Well, this is a "crossover" I never thought I'd see: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Big Trouble in Little China! Okay, it technically isn't a crossover, but the episode's blatantly inspired by John Carpenter's movie and they even managed to get James Hong to voice the villain, Ho Chan! Chan's an evil spirit who wants to return to his physical form and the only way he can accomplish that is by draining April O'Neil of her power. So yeah, it's pretty much a love letter to the fan favorite movie.
The story is self-contained and, like stated above, it does everything possible to celebrate the 1986 action movie. The story incorporates the Purple Dragons to draw a bunch of parallels and it's simply awesome hearing Hong deliver so many comedic lines, especially when he's belittling the Dragons. Not all of the remarks will make you burst into laughter, but fans of the Kurt Russell movie are sure to have a blast listening to him. Replacing Jack Burton and Wang Chi is Donatello and Casey Jones. As expected, the two are still butting heads because they both have a crush on April and this leads to some pretty amusing displays of arrogance from Casey and funny retorts from Donnie ("laaaaaame!").
Director Alan Wan did a great job following all of the action. There's an exciting albeit short shot which follows Casey as he attempts to take down Ho Chan and another from Ho Chan's point of view as he dishes out some melee attacks. It's little moments like these which keeps the action feeling energetic and engaging instead of familiar. Seeing as the show is bringing "magic" into the picture, this means there's plenty of fun and unique displays of abilities and powers as the brawls progress. This is a complemented extremely well by a soundtrack that's a nod to the '80s movie. Not that there's anything wrong with the usual soundtrack, it's just nice to see they went all out to make this one feel as unique and entertaining as possible.
There's two relatively minor things which I really appreciated. First, April O'Neil kicks a bit of butt in this one. Even though she's been training with Master Splinter, it seems like she'll occasionally get lucky against fodder but still need saving. Here, she held her own and the results of her training really showed. The remark about reflexes was a little odd -- especially since Ho Chan just pulled off a really impressive reflex feat, one that I imagine April can't duplicate -- but I get it's a nod to Jack's use of a knife in the movie. Regardless, it's still cool seeing her step up. Secondly, the final scene brings us to a new setting and it's such a beautiful change of scenery. The animation on the show is always a delight, but this environment brought a nice amount of warmth to the moment.
Irma's a double-edged sword in this one. Her role is once again limited to being completely oblivious to all of the craziness that surrounds her and conveniently being unconscious when the Ninja Turtles are around. However, there's a blatant teaser that the show has some big plans for the character and I'm really excited to see what they have in store for us. Because, as of right now, she's basically been a third wheel and someone who sleeps during the action.
The focus of the narrative jumps between fleshing out this new villain and the "love triangle" between Casey Jones, Donatello, and April. Unfortunately, that means everyone else is kind of left in the dust. Mikey and Raph have a few comedic lines (the burp had me laughing out loud) and what happens to them is a visual treat, but honestly, Leo's pretty boring and only has a few lines which feel pretty generic. But hey, at least it looks like he'll get some room to shine in the finale!
The plot with Ho Chan is a very satisfying stand alone, but seeing as the previous episode was so awesome and had a big development, I couldn't help but want a little more follow-up to the situation with Karai and how it's impacting everyone. It's not completely glossed over, but there's just a handful of remarks and then it's back to Chinatown. As fun as that is, giving us something that makes us look forward to the upcoming episodes would have been totally appreciated. It's a pretty minor gripe, obviously, but worth noting since the second season's nearing its end. Man, time flies, doesn't it?
"A Chinatown Ghost Story" is really, really fun adventure. It feels like a little break from the norm and totally embraces a sillier and mystical story. Now, that may be a bit of a bummer for some fans since we're racing towards the season finale and this feels like a self-contained story that only has a very small connection to the bigger picture. Still, the character dynamics (most notably between Donnie and Casey) are well-written, there's a bunch of enjoyable action scenes, and there's quite a few laughs along the way. If you're a really big fan of John Carpenter's Big Trouble in Little China, odds are this will be pure joy for you and you're going to absolutely love it. You're still going to have a good time if you're not a fan of the movie; you just won't fully appreciate all of the connections and nods the team includes. Now we just have to wait and see what's going on with Irma...
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