Something to watch tonight: Tuesday 17 September

Turbo (Soren, 2013)

OK, so yesterday’s selection was a superb film but a heavy one. I still believe that everyone should watch it but it might make it a little easier for the family if you followed it straight up with this.

I can’t take credit for remembering that Turbo exists, or that it is entertaining from start to … ahem … finish. That honour goes to director Michael Mann who offered it up as his first recommendation in this recent interview with Letterboxd:

In a lengthy list full of classic heavy hitters, there’s one in particular that immediately stands out: Turbo. Yes, the 2013 animated racing snail movie. Higher in quality than its 2.5-star Letterboxd rating suggests, Turbo shares several parallels with Mann’s own Ferrari: immersive and high-octane racing sequences, a climactic crash and dynamic characters (Paul Giamatti’s voice performance as Turbo’s neurotic brother Chet is a major highlight).

“I’ve got a precocious eight-year-old granddaughter, that’s why Turbo,” Mann says with a laugh. “We were having pizza and she got to pick whatever she wanted to watch, and she picked Turbo, so we saw this. I was blown away by the animation. It’s got Ryan Reynolds in the voice of the snail. The writing is fantastic… It’s not because I’m a fiend about racing, but I know a lot about it, and they happen to get all the racing really right. But putting aside the racing, I thought it was hilarious and just really, really good quality animation.”

I was much more down on it at the time it came out but – in my defence – I had also just seen a cheap Disney self-knockoff of Cars called Planes, featuring the voice of Dane Cook and I was feeling very sore.

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Where to watch Turbo

Aotearoa: Streaming on Netflix or Prime Video

Australia: Streaming on Netflix, prime Video, Binge or Stan

Canada: Streaming on Prime Video

Ireland & UK: Streaming on Netflix

USA: Streaming on Peacock

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Further listening

Here’s my fun conversation about British spies from last Friday with Emile at RNZ Nights.