Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016) review

The 2014 reboot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was certainly one of the most controversial films in recent memory. Pretty much ever since it was first announced, every major bit of news surrounding it was subjected to major scrutiny from fans of the franchise. First off, the fact that it was to be produced by Michael Bay made many fans worry, even though he was only producing it, due to his heavily derided work on another popular 80’s franchise, Transformers. But then in March 2012, the backlash towards the film peaked when Bay claimed that the new film would give the Turtles an alien origin. Thankfully that wasn’t the case and the film ended up maintaining the Turtles’ traditional origin. However, upon release, the film ended up exactly like the Transformers films and was savagely decimated by critics. Though that ultimately didn’t stop the film from grossing nearly half a billion worldwide. So because of that, we now have a sequel; Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows. This time around, Dave Green (director of 2014’s found-footage family film Earth to Echo) is behind the director’s chair for a sequel that actually showed promise, as crazy as that might seem to those who were highly critical of the first film. The primary reason for that was the sense that the film would stick much closer to the franchise’s roots, partially exemplified by the addition of classic franchise characters like Bebop and Rocksteady. And ultimately that is very much the case with this new TMNT film. Sure, at the end of the day, it’s still very much like its predecessor in terms of being a rather mindless affair but at the very least it’s a film that I think fans of the franchise will be far more satisfied with as a whole.

A year after defeating their arch-nemesis the Shredder (now played by Brian Tee), Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Donatello (portrayed through motion-capture by Pete Ploszek (who also voices Leonardo this time around after being replaced by Johnny Knoxville in the first film), Noel Fisher, Alan Ritchson, and Jeremy Howard, respectively) have continued to protect the city of New York but are still forced to live in the shadows unsure of how people will react to them. During this time, the Shredder manages to escape from prison with the help of the Foot Clan and scientist Dr. Baxter Stockman (Tyler Perry) and briefly ends up within another dimension where he meets alien warlord Krang (voiced by Brad Garrett). The two plan to retrieve three pieces of a portal device that are scattered around the world so that Krang can unleash his unstoppable war machine, the Technodrome, upon the world. To help them collect the parts, Shredder enlists two street criminals, Bebop (Gary Anthony Williams) and Rocksteady (WWE’s Sheamus), and uses mutagen provided by Krang to turn them into a mutant warthog and rhinoceros, respectively. As a result, the Turtles, along with the help of their friends April O’Neil (Megan Fox), Vern Fenwick (Will Arnett), as well as a new ally in former corrections officer turned street vigilante Casey Jones (Stephen Amell), are pushed to their limits but end up learning that the mutagen could work in reverse and turn them into humans, which could mean that they won’t have to live underneath the streets of New York anymore.

The best thing that I can say about this film is the fact that, at least when compared to the first film, this very much feels more like a proper TMNT film. Of course part of that comes from the addition of some of the franchise’s classic characters like the mutant duo of Bebop and Rocksteady as well as Shredder’s partner in crime Krang and his weapon of mass destruction the Technodrome. It should also be noted that none of these characters have ever appeared in a live-action TMNT film until now, having only appeared in the franchise’s numerous TV series as well as the comics. But another big reason why this film sticks closer to the franchise’s roots is that it benefits from having a much stronger atmosphere than its predecessor. The first TMNT film admittedly tried to be a bit too serious at times, which definitely didn’t feel right for a franchise called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. This film, on the other hand, is very much aware of how silly it is and just goes with it. In fact, it could also be argued that this film has a much brighter look to it than the first film, especially in terms of the visuals (e.g. the design of the Turtles). And yes, like the first film, this is admittedly a pretty damn mindless film. But, to reiterate the point that I made in my review of the previous film, that’s pretty much this whole franchise in a nutshell. I mean to put it simply, there’s a scene in this film in which the Turtles are being pursued down a river in Brazil by a mutant warthog and mutant rhinoceros who are manning a tank. At this point in a case like this, you just got to do what this film does and just roll with it.

