Extras (Blu-ray only, except for the Sneak Peek trailers):

• Champion’s Corner (5:00)
  An episode of fake news show “Champion’s Corner” in which the host interviews Turbo on his big win. There’s also a TV ad for Andrenalode and footage of real 2012 Indy 500 winner Dario Franchitti.
• Smoove Move’s Music Maker (12:27)
  Music from the soundtrack set to clips from the film. One of the songs also includes footage of Snoop Dog performing. Play All or select from “Speedin'”, “The Snail is Fast”, “Back to Indiana”, “Jump Around”, “Let the Bass Go”, and “Eye of the Tiger”.
• Team Turbo: Tricked Out (2:43)
  Introduction to each of the six racing snails along with both their original equipment and their new-and-improved accouterments seen at the end of the movie.
• Meet Tito — Deleted Scene (2:03)
  Director David Soren introduces a scene that was cut from the film. It is presented in rough animation with audio. The way Soren introduces the scene as “this next scene” makes it sound like there was supposed to be a larger collection of deleted scenes—it’s a shame more weren’t included on this Blu-ray.
• The Race — Storyboard Sequence (2:25)
  Director David Soren introduces the original animated storyboard for the scene in which Turbo gets his powers. The final scene from the film is presented in the the corner of the screen for comparison.
• Be An Artist! (1:00:56)
  David Burgess, the Head of Character Animation on Turbo, demonstrates how to draw the snails. Play All or select from “Introduction”, “Turbo — Garden Shell”, “Turbo — Racing Shell”, “Burn”, “Smoove Move”, “Skidmark”, “Whiplash”, “White Shadow”, “Chet”, and “Customize Your Own Racer”.
• Shell Creator
  Interactive feature that allows you to create a customized snail. First you pick a snail (Burn, Smoove Move, Turbo, White Shadow, Whiplash or Skidmark), then customize it with snail and shell colors, shell graphics, a spoiler, an engine, pipes, and an accessory. Finally you select a background and save your creation to the gallery.
• Theatrical Trailer (2:26)
• Sneak Peek* (14:54)
  Trailers for other releases. Play All or select from “The Croods”, “Shrek The Musical”, “DreamWorks Dragons: Defenders of Berk”, “TURBO F.A.S.T.”, “Walking with Dinosaurs”, “Epic”, “DreamWorks Dragons: Riders of Berk”, “Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness”, and “Holiday Favorites” (Play All or select from “Shrek the Halls”, “Merry Madagascar”, “Kung Fu Panda Holiday”, “Gift of the Night Fury”, “Rise of the Guardians”, “Original Christmas Classics”, “Veggie Tales”).
• World of DreamWorks Animation* (9:56)
  Watch music videos for various DreamWorks animated films and DVDs. Includes “Shrek” — “I’m a Believer”, “Madagascar” — “I Like To Move It, Move It”, “How to Train Your Dragon” — “Fly High”, “Kung Fu Panda” — “Kung Fu Fighting”, and “The Croods” — “Shine Your Way””

Final Thoughts:

Turbo is a fun, entertaining film with a lot of action and heart. The video presentation is flawless and the audio track brings the viewer right into the action. The bonus features were a bit disappointing, but the Blu-ray is still worth a look. Those with the ability to view 3D should consider the 3D release as there are several scenes that are designed to take advantage of the depth that format has to offer.