Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Review: Turbo is Way, Way Better Than You'd Think

Poor Ryan Reynolds. Has he ever had a successful movie? Let me IMDb this. No, no he hasn't. Ryan Reynolds has never been in a movie that was both good and financially successful. In fact, most of his movies have been pretty shitty. It's not his fault. He's a very good actor. It's just that he keeps falling victim to what we in the writing business call "terrible writing." And I mean really terrible writing. He has played not one but TWO superheroes that he would have been really good at playing, both of which unfortunately sucked and their respective movies are now considered among the worst in the genre.
This is another one of his movies that was really good, but no one saw it. I mean, really good. It's almost Pixar quality. In fact, one of the only problems I had with this movie is that it's too much like Ratatouille. It's not as subtle as Ratatouille, but it's the same in a lot of aspects. Not that there's anything wrong with that.


So, the question still stands: what was so good about this movie? Well first of all, it was hilarious. I wouldn't go as far as to say it was funnier than Despicable Me 2, but it was definitely a better kind of humor. Also, it was better. Than Despicable Me 2. Really. The movie had a lot of funny moments, in a very Pixar-y manner. Dreamworks has been trying for years to emulate Disney and Pixar, even though their first movie was a big "fuck you" to the both of them, and now it seems that they've pretty much succeeded. This movie had charm, wit, and a confusing story where animals can talk to each other in English, but to humans it just sounds like animal noises.
BUUUUUUUUUT there were a couple things I didn't like about it. Like I said before, it almost felt like a ripoff of Ratatouille, mixed with a little bit of Cars. Second of all, there were a few voice actors who I felt couldn't really work their way into the story. For example, Ryan Reynolds played... Ryan Reynolds, basically. Luis Guzman played... Luis Guzman. Ken Jeong played... Chow from The Hangover Part Sān. He was an old lady, but it was still the same character. The most annoying one, however, was Snoop Dogg. I was just SO distracted by Snoop Dogg's voice that it pulled me out of the movie every time I heard it. I could also really tell that Guy Gagne was Bill Hader, but I didn't mind it. It's Bill fucking Hader, for god's sakes. And of course, the incomparable Ben Schwartz was in this movie and I had NO IDEA. Seriously, I was on the way out of the theater with my little sister and I saw that Ben Schwartz was in it. And his character was pretty funny, too. I also loved how Gagne slowly went mad and although he was the bad guy, you could kind of see why.
For the most part, the 3D was nothing special. There were a few scenes that were pretty cool, most of them involving confetti, but most of it was pretty uninteresting. Also, not in a racist way or anything, but Luis Guzman's character kinda reminded me of the Blockbuster Buster for some reason. Just a side note. Overall, I give it a B+. It truly surprised me. This is the worst-performing Dreamworks movie ever, and that is a shame. Go see it. Seriously. Dreamworks is finally on a winning streak, and I'd hate to see that streak end because no one saw this great movie. I should have an RIPD review up by the end of the week. If not, Wolverine this weekend!
Story is end!

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