Turbo

ANIMATED, FAMILY

He's Fast. They're Furious.

8.5 out of 10 | Movie or DVD

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Rated: PG Some mild action and thematic elements
Release Date: July 17, 2013
Runtime: 1 hour 36 minutes

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Director: David Soren
Writers: Darren Lemke, Robert D. Siegel, David Soren
Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Paul Giamatti, Michael Pena, Samuel L. Jackson, Luis Guzman, Bill Hader, Snoop Dogg, Maya Rudolph, Ben Schwartz, Richard Jenkins, Ken Jeong, Michelle Rodriguez, Mario Andretti, Mike Bell

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SYNOPSIS:  A freak accident might just help an everyday garden snail achieve his biggest dream: winning the Indy 500.

REVIEW: David Soren has had his hands in the creation of Shark Tale, Madagascar videos and television shorts, and Over the Hedge. Now he hits the big time as the director for an animation bout a snail who dreams of speed. Building a shell for the slug is Jack the Giant Slayer scribe Darren Lemke and Big Fan writer Robert D. Siegel, focusing on a little snail that could.

Theo (Ryan Reynolds, The Croods) is a normal garden variety garden snail. He dreams of going fast, following in the footsteps of his idol and legendary Indy car driver Guy Gagne (Bill Hader, The To-Do List). His brother Chet (Paul Giamatti, Rock of Ages) tries to get Theo to stop thinking about speed and to start thinking about what all other snails think about - tending to the garden and harvesting tomatoes. When an accident makes Theo reassess his slow life, he finds himself injected with nitrous oxide which gives him super speed. Both Theo "Turbo" and his brother are found by a taco seller named Tito (Michael Pena, Gangster Squad) who dreams of making his and his brother Angelo's (Luis Guzman, The Last Stand) taco stand successful. When Tito finds out about Turbo's speed, he and the snail decide to enter Turbo in the Indianapolis 500 race to gain exposure and acclaim!

Dreamworks has a knack for creating unique and interesting animated stories. While Disney Pixar seems to have started to rely on sequels like toy story and spin-offs like the upcoming Planes, dreamworld has dazzled with their recent efforts. Turbo is no exception. Taking a story of a snail that wants to race seems absurd, but they make a great story out of it anyway.

Turbo has a silly cast of characters, especially when dealing with snails. Even though turbo has NOS speed, that doesn't stop other 'need for speed' snails from slithering out of the woodwork. Led by Whiplash (Samuel L. Jackson, The Avengers), Turbo encounters Smoove Move (Snoop Dogg, Starsky and Hutch), Burn (Maya Rudolph, The Way Way Back), Skidmark (Ben Schwartz, The Other Guys), and White Shadow (Mike Bell, Kung Fu Panda 2). All of them are decked out in racing strips and tail fins. Joining the snails are a human cast of characters that seem to have move faith in a turbo-charged snail than Theo's own brother. Tito recruits the other owners in the starlight plaza, including auto mechanic Paz (Michelle Rodriguez, Fast and Furious 6), hobby store owner Bobby (Richard Jenkins, Killing Them Softly), and nail stylist Kim Ky (Ken Jeong, Despicable Me 2).

The animation is dazzling, on par or better than the raceway created on Disney's Cars. From the grooves in the track, to the camera work around and under the other Indy cars, to the discarded tire rubber 'pebbles' on turn four, Turbo does not disappoint. No where near photo realistic, Turbo lets the snails and their human counterparts take on their characters with their voices. The snails are cute and loveable, each with an unique look. The streak trail that Turbo leaves behind is a character all its own, allowing Turbo to speak to Tito in pictionary format when the snail needs to get his point across.

When you are a snail that dreams of speed, you are an outcast from the rest of the snail world. When dreams come reality, Turbo still finds himself a loner until he meets other snails that share his racing vision. At the end of the day, though, Turbo must rely on his own heart and spirit - not turbo-charged speed - if he is to get the job done.

Turbo is a fun ride for kids and adults. Silly, well-rendered, and having a great story of heart and of following a dream, this film will get your motor running.

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The Last Stand

ACTION / ADVENTURE, SUSPENSE / THRILLER

Last Legs

★ ★ ★ 1/2 out of 5 | Movie - DVD - Rental

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Rated: R Strong bloody violence and language.
Release Date: January 18, 2013
Runtime: 1 hour 46 minutes

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Director: Kim Jee-Woon
Writers: Andrew Knauer, Jeffrey Nachmanoff, Goerge Nolfi
Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Forest Whitaker, Peter Stormare, Eduardo Noriega, Luis Guzman, Jamie Alexander, Johnny Knoxville, Zach Gilford, Harry Dean Stanton, Genesis Rodriguez

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SYNOPSIS: The leader of a drug cartel busts out of a courthouse and speeds to the Mexican border, where the only thing in his path is a sheriff and his inexperienced staff.

REVIEW: I Saw the Devil and The Good, The Bad, the Weird director Kim Jee-woon director takes on American audiences with the action flick return of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Ghost Team One writer Andrew Knauer and The Day After Tomorrow screenwriter Jeffrey Nachmanoff work under writing supervisor George Nolfi (The Adjustment Bureau) to take a last stand against the cartel.

Chief sheriff ray Owens (Arnold Schwarzenegger, The Expendables 2) enjoys the quiet of his one-light Main Street border town of Summerton. As the local high school football team takes the students and most of the residents of the town hours away, several hundred miles north in Las Vegas FBI agent John Bannister (Forest Whitaker, Repo Men) leads a team of swat, FBI agents and security to transport a federal prisoner by the name of Gabriel Cortez (Eduardo Noriega, Vantage Point) to federal death row. Cortez promptly escapes in a well executed breakout plan and races into the desert with a suped up Chevy Corvette Zero 1 with a FBI agent hostage Ellen Richards (Genesis Rodriguez, Man on a Ledge) in tow. As Cortez races to the Mexico border, the otherwise quiet town of Summerton Junction is facing its own problems when the inexperienced deputies under Ray's command discover a brutal murder that leads to a moonlit firefight between deputy Sarah Torrance (Jaimie Alexander, Thor), deputy Jerry Bailey (Zach Gilford, In Our Nature), and Mike Figuerola (Luis Guzman, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island). As the bullets fly and Cortez speeds closer to town, Ray must barricade the main roads and rely on his novice deputies, an antique weapons museum curator Lewis Dinkum (Johnny Knoxville, Fun Size), and the friend of a fallen officer.

Arnold Schwarzenegger returns to the big screen in a big way, obviously catching the acting bug with his cameo appearances in The Expendables and The Expendables 2. A relative unknown Austrian born actor... just kidding... Schwarzenegger has had a phenomenal career on the silver screen in many genres, including action, comedy, science fiction, and more. When he decided to follow in the footsteps of Ronald Reagan, Schwarzenegger gave up acting for politics. But true to his word, Arnold is back. At sixty-six years of age, Arnold still cuts a muscular silhouette. But his age is starting to peek through the sinews of his biceps.

The Terminator himself makes some smart moves with his return to action. Director Kim Jee-Woon uses his experience in the genre to maximize the gun battles, car chases, and sequences of cat and mouse. Schwarzenegger lets the rest of the cast do more of the heavy lifting, instead of relying on his own brawn to carry the movie. Forest Whitaker, an imposing actor all his own, leads a team of agents in hot pursuit of a dangerous fugitive. Cortez's henchman lieutenant Burell (Peter Stormare, Lockout) is as slick as snake oil as he and the rest of Cortez's small paramilitary force assemble the final piece of Cortez's escape plan. While Cortez and Burell make up the relentless, dangerous criminals with no remorse for the taking of innocent lives, Schwarzenegger's Ray Owens assembles his own army. Unfortunately for Schwarzenegger's Ray, his army consists of a bunch of local misfits, including Johnny Knoxville's Lewis and Luis Guzman's Figgy who provide much of the comic relief to balance the intense action sequences.

Some of the story is filled with Austrian cheese, almost every line uttered from Mr. Universe's lips a possible future classic cliche. Schwarzenegger continues in the tradition he set for himself years ago with Terminator, Conan the Barbarian, and Predator, now a caricature of his former self. At the climax, after Ray and his deputies had stared down a small, heavily-armed army, Ray does have enough in the tank to go mano-y-mano against the third generation cartel-bred Cortez.

The Last Stand will not be the pinnacle of Arnold Schwarzenegger's career, far from it. But what Arnold brings with his latest effort is a fun popcorn bucket thrill ride that should delight action fans during the slower Winter/Spring season film slots. The car chases are slick and adrenalized, the firefights are bloody and filled with lead. There are ooohs, aaahs, and chuckles. The climax could have had a better look to it to match the rest of the film, but Schwarzengger manages to still kick a little ass.

The Last Stand has plenty of action twist and turns, all culminating in a final fist swinging showdown between two physical opponents. If you need a shot of action in your veins, The Last Stand may just do the trick.

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Journey 2: The Mysterious Island

Worth the Trip

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Rated: PG  Brief mild language and some adventure action.
Release Date: February 10, 2012
Runtime: 1 hr 34 mins

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Director: Brad Peyton

Writers: Brian Gunn, Mark Gunn, Richard Outten, based on the materials from Jules Verne
Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Michael Caine, Josh Hutcherson, Luis Guzman, Vanessa Hudgens, Kristin Davis

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SYNOPSIS: Seventeen-year-old Sean Anderson decodes a 'Vernian' message that leads him, his step-father Hank, and a helicopter pilot and his daughter on an adventure to a mysterious island in the middle of the South Pacific that supposedly does not exist.

REVIEW: Director Brad Peyton, known for the spy games that go along with Cat and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, jumps onboard to go big with a screenplay by Brian Gunn and Mark Gunn (Bring It On Again) from a story by the writing duo and Richard Outten (Pet Sematary II). Based on the characters and locales of the acclaimed 19th Century science fiction and fantasy writer Jules Verne, Peyton returns with a more grown up Sean Anderson from the previously released Journey to the Center of the Earth, shooting the film entirely in 3D. 

A seventeen-year-old Sean Anderson (Josh Hutcherson, Journey to the Center of the Earth) stumbles upon a decoded 'Vernian' transmission that he believes will lead him to his grandfather Alexander (Michael Caine, The Dark Knight) and the mysterious island that Jules Verne wrote about. Together with his mother's husband Hank (Dwayne Johnson, Fast Five), Sean decodes the message and heads to the South Pacific to track down the coordinates one hundred miles off the coast. While no one else will risk the trip out to the middle of the ocean, tour helicopter pilot Gabato (Luis Guzman, Arthur) and his daughter Kailani (Venessa Hudgens, Sucker Punch) take advantage of Sean's desperation and American dollars. Heading to the coordinates, the helicopter goes down in the middle of a hurricane and crashes on the shoreline of the island Sean has been seeking. Moving inland, they marvel at the size of tiny elephants and giant butterflies, fight off and run from giant lizards, and run into Sean's adventurer grandfather Alexander. But the family reunions are cut short when Hank realizes that the island is about ready to sink back into the ocean, years ahead of schedule. At that point, adventuring is replaced by the need for survival and to get off the island before it sinks 20,000 leagues under the sea.

Shot entirely using sophisticated 3D camera rigs and mostly on location in Oahu, Hawaii, Peyton uses the depth of the technology plus great special visual effects to produce a colorful storybook landscape filled with miniature pachyderms, bees large enough to ride like horses, lizards as big as a bus but five times as mean, and cascading waterfalls over jagged cliffs misting over architecture that could be the lost continent of Atlantis. Similar in tone and visuals to Journey to the Center of the Earth, the environments and predators are unreal enough to appeal to young PG audiences without being too overwhelming or scary, all the while giving parents enough to enjoy as well.

Dwayne Johnson is his usual good natured, capable self, winning most over with his big smile and bigger physique. As always, he carries himself with confidence and an easy swagger that comes second nature. But while Johnson's Hank becomes Gabato's idol, he doesn't win over Michael Caine's Alexander at all. Alexander considers years of adventuring much more worthy of praise than being a former-Navy, current family man with a construction business taking care of Sean's mother, and trying to look out for Sean. Although still a teenager, Sean considers himself an adventurer in his own right. He survived the center of the earth with his uncle Trevor four years ago and thinks himself his own man. Of course, he does fall for the beautiful pilot's daughter, Kailani, unable to win her over with his adventurer's abilities. With three alpha males, one alpha female, and Gabato, there is plenty of tension to go around that does not have anything to do with the island and its beautiful and dangerous inhabitants. Not being an alpha himself, Gabato does bring plenty of pratfalls and a smearing of scatological humor to his chagrin and the audience's grins.

Jules Verne provides the bulk of the source material for the film, inspiring a storyline with references to 'Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea' and 'The Mysterious Island'. In addition, the story references Jonathan Swift's 'Gulliver's Travels' and Robert Louis Stevenson's 'Robinson Crusoe' and 'Treasure Island'. In fact, part of the fun is combining the three books regarding islands from the three authors into a single piece of untangled deciphered code. In Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, Jules Verne's nineteenth century visionary stories, filled with submarines and creatures of all disproportionate sizes, make for a grand fun adventure for kids of all ages.

In IMAX 3D, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island takes full advantage of the technology. From dizzying aerial chases in the clouds and through the tree between bees and predatory birds trying to eat them (and their human riders), to a mother lizard angry that puny humans broke one of her baby eggs, to Hank's 3D opportunity to have Sean throw berries against his patent-pending 'pec pop of love',  Journey 2 is a fun fast thrill-ride. And even though there is no villain to the story, the island provides enough predatory and tectonic peril for our heroes and semi-heroes (sorry, Gabato!) to overcome as they try to escape the island before the ocean rushes over its shores.

A visual crowd-pleaser, kids of all ages with enjoy the clean, fast fun of this PG film. You may be able to do without the expense of the IMAX 3D, but it certainly adds a layer of thrills that you may lose in regular 2D. Journey 2: The Mysterious Island works as a good sequel to Journey to the Center of the Earth, letting us continue our journey with the young Sean Anderson as he becomes the expert avid adventurer. And it may make your kids want to pick up a classic book or two afterward!

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WORTH: Matinee and DVD (for the kids)