And the winner is...Sebastian Vettel. And the winner is...Sebastian Vettel. And the winner is...There's been a depressing predictability about the outcome of the Formula One title for the last couple of seasons, and this year is proving no different. Taking nothing away from the zippy German, but when a race is a foregone conclusion, it takes away most of the fun watching it.

What the sport desperately needs is a new breed of racing hero. What the sport needs is a hero in a full shell – Turbo.

Out in a leafy garden of suburbia lives a community of snails, who watch intently over some garden tomatoes. Theo (Ryan Reynolds) is a snail with a dream: he is a huge fan of racing, particularly the Indy 500. His favourite driver is the smooth Frenchman Guy Gagné (Bill Hader), who he watches devoutly on TV.

Theo lives for speed, which is ironic when you consider he's a snail. He may not have the physical ability to go fast, but he certainly has the guts and determination.

One day, when he ventures outsides the confines of the garden, he finds himself on the bonnet of a car. The car is taking part in a street race, and before you can say 'zoom', the car – with Theo suctioned to it – is speeding down the road. The car is going so fast that Theo gets sucked into its internal workings and, more specifically, finds himself floating inside the nitrous oxide fluid section, before being freed.

Although shaken, he feels fine. A while later he feels slightly different however; his eyes begin to glow, he can pick up radio stations, oh and travel faster than Greased Lightnin'. Sadly his new powers get him into a whole heap of trouble back at the garden. So much so that both himself and his brother Chet (Paul Giamatti) are told to leave.

Their slimy paths soon cross that of Tito (Michael Peña), who sells Tacos with his brother Angelo (Luis Guzmán) at the Starlight Plaza. Tito is already a fan of snails, as he has a collection for racing purposes. When he puts Theo into a race, he soon realises he has one speedy snail on his hands.

Tito recognises his potential and can't see any reason why Theo – who now goes by the name of Turbo – can't race against the big boys, so goes about entering him into one of the most famous races on the planet, The Indy 500. But can a snail really cut it against the big boys of motor racing?

The Mr Snailverse competition always attracts a diverse crowd.

This is a feature-length directorial debut for David Soren, and he certainly doesn't let the pressure of making a big-budget animation get the better of him. A lot of the recent animated flicks seem to be squarely aimed at the younger audience and have lacked wit in the script department, as in the likes of Cars and the more recent Planes. Thankfully there are some nice visual gags and sparky dialogue for older audiences to appreciate which certainly puts Turbo in a winning position ahead of its competition.

Visually it works too. It captures the more natural side of being a snail, whilst doing a swell job with the grittier, neon-lit suburban aspect too with the racier side of life. Voice work is adequate, with only Samuel L Jackson managing to stand out as a snail; if anyone can play a cool mollusc, it would naturally have to be Sam the man.

It's been a while since DreamWorks have made a decent animated feature – possibly going back to 2010's How to Train Your Dragon, but Turbo is finally a return to form.

Turbo may not have any arms or legs, but he can certainly put his foot down pretty impressively when he needs to.