Trapped in a mundane job at the tomato plant, Theo dreams of becoming a glamorous race car driver.
He wants the fame and fortune of Indianapolis 500 winner Guy Gagne, but more than anything, Theo wants to go fast.
The problem? Theo is a snail.
That's the premise behind the DreamWorks Animation movie "Turbo" that opens Wednesday and features the Indianapolis 500. The idea, by director, co-writer and story creator David Soren, came from watching his young son's obsession with "all things fast" and an annoying snail infestation in his own front yard.
"It's the juxtaposition of extreme slowness and speed all in my yard," Soren said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "I love an underdog story, and nobody expects anything out of a snail, the odds are stacked against them. They are the butt of slow jokes — they are stepped on by kids, despised by gardeners, eaten by the French — so the parallels of a snail and an underdog was the perfect match."
Using a template similar to three of Soren's favorites — "Rocky," "The Karate Kid," and "Breaking Away" — he created an animated underdog story that pays homage to "The Fast and The Furious" franchise. Theo (Ryan Reynolds) finally finds his speed after being accidentally sucked into a street racer's engine and getting zapped with nitrous oxide. So long, slow-poke snail. Theo becomes Turbo and he begins a push to escape the drudgery of his life in the San Fernando Valley and make it to the Indianapolis 500 to race against Gagne, his French-Canadian hero.
"For any race fan, human or mollusk, the pinnacle of achievement in the sport is the Indianapolis 500," Soren said of his decision to center the movie on "The Greatest Spectacle of Racing."
It's a dream come true for the snail, as well as the IndyCar Series, which can't buy a break in halting its slide in public interest.