Like the first film, the Turtles are very much the best part of the film. The camaraderie between Ploszek, Fisher, Ritchson, and Howard is quite excellent and they all perfectly capture their characters’ respective personalities, from Mikey being the fun-loving/pizza-loving surfer dude to Raph being the aggressive and independent rebel. Even better, compared to the previous film, they’re given much more focus whereas in the first film the focus was arguably more on April O’Neil. But this time around, the filmmakers made the smart choice of relegating the human leads to supporting roles. As April O’Neil, Megan Fox is, well, about the same as she was in the first film. It’s by no means a ‘great’ performance by it’s also not the worst thing either and just like in the first film, it’s good that these newer films have given her more to do instead of just having her be a damsel in distress. The film does benefit from a pretty darn great new addition in the form of Green Arrow himself, Stephen Amell, as Casey Jones, who very much accustoms himself with the general silliness of the plot. The same can be said for Tyler Perry, who very much chews the scenery as Baxter Stockman, and the duo of Gary Anthony Williams and Sheamus who, like the Turtles, work off of each other quite well as the mutant warthog/rhino duo. But while Brian Tee is a much more memorable Shredder, if only due to the fact that his version of the character doesn’t spend the entirety of the film behind a mask or in shadows, without giving much away the character is rather insultingly written out of the film prior to the beginning of the finale.

I conclude with the same point I made last time in my review of Alice through the Looking Glass in that those who weren’t a fan of the previous TMNT film might not like this new film because it’s still just as mindless as one would expect from a Michael Bay-produced TMNT film. However, I actually think that, despite what critics might say, it’s very likely that fans of the franchise are going to be much more satisfied with this film. And that is because, at the very least, this does feel like a much more proper entry in the franchise, tonally speaking. And yes, at the end of the day it’s just as silly and stupid as its predecessor. But of course that’s what you’d expect from this franchise (not just the Bay produced films) and this time around the filmmakers are very much aware of that and just roll with it. In short, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows is a film that stays much truer to what fans of the franchise have always loved about it. Sure the first film didn’t go as far as to pull that ‘alien origin’ concept as was initially reported but this film definitely benefits from a much more appropriate light-hearted atmosphere. As a result, this is very much one of those cases of a sequel that is better than its predecessor. Obviously, for many that’s not really saying much considering the first film’s predominantly negative reception. Ultimately though, I think it’s a good thing in this case because, again, this film, unlike its predecessor, doesn’t try to be something it isn’t. There’s reportedly one more film in the works so hopefully that one ends up being more like this one and not the first film.

Rating: 3.5/5

Favorite Films of Summer 2014- As Voted by the Fans

A little over a week ago, I set up a poll on Surveymonkey.com and asked you guys to vote on what your favorite movie from Summer 2014 was and I’m really pleased with the amount of responses the poll got. In the end, 43 people submitted their votes so with that said I would like to thank all of those who voted. So now that the voting process is closed, it’s time for the fun part of all of this. Now you guys get to see which films earned your votes as your favorite films from these past four months of the year. Now despite what I said in my ‘End of Summer Announcement’ post, I’m ultimately not going to do a ‘Top 10’ list. The main reason for this is because ultimately 19 films earned votes from you all and a lot of them had similar amounts of votes (some had 2 votes each, some 3 each, etc…) so it’s actually rather impossible to do an official ‘Top 10’ list. So instead of doing that, I will be listing all of the films that got votes, going from those that earned the lowest amount of votes to the ones that got the highest. So without further ado, here are your favorite films from the Summer 2014 movie season.

9 FILMS EARNED ONE VOTE

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2

If this film hadn’t gotten a mixed reaction from both critics and audiences, I’d be more comfortable in saying that this was the best year for comic book movies yet. For the record, I do think this has been the best year so far for comic book movies mostly because of the other three superhero films that came out this year which all earned glowing reviews from both critics and audiences. But Spidey wasn’t as lucky as ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’ pretty much became the ‘Man of Steel’ of the year as both critics and audiences were mixed on it though overall I’ve heard QUITE a lot more negative reviews than I have positive ones. I may be in the minority here, but I really loved this film. I may have been hesitant at first about these ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ movies due to their status of being a very rushed reboot (just five years after the Sam Raimi trilogy had ended) but after seeing these films, I actually find myself preferring these two to the Raimi trilogy because I like the characters in this series more, specifically Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone as Peter Parker/Spider-Man and Gwen Stacy, respectively.

The common complaint towards this film was that it was too overcrowded in both ideas and characters and while I do see where people are coming from with this, I didn’t really think it was that ‘bloated’. It’s clear that with this film the writers did not realize the major problem of ‘Spider-Man 3’ in that it had too many villains. Both films have three villains each but overall I feel that ‘Spider-Man 3’ is still the bigger mess in terms of its characters and plotlines. But even with that said, I don’t think that film is as bad as the entire internet is putting it out to be… and the same can be said for ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’ as well. Despite the multiple villains, the film does clarify who the ‘main villain’ is, I found the story to be pretty self-contained, and while I’m not trying to compare the quality of the following films, the direction by Marc Webb is much more confident here than it was in the first film, similar to Christopher Nolan when he went from ‘Batman Begins’ to ‘The Dark Knight’. It’s clear that Sony wants to do a ‘Sinister Six’ movie and that is something that I do want to see. But if I did have any complaints about ‘Amazing Spider-Man 2’, it is that the lead-in for ‘Sinister Six’ is just a minor tease during the ending. Sony, if you want to make ‘Sinister Six’ happen, actually start making it happen!

CHEF

In between all of the summer blockbusters that came out this year was this charming little indie film from Jon Favreau about a chef who quits his job at a major restaurant when he feels that he is unable to express his culinary creativity. He also becomes infamous on social media when he berates a food critic both online and in person for criticizing his food (which was because he had to stick to the ‘classics’ and was forbidden from trying new things). It’s fairly clear that this film’s story mirrors Favreau’s own frustrations with the Hollywood system. After directing many big-budget summer blockbusters like ‘Cowboys and Aliens’ and the first two ‘Iron Man’ films, he returns to the more low-budgeted films where he got his start as a director. ‘Chef’ is an incredibly charming film, with an excellent message that stresses the importance of freedom of expression. I especially loved the sequence in this film when Favreau’s character, his son (Emjay Anthony), and his best friend (John Leguizamo) go on a road trip across the country in their new food truck. Now I can’t say that it’s the ‘best film’ of the year because I didn’t really find it as funny as a lot of people were saying it was but at the same time I still appreciated the charm of this film and its strong message. All in all, ‘Chef’ was a very pleasant change of pace from all of the summer blockbusters.

MILLION DOLLAR ARM

This film, released during the weekend that ‘Godzilla’ came out, is based on a true story about a sports agent who, looking to find new talent for the Major Leagues, establishes a new contest in India in order to find new talent. His first two contenders, Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel) became the first two Indian men to sign U.S. pro sports contracts. Now I didn’t see the film but from what I’ve seen online, it looks like the film got pretty decent reviews from critics. To paraphrase the RT consensus, it’s a pleasant film that benefitted heavily from having Jon Hamm in the lead role while not really adding much to the ‘inspirational sports story’ formula that we’ve seen a lot of times. But really… I don’t really mind that at all. Being a sports fan myself, I grew watching films like ‘Rookie of the Year’, ‘Angels in the Outfield’, and ‘Remember the Titans’ and while I know they all share similar plot points, I still find a lot of them to be very entertaining. In fact, the same can be said about another sports film that came out this year, ‘Draft Day’, which I did see and I was rather surprised to find that I really liked it. I didn’t end up seeing ‘Million Dollar Arm’ in theaters, but I’ll probably watch it sometime soon.

EDGE OF TOMORROW

‘Edge of Tomorrow’ unfortunately ends up being one of the most criminally underrated films of this summer season. Now I’m not saying it’s ‘underrated’ from a critical perspective because it actually got really, really good reviews from critics (something that I did not expect to happen at all). I’m referring to how the film performed at the domestic box office where it fared pretty poorly commercially. It only grossed about $100 million here in the U.S., at least $78 million under its budget. Thankfully the international box office helped it at least make its money back but still it’s sad to see that this film didn’t fare so well here in the U.S. It seems like the biggest reason for the film’s poor performance was due to lackluster marketing which might have had some people thinking that it was just a rehash of star Tom Cruise’s most recent film ‘Oblivion’. However, ‘Edge of Tomorrow’ is far from that; it’s an incredibly well-made sci-fi action blockbuster with phenomenal performances from both Cruise and Emily Blunt. The first half of the film sees Cruise go against type as a general who isn’t trained in combat but forced into serving on the front lines while Blunt more than proves that she can be a Grade-A female action star. Hopefully this film’s poor performance at the U.S. box office won’t affect this film’s reputation too hard because it really was an excellent entry in the sci-fi genre.

DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES

Speaking of excellent sci-fi films, now we come to ‘Dawn of the Planet of the Apes’, the sequel to 2011’s surprise hit ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’. ‘Dawn’ is one of the rare sequels that actually manages to improve over its predecessor. Like ‘Rise’, it gives us characters that we really do care about but it also does a great job at immersing us in this ‘post-virus’ world where genetically-modified apes are living away from the human race, who is trying to survive after a virus wiped out millions of people. Andy Serkis is once again phenomenal as the lead ape Caesar but credit is also due for Toby Kebbell as the ape Koba. While he is the ‘villain’ of the film, at times you actually do sympathize with him because of how he was treated before the virus spread. The human cast is really great as well, including the fairly underrated Jason Clarke in the lead human role (the scenes between him and Serkis are phenomenal) and Gary Oldman in a role that, going in, might have had you thinking he’s the bad guy but instead they actually gave him a really good amount of depth. So all in all, director Matt Reeves delivered what could arguably be the best ‘Planet of the Apes’ movie to date; a film that is not only entertaining, but one that also quite a lot of emotional depth as well.

SEX TAPE

As the title suggests, this film centers on a couple (played by Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel) who film a sex tape in order to spice up their love life. However, instead of deleting the video when they are done, it ends up getting uploaded to ‘the cloud’ which is linked to a bunch of iPads that they gave to their friends, resulting in them trying to get them all back before anyone ever sees their video or, worse, it gets leaked to the internet. Now I didn’t see this film in theaters because of one main reason… it got TERRIBLE reviews from critics and considering that it got a C+ on CinemaScore, I’m guessing it didn’t fare too well with audiences either. My friend Matt saw it and he told me that it was ‘all right’ with the major highlight being a cameo by Jack Black as the owner of the website YouPorn. But despite that, I really have no interest in this film right now and am probably not going to bother with it.

THE PURGE: ANARCHY

2013’s ‘The Purge’ was one of those movies where, despite the fact that it didn’t fare well with critics (and from what I’ve seen online, even most audiences), it was still very successful from financial standpoint because it was filmed on a very small budget. So because of this, we got a sequel, ‘The Purge: Anarchy’. Now I didn’t see ‘The Purge’ so I didn’t see ‘Anarchy’ when it was in theaters. The general consensus seemed to be that while it still really wasn’t that good, it was at least an improvement over its predecessor. The main reason for this was because unlike the first film, this film took place in a city during the event known as ‘The Purge’, when all crime is made legal for 12 hours and all emergency services are shut down. The first film mainly took place within the home of the main characters which I’m guessing disappointed a lot of people who wanted to see a lot more of this ‘Purge’ thing but instead had to be stuck watching this family try to survive when they come into conflict with a group of Purgers. However at the same time, it seems like this film still had its fair share of stupid characters (I’m aware that most of what happened in the first film happened because of one incredibly stupid action committed by the main character’s son) and was really nothing more than a series of violent imagery trying to act like it’s smarter than it really is. But again, I haven’t seen either of these films so I don’t know how I would actually feel about these films.

LET’S BE COPS

I didn’t see ‘Let’s Be Cops’ for one main reason and it actually wasn’t because of the reviews which were pretty bad regardless. Believe it or not the main reason why I didn’t really have my interest in the film was because of what happened in one of my film classes. My professor had recently been to Los Angeles where he got to take a peek at some of 21^st Century Fox’s upcoming films, including ‘X-Men’ and this film. He responded favorably to ‘X-Men’ but not so much for ‘Let’s Be Cops’. So you can chalk this up as another comedy this summer that I didn’t see.

LIFE ITSELF

Anyone who either is a film critic or wants to become one absolutely needs to see this film, a biopic on the life of famed movie critic Roger Ebert who, even more than a year since his tragic death in April 2013, is arguably still the most famous movie critic of all time. This film gives us a poignant look back on his life. It offers some facts that you might not have known, like how Ebert’s co-host on his show ‘Siskel and Ebert’, Gene Siskel, was once a part of Hugh Hefner’s posse or that Ebert actually wrote the screenplay for a film, ‘Beyond the Valley of the Dolls’. But in the end one thing is clear; as the title suggests, Ebert loved life and I’ll always admire how he continued to do his job and continue to write movie reviews even after losing his voice around 2006. Like many other film critics, both current and aspiring, Ebert had a major influence on my development as a film critic because I read his reviews and while I didn’t grow up with ‘Siskel and Ebert’, I have watched some of their old videos. One major thing I learned from watching him on ‘Siskel and Ebert’ and reading his written reviews is to always stand up for your opinion even if someone else disagrees with you and that is a philosophy that I still follow to this day.

R.I.P. Roger Ebert.

3 FILMS EARNED TWO VOTES

X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST

Talk