‘Turbo’ Trailer: Racing Snails, The Movie

When you watch the 'Turbo' trailer, realize to yourself that someone over at DreamWorks Animation decided that there was cinematic potential in the concept of racing snails, successfully pitched it and took home a paycheck as his work was painstakingly animated and rendered by a team of hard working professionals. The result? It looks like DreamWorks' attempt to grab some of that sweet, sweet 'Cars' money.

Like all DreamWorks movies, 'Turbo' is chock full of big name talent, including Ryan Reynolds, Paul Giamatti, Bill Hader, Richard Jenkins, Maya Rudolph and Samuel L. Jackson. A movie with that line-up would normally grab out attention in a big way, but this is a movie about a snail who, after a freak accident, finds himself fast enough to compete in the Indy 500. We're waiting for the other shoe to drop and for this one to be a pleasant surprise, but yeeeesh (for the lack of a more eloquent turn of phrase).

You shouldn't judge a book by its cover or a movie by its trailer, but 'Turbo' looks like typical DreamWorks -- celebrity voices in favor of a half-baked concept and bad jokes. The fact that it has the stench of 'Cars' all over it only makes it feel worse.

'Turbo' opens on July 17th, when we hope it turns out to be a pleasant surprise like 'How to Train Your Dragon' and not like, well, most DreamWorks Animation movies.