TMNT Mutant Mayhem
Cowabunga! Ninja Turtles comes out swinging hard in this new adventure starring our favorite four Turtles. Was it good? Will it create new fans while appeasing the die hard fans of yesteryear? Can it compete with the last few epic Animated movies like Dragon Ball Super hero, Puss and Boots, and Into the Spider-verse? Did I even enjoy this film? There are a lot of questions to be answered, but my short assessment of the movie is that I did enjoy most of it, but some things I wasn't a fan of, it wasn't the best, but wasn't close to being the worst either. As a fan you might like the film but might not like certain aspects of it, because there are some changes to the backstory of our lean green ninja fighting teens as well as others. Also, you can definitely tell Seth Rogen was involved, his humor was implemented throughout the film but it doesn't hurt the movie.
If you haven't seen the film it's time to movie on from this so I can talk specific points.
Still here? Well lets get started!
The plot of this film is somewhat simple, Baxter Stockman who used to work for TCRI and specifically for their head honcho Cynthia Utrom, a women who wants the mutagen that Baxter created at all costs. Baxter is a lonely man who has begun creating mutants, the first one being a fly. He also has a lot more waiting to grow, but he seems like a father to the fly. The commando's that Utrom sent break the door down and soon enough find out that Baxter is not alone, as Superfly begins picking off people left and right. It all ends badly obviously, as the fly escapes, the mutants Baxter was creating were gone, the mutagen disappeared, and Baxter lay dead. The mission was a failure.
Lets stop right there. "Utrom" is either a reference to the Krang or Cynthia Utrom is the Krang and TCRI is part of the aliens cover on Earth. I was also okay with the change in the backstory, because obviously the missing mutagen fell into the sewers and that's how the turtles are born. Having Baxter killed off was a so-so move for me, I believe Baxter is a great character, but understand the change. I just think it stinks that you had an epic voice actor like Giancarlo Esposito and he only had a few lines and off he goes into the sunset of Turtle lore.
The family dynamic of the Turtles is where this film hits its mark. The way the brothers are with each other and the constant horsing around, even making fun of each other is definitely a real aspect that was kind of missing from other shows and films. The movie is also grounded with emotion, you kind of feel for the turtles as they are just kids who want to live in the world above and above all just want to be accepted for who they are. The voice actors for the turtles are great and love the chemistry and the bouncing of lines back and forth, they really did a great job of casting.
Meeting of April O'Neil
In all iterations of the Turtles, one of the most important is the meeting of April O'Neil, the relationship, trust, the meeting of the mutant world with a humans, it's a key ingredient of the story in my opinion. I was skeptical of what I was seeing in the trailers but I actually liked this version of April. She's just a teenager like the turtles who too is looking for acceptance. She just wants to create stories for the news, but lacks the confidence to become a full blown reporter. She's smart, sweet, and shows to be not only trustworthy but incredibly loyal.
The meeting was just out of chance as the Turtles were just fooling around on a rooftop doing what kids do, being ridiculously dumb away from prying eyes, and because of an accidental ricochet of a throwing start that hit her bike helmet, it not only caught her by surprise but she was fully paying attention to whoever threw the star at her on top of the roof and not to the guy who was stealing her scooter. This pushes the Turtles for the first time into action which was something they've never did before, but Leonardo, who is obviously crushing on this human, makes the call to help her.
THE GOOD THE BAD THE UGLY
The battles within the film are done pretty well and they set themselves apart from the rest of the shows and movies on how they come about. The animation and direction from where we see the fights are decently done. I liked the fights for the most part.
Superfly and Splinter's mirrored beliefs are a small but key part for the entire movie. Splinter believes his boys need to keep in the shadows away from humans, because humans are terrible creatures. Superfly thinks the exact same thing but because he went through some traumatic event when he was young, where humans blasted into his home and killed his father, that pushes Superfly to the "I hate humans" as well, but is more aggressive towards that sentiment in where he just wants to destroy them. Superfly does have his mutant family in which he shows he cares about, to an extent, and for all of them he hatched a brilliant plan all of this because he just wanted to be accepted. Acceptance is the theme for this film, we get to see it on multiple points of view from characters.
The mutants in this film was okay, although it seemed like they just placed their hands in a toy box and grabbed a ton of characters just to throw into the movie and sell toys from. But the characters work, even if they don't have a lot of screen time. I wasn't a fan of Leatherhead, as I love the version of 2012s series, I feel like that's the strongest best version of the character as far as development is concerned. Bebop and Rocksteady came out pretty well as they are voiced by Seth Rogen and John Cena, but again, didn't have many lines.
There was some weird humor in here. Puking, a little swearing, and a make out moment that was just creepy, like that scene was the weirdest thing I've ever seen in a kids film. That weird scene was like a roundhouse kick to the neck right when I wasn't paying attention. I didn't see it coming and It was definitely a cringe moment. I'm happy that Splinter is happy though.
The end battle was a little weird as well, as Superfly goes SUPER DUPER and because of several events, turns into a godzilla looking monster but has merged with like forty animals. It's like he did the fusion technique from Dragon Ball Z and it went horribly wrong. This also pushes not only the Turtles to fight Super Duper Fly, but all the mutants help them, even humans begin to help out as while this chaos is happening April O'Neil heads to Channel 6 news, who were reporting fake news, and takes over the broadcast telling the world what was really happening. That pushes the humans of New York to stand up and help.
The mutant gang changes sides. It made sense in a way, but at the same time, you have two of the biggest threats to the Ninja Turtles from any show, movie, game, or comic, just turn good on a dime. So now what? Are this movies or series that are coming out just a cash grab? Because you know the toys are just going to pile out the door and what better way to sell more toys, then to just throw multiple characters out in every movie.
The soundtrack and score is dope as hell.
The whole movie is about acceptance and that's exactly what the Turtle squad and Mutant allies get, even Splinter and April get it. Everyone is happy and it ends with the Turtles actually being able to attend high-school, which is something completely new.
All is well....isn't it?
The movie had good moments, great fights, an amazing soundtrack, top notch voice acting and a decent plot to keep itself afloat in the turtle universe. I for one had a decent time watching the film and will buy it once it comes out on DVD. It gets a solid 80 out of 100 pizza slices from me.
So what did you think? Did you like it? Did Splinter's weird scene creep you out? Who was your favorite character? Let me know in the comments below....
#TMNT #MutantMayhem #NinjaTurtles
The credit scene is Utrom watching the turtles with technology and saying they need to call in the Shredder. So I'm assuming the Series and or the movie will have the footclan and Shredder coming after them. I'm also calling that Karai and Casey Jones will be key characters in the school that they are attending. We are going to get a Cobra Kai like series where people will be on the foot clans side and some will be on the Turtles side. I'm calling it now.
