| It’s getting on for a year since we heard any real news about one of DreamWorks Animation’s planned future release, racing snail cartoon Turbo. But now there’s a torrent of casting news for the film, with word that (deep breath) Paul Giamatti, Samuel L Jackson, Michael Pena, Luis Guzman, Bill Hader, Ken Jeong, Michelle Rodriguez, Maya Rudolph, Ben Schwartz, Kurtwood Smith and Snoop Dogg have all signed on to join Ryan Reynolds in lending their tonsil talents. Turbo follows an ordinary garden snail (Reynolds) who harbours a big dream: despite his species’ normal penchant for slow and steady progress, he wants to be a racer. Naturally, his burning (rubber) desire makes him an outcast in the snail community, especially to his respected elder brother. But one day he achieves the impossible, and is imbued with the power to reach great speed. With that, his thoughts turn to competing in the Indianapolis 500… The first image from the movie, which is more of a marketing promo than a proper one-sheet, has gone online and you can see it below (via The Playlist). .jpeg)
We’re more than a little concerned that this seems like a dip in imagination after the glory of How To Train Your Dragon, the Kung Fu Panda films and Puss In Boots. But we’ve faith in DreamWorks stalwart David Soren, who directed TV special Merry Madagascar and has occasionally provided voices for some of the company’s output. He wrote the script with The Wrestler’s Robert Siegel and Shrek Forever After contributor Darren Lemke and is hard at work on the film ready for a July 19, 2013 US release (it’ll cross the finishing line in October over here). The cast is beyond solid but again, that’s not a guarantee: see Shark Tale for proof. | 
