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A few weeks ago there was coverage of the new Turbo movie from Dreamworks Animation on The Today Show.  While I was watching it,  even though I thought he wasn’t paying attention, Gavin  immediately began asking me if I would take him to see it. I printed him off a coloring page and let him watch the trailer.  Turbo was all he could think or talk about for the entire week leading up to the screening.

Fortunately, we had an opportunity to view a free advanced screening of the movie.  So here’s my Turbo movie review!

Theo is a slow garden snail with big dreams of being a fast mover.  Surrounded by other snails in the garden who have little patience for his antics, they continually save him from dangers that have included almost getting run over by both the neighborhood lawnmower and the juice-box drinking, big-wheel riding bully next door. Theo ends up in the garden shed and watches a message from idol, Guy Gagne a famous race car driver, who preaches to his fans about “Dreaming big!” When Theo gets frustrated and pushes the television off the table so it shatters, he ultimately leaves the garden.  In a serious of silly mishaps Theo ends up falling off a highway overpass and into a drag race for the ride of his life. Somehow he ends up with nitrous stored inside his shell, so when he puts his mind to it, Theo, now known as “Turbo” is now able to harness this energy to drive at speeds around 200 miles per hour.

When his snail friend from the garden, Chet, gets stolen by crows, super-speed Turbo chases after him.  After surviving, they both get scooped up from the road by Tito, a man who sells taco’s from the Dos Bros food truck and store that he co-owns with his brother Angelo.  Tito, like Turbo, is a dreamer who has high hopes of building their Taco business into an empire, but his off-the-wall ideas often drive his brother crazy. For fun, Tito and the financially struggling neighborhood businesses owners enjoy racing snails at the end of the day. After Turbo amazes the snails and the owners because” he ain’t Slo No Mo,”  with some encouragement from Turbo and his other racing snail pals (Smooth Move, White Shadow, Skidmark, Bun, and Whiplash), Tito raises the funds to enter him in the Indy 500. I’m not going to include any spoilers, but this movie will not disappoint you or your children.

The movie is in 3D, and though there were some brief scary parts for my 3 1/2 year old that included both crows and lawnmowers that chase after the snails, Gavin would either cover his ears or take off his glasses. The movie is rated PG. At home we have struggled finding feature length movies that interest him with “G” ratings so if he’s interested we frequently let him watch PG movies that we have previewed.  There wasn’t any content in Turbo that would stop me from letting him watch it repeatedly or returning to the movie theater to see it again.

I will admit, at the end, I cried a few happy tears. It’s an adorable story with a great message that provides a lot of laughter for both children and parents. I found a lot similarities in the characters to people you have met in real life. We all have people around us who support us, and those whose anxiety and negativity try to stop us from taking risks and challenges in life.  Not only is there a message to “Dream big, no matter how small you are,”  in addition, this movie is a great reminder for  adults to stop being judgmental, while being supportive of friends and family members who have unconventional ideas outside of what we might consider a realistic realm of possibility.

In conjunction with the movie, there are some fun new Turbo toys on store shelves by Mattel and some apps for the LeapPad and InnoTab3. Check back in a few days, I’m hosting a giveaway, where 2  different winners will be chosen to receive a Turbo Stunt Set Assortment and Turbo SHELL RACERS™ Vehicles Basic 2 Pack Assortment from Mattel!

We were provided with free passes to view Turbo at an advanced screening, any opinions are my own. Turbo is from the makers of Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda.

Here’s a trailer of the movie: