TMNT
Rated: PG
Runtime: 1 hour, 27 minutes
Directed by: Kevin Munroe
Starring:
Mitchell Whitfield - Donatello
James Arnold Taylor - Leonardo
Mikey Kelley - Michaelangelo
Nolan North - Raphael / Nightwatcher
Mako - Master Splinter
Sarah Michelle Gellar - April O'Neil
Chris Evans - Casey Jones
Patrick Stewart - Max Winters
Every kid has at least one franchise that devoures their young life and their parents’ money. This generation’s kids will be getting a live-action Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon movie in about fifteen years. While other folks of my generation (and slightly older) will be getting the Transformers resold to them this Summer, I have now come face-to-face with my childhood obsession (well, the one other than X-Men and Legos): the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
TMNT is a straightr continuation of the Turtles’ movie franchise (although there’s certainly no mention of the nasty business of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III and its sucking the lifeforce from innocent children like myself) with no need for introductions, Shredder dead (or is he?), and the foot clan moderately dissolved. Unfortunately, the team has split with Leonardo going solo to be a better leader (at Splinter’s advice, that inscruitable rat manimal), Donatello and Michaelangelo working odd jobs to pay for cereal and pizza, and Raphael being even more of a loner (if that’s even possible) and roaming the streets of New York City as a vigilante. Unfortunately, ancient/mystic/monster trouble comes knocking and the turtles have to work through their own drama in order to conquer the greater evil.
This time around, the creators have wisely decided to forego the live-action route and make the film completely animated, lending the turtles a much-needed agility and speed that guys in rubber suits just couldn’t handle. Unfortunately, in making a film that’s fiercely determined to be the best Turtles movie to date, the creators have forgotten that these characters are supposed to be fun. Just their name is goofy as those are four words you would never expect to see side-by-side. And while the film does have its fun moments, it follows the same flawed logic that somehow gritty equals mature. While the animation and the storyline help provide some gravitas, I wanted more enjoyment out of the film. Raph doesn’t crack wise like I remember. Michaelangelo provides some comic relief, but his jokes fall flat simply due to poor writing. I’m not saying that Vanilla Ice needed to appear and start rapping “Go ninja, go ninja, go!” but it wouldn’t kill the filmmakers to remember that the reason most of us loved the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as kids wasn’t because they were hardcore but because they were a lovable team of clearly defined characters who fought against the machinations of an evil robot with a talking brain in his belly.
Words by
Matt Goldberg
4.11.07
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