Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Every generation needs a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It's a mandatory thing to have throughout all of life. Ninja Turtles! And with that in mind, The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and their owners, Nickelodeon, have created a TMNT film that has everyones favorite -green- heroes in the half shell, but aimed towards this generation. Expect childhoods to be crushed, merchandise of all sorts, and sequels that may or may not be better than this first movie! Let's get on with the review!

Firstly [and briefly], I'll talk about the actors in this movie. Megan Fox, surprisingly, did a great job as April O'Neil. Granted, April wasn't the best female lead character, however Fox really showed she had what it takes to play a decent role. I would like to see Fox portray more roles like this in the future, instead of roles like Mikaela Banes in the first two Transformers movies, where the character is flatter than the ground and just in the movie for eye candy. The actors, and voice actors, who did the Turtles were amazing! They really did a good job at capturing the Turtles and making them sound, and move, pretty darn realistc! Will Arnett was just funny, as usual, his cameraman role is easily forgettable, but he was definitely used well as comedy relief! And finally, William Faulkner's character (Vernon Fenwick) was a decent villain. He wasn't great, but Faulkner certainly gave it his all and was definitely a good first villain for the TMNT. Now that, that's out of the way, let's move on!

So the story in this movie is pretty simple. (I'll summarize it for you.) The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles [with the help of April and the cameraman] must stop Vernon Fenwick, and Shredder and his Foot Clan, from unleashing a deadly virus on all of New York! That's basically it. The screenplay isn't all that great, but what the screenplay lacks in overall good story, kinda makes up for in a couple of good fight sequences, decent acting, and a run time of 1 hour and 41 minutes. (Thankfully!)

If you walk into this movie, expecting, to see a good amount of screen time, and character development, [divided equally] for your favorite Ninja Turtle; you're hopes are going to be crushed! Raphael is primarily focused on in this movie, and because he has the most character development and screen time, he helps the viewers connect [or gain a better understanding] of the other Ninja Turtles. (Which is really debatable.) Sure Leonardo is the leader, but you don't get to see [or completely understand] "Why?" he's the leader, and how he carries his brothers through the most difficult of times. Much like Donatello and Michelangelo. The former is tech savvy and the latter is the "PARTY DUDE!" You get very brief, and sometimes inconsistent, glimpses of what they bring to the team, however by the end of this movie you won't feel like their individual skills stood out enough. Because Raphael was basically the Jack of all Turtles, and had enough of each Turtles' personality (what basically made them special) already developed [in some way] in his character. (So Raphael acted like the leader a lot of times; was funny when needed be; and was a bit nerdy too.) Sure each Turtle has moments in this movie where they definitely owned a particular scene, however this movie is called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, NOT, Raphael: The Ninja Turtle, and his brothers!

And of course! What's a TMNT movie without its human characters? We have April O'Neil, who acts primarily as the one character that moves this story forward. (She's basically at the center of this movie, and its story.) O'Neil in this movie isn't the most complex, or amazing, female lead character in a movie, but she's very functional. In the sense of the word that O'Neil's character is best utilized to move the story forward, which the writers of this movie did a great job at executing. Plus we have her sidekick [a cameraman, who's name you'll forget by the end of this movie], which acts more as the comedy relief and [not-]love interest of April O'Neil. His role in this movie is only for comedy relief, and in no way did the cameraman aid the story. But moving on, we have main bad guy Vernon Fenwick and his sidekick, some metal dude, called the Shredder I think? Anyway, Vernon created the Turtles with April's father; and he wants to make a lot of money off of an antidote and plague, that he will attempt to spread in New York with the help of his sidekick, Shredder, and Shredder's sidekicks, The Foot Clan. (Cough, cough, MILITIA.)

Yes this movie isn't great, but Shredder was without a doubt a part of the problem! (Him and his Foot Militia!) Shredder wasn't even Shredder in this movie. Sure he was Japanese of origin, just like the original Shredder, but he was a minor character. He was the sidekick of Vernon's character for crying out loud! When the Shredder came on camera, or just did anything, you wouldn't get any chills. A good example is when the Shredder said, "Tonight I dine on Turtle soup!" That should give the viewers/fans chills! The Shredder in this film, with his Foot Militia, was obviously aimed towards the today's generation; where the Shredder is a 6'6" mecha-Shredder and his Foot Clan (Militia) prefers to be more military than ninja. The Shredder found in this film, is basically one of those action figures you'd find when a comic book movie comes out. You know, where the design team behind the toy want to go all crazy, and make the toy look like something different from the movie. The Shredder was just not intimidating and you didn't care if he lived or died, the Shredder should not feel like that!

Now like I've said before, the story isn't all that great; the bad guy wants to make a lot of money using the Turtles' blood. Sure there are a couple good fight/action scenes, especially the snow mountain scene (totally worth seeing in 3D), but the story is predictable and not [really] loyal to the older fans of TMNT. This movie, really, is aimed towards adults with kids. Sure the parents can't take their kids to Transformers in the theatre [and risk exposing them to, well, you know THANGS], but they certainly can take them to this movie. The lack of blood, obvious deaths, few curse words, and PGish violence makes this a better movie for parents with kids. The story is simple enough where the kids will enjoy it, and the parents won't completely be bored out of their mind and fear their kids to start singing "Let it Go!" from Frozen again. Another part of this movie's story [problems] is it is like a roller coaster. It has its ups-and-downs, but unlike a roller coaster, you get this feeling like a part of the story isn't finished. (This feeling comes once the movie is ended.) Maybe it's because of the movie's run time, or just overall lack of clear direction, but once the story starts progressing and eventually the team fights the Shredder, you feel like afterwards, there's a good 20-45 minutes that is missing from this film. Yes, I'm glad that it is not 2 hours long, but I don't like movies that make the viewer feel like something is being left out.

The special effects were pretty awesome! A lot of close ups, slow-mo, and mid range shots were used to really show off the Turtles in action, but the animation team should definitely be applauded for their amazing work on this movie! Which leads me to my next point. A lot of people have a problem with the Turtles' designs, I personally don't find it weird or strange; I like seeing their personality be shown on the outside and it makes them a bit more unique. However, I do have a problem with how the screenplay made the Turtles seem like freaking super humans! I'm not going to lie, the way the Turtles punched some dudes and freaking football rammed them, there's no possible way they lived through it! (American steroids, TMNT style!) The Turtles weren't portrayed as if they could get hurt, they were basically invincible! Bullets literally bounced off of them, they can run extremely fast, oh and did I mention they are superhuman strong? Having the Turtles like that makes the viewers feel like they don't need to be worried about any member of the team, getting killed or nearing death. Which is not a good move at all!

In the end, this was a great popcorn flick. It's one of those movies where you just watch, if you want some light action. The acting is good, the story could be better, and there was definitely a bunch of problems with this movie! However, it's TMNT no matter what, we'll still go out and buy it, and we'll even see the next one. I will add as a side note, that this movie IS NOT worth seeing in 3D. The only part that should be watched in 3D is the snow mountain chase. But other than that, just watch this movie in 2D. I recommend waiting to see this movie [like rent it before you buy it], as it is almost about to leave theaters and isn't necessarily worth watching unless you are with a group. 3/5. Until next time my friends!

P.S. The elevator scene from this movie is radical! (I'll leave a link so you can watch the clip!) Elevator Scene - TMNT