Now, with Turbo being significantly hurt by the success of Despicable Me 2 at the US box office over the summer and only pulling in $82m in receipts (against a budget of $135m). What was once a blip now may be a bubble bursting. What ensues though is an underdog tale, as the establishment gangs up on Turbo, and it’s up to him and his small crew to… well, you get the idea. It’s pretty unavoidable for Turbo to find itself in the tracks of films that have covered similar ground, and it doesn’t put the bulk of its energies into avoiding that. That said, comparisons to Pixar’s Cars movies are wildly unfair – there’s more character and heart on the screen in Turbo than in either of those. And first time director David Soren doesn’t skimp when it comes to spectacle, either. His opening shot for a start is a corker, but also, when it comes down to race time, Turbo looks brilliant, and is genuinely quite exciting to watch. Where the film stumbles is when it drives closer to convention, not least as the movie hurtles towards it conclusion. It’s not that Turbo outstays its welcome, rather that it feels like there’s a lot more of interest in the first half than the second. It’s as if Turbo sheds some of its individuality as it hits the last third, and becomes more of a spectacle, but slightly less interesting for it. That said, it deserves a far better fate than befell it at the US box office. Better than The Croods, which proved a sizeable hit for DreamWorks, Turbo suggests there are some really interesting films to come from David Soren. And this, in spite of its issues, is one of them. Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.