TURBO

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(Kiddie cartoon with good messages)

“No dream is too big, and no dreamer is too small” is the message relayed to children in this cute, well-drawn but familiar story.

This time around it is a tiny, slow snail who dreams about becoming a racecar driver and entering the Indianapolis 500. Ryan Reynolds is the voice of Turbo, a garden snail who is bored with his life and job in a tomato garden. This is a bit of a danger to keep him and his fellow snails on their toes. (Do snails have toes?)

This bratty kid tries to run them over on his plastic three-wheeler and crows swoop down to take away a snail a day.

Wandering from the garden, Turbo ends up in the middle of a drag race, where he gets zapped with a huge dose of nitrous oxide, which gives him enormous powers, including speed. He teams up with a taco food truck driver and heads for Indianapolis, along with three sponsors: a beauty shop owner, an auto body shop owner and a hobby shop owner.

Rhode Island’s Richard Jenkins is the voice of the hobby shop owner. (Forgive me, Richard, but do I see a slight resemblance between you and the animator’s drawings?)

It all comes down to the BIG RACE, with the French champion and Turbo neck in neck (Do snails have necks?) toward the finish line.

And what’s the lesson learned? Never give up.

Rated PG, with little to worry about with the youngsters.