Released: August 2014
Director: Jonathan Liebesman
Run Time: 101 Minutes
Rated PG-13
Cast:
Megan Fox: April O’Neil
Will Arnett: Vernon Fenwick
William Fichtner: Eric Sacks
Tohoru Masamune: Shredder
As a kid, I used to spend a lot of time in front of our TV watching cartoons. During the mid-to-late 80s and early 90s, cartoons were at their best for my generation. We had Transformers, G.I. JOE, BraveStarr, and Thundercats. But one of the coolest cartoons featured some of the most unique characters I’ve ever seen in TV show: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. You had awesome characters like Shredder, Krang, Dr. Baxter, and April O’Neil as part of the whole deal, but it’s the turtles you want to watch. Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Donatello are the titular heroes. Each character had a unique personality: Leo was the leader, Mikey was the party animal, Donatello was the geek, and Raphael was the rebel. Their teacher? A rat named Splinter. The Ninja Turtles were originally based on comics by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. The turtles have gone through NUMEROUS incarnations over the past 30 years. From comics and TV shows to feature-length productions, The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are a staple of my generation’s childhood. When I heard that Michael Bay was producing a new Ninja Turtles movie, I almost panicked. Then I realized he wasn’t actually directing it.
The film opens as reporter April O’Neil is on her way to get an interview for a potential story when she notices a group of thugs are breaking open cargo containers. Believing them to be the notorious terrorist organization known as the Foot Clan, she attempts to get closer when she notices a mysterious figure starting to cause havoc and knock the thugs into the water. Attempting to tell her boss and co-workers about what she saw, her account is met with criticism. Witnessing people running out of a building, she investigates only to captured by the Foot Clan. Not one, or two, but FOUR large figures show up and proceed to pummel the living daylights out of the thugs. Following them up to the roof, April finally gets a good look: Four large talking turtles. Somewhere else, the leader of the Foot Clan, the Shredder, learns about the turtles and orders them captured. The story is anything but original. It just serves moving the film from one action sequence to another. It’s serviceable.
There are a couple of elephants in the room that I would like to address. The first issue is with the pre-production of the film. It was rumored that Michael Bay wanted to have the turtles come from space. That was apparently one of the first rough drafts of the screenplay. The backlash to that was extraordinary and forced the filmmakers to wisely reconsider. People were pissed that their favorite turtles were going to be aliens. Thankfully, that’s not the case. The explanation for them is fairly logical if not cliche. Another issue is the design of not just the turtles, but Splinter as well. The turtles are much larger than they were in previous films, and they are CG, but each one has very unique look and outfit. Leonardo has a samurai-style outfit while wielding two katanas. Donatello sports glasses and electronic equipment with an extendable bo-staff. Michelangelo wields to nanchukus, while Raphael sports twin sai. Each one is unique with their own personalities. Splinter’s design is definitely different, and he’s also CG. The first two Ninja Turtle movies utilized actual costumes and animatronics courtesy of Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. This was during the early 90s, so CGI wasn’t part of the program yet. You know what? The original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie is probably one of the best action movies of the 90s, and it does so without the use of visual effects, it’s all done in camera. The next issue was the villain. It was clear early on that William Fichtner was going to be a bad guy, but nobody was sure if he was actually going to be the Shredder. He’s not. They found Tohoru Masamune to play Shredder. I’m honestly glad that they did. The Shredder in the previous movies and the comics and shows was Oroku Saki who was a ninja from Japan who became a criminal and founded the Foot Clan. It was inferred that Splinter and Shredder had a history, which was explored in the original film. In the new Ninja Turtles, there’s no such history which kind of eliminates the tension between the characters. The look of The Shredder has remained mostly consistent throughout the years with his iconic helmet and blade-clad outfit. In this new movie his armor is still retains the familiar look, but it updates it with mechanical blades. As a result, the character is CG when he’s in uniform. That leads me to the final elephant: The visual effects. While this is a live-action film, most of the main characters are CG. The technology we have today allows for some really incredible visuals, and the way the use it in Ninja Turtles isn’t bad. In fact, at times it looks almost photo-realistic. The problem is when there is a lot of action(and there is), it can get pretty jumbled and confusing at times.
The action is surprisingly decent. Utilizing new animation technology, director Jonathan Liebesman has managed to actually make some pretty awesome action sequences including one that takes place a mountain-side. It’s pretty thrilling. What makes it work is the interaction between the turtles. Each turtle has his own personality and they end up bouncing off each other fairly well. Mikey can be pretty funny at times, and creepy at others. Is the movie perfect? Oh, no. It is not. I don’t really like Megan Fox as April O’Neil. I never liked her as an actress anyway, her performances are wooden and unconvincing. Although, if they had cast Kristen Stewart, I would have the same complaint. Will Arnett is kind of forgettable. Whoopi Goldberg? Really? I like Goldberg, I really do, but she really comes across as unlikable. Was that intended? I have no idea. You can also tell that Michael Bay has his fingerprints all over Ninja Turtles, even though he didn’t direct. It shows with some of the editing and some of the action sequences late in the film. I understand that CG may have been needed with the new design of the turtles, but some of the sequences look like a cartoon. I certainly understand people who have a preference for the old costume-style turtles, and I do too. But people really came out swinging against this movie saying the turtles are ugly and don’t need to be CG. Of course, you’ve got the crowd that says, “MICHAEL BAY IS RAPING MY CHILDHOOD!” They said that about the Transformers movies too. Really? I’ll be honest, I’m not as familiar with the comics as much as I am with the original TV cartoon and the first four movies. I’m clearly not as hardcore as some people are, apparently. I just don’t feel that the new Ninja Turtles is the abomination that many are saying it is. I don’t think it deserves that kind of hate. Is it perfect? No. Is it better than the original movies? It’s not better than the first two, but it is a damn sight better than Turtles III. Honestly, I enjoyed the new movie. It has a sense of humor and doesn’t take itself seriously. It’s paced pretty well, and it doesn’t overstay its welcome. It’s also a visually spectacular film. It just stumbles at certain points. At the end of the day, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles gets a solid 8/10. Go Ninja, Go Ninja, Go!!