THREE STARS

A garden snail feels the need, the need for slime-burning speed in David Soren's heart-warming computer-animated adventure.

Turbo (voiced by Ryan Reynolds) and his snail sibling Chet (Paul Giamatti), are first spotted toiling in the cabbage patch.

Unlike his fellow molluscs, Turbo has big dreams: he yearns to put a pedal to the metal like his hero – French-Canadian Indianapolis 500 champion, Guy Gagne (Bill Hader).

Outrageous misfortune sucks Turbo into the engine of a street-racing car and the snail is coated in nitrous oxide, which fuses with his DNA and allows him to perform bursts of death-defying speed.

Turbo becomes the star attraction at mollusc races organized by taco truck driver Tito (Michael Pena) at a rundown strip mall on the outskirts of town.

“This snail crashed into our lives for a reason. I think he might be our little shooting star!” Tito excitedly tells his brother Angelo (Luis Guzman). So the truck driver exploits a loophole in the rules of the Indianapolis 500 and enters Turbo alongside Gagne.

Supported by the other racing snails – Whiplash (Samuel L Jackson), Smoove Move (Snoop Dogg), Burn (Maya Rudolph), Skidmark (Ben Schwartz) and White Shadow (Michael Patrick Bell) – Turbo risks everything to defy Mother Nature and out-manoeuvre his arrogant idol.

Soren’s film is harmless and wholesome family entertainment. Turbo puts up a spirited chase but doesn’t quite have enough original ideas in the tank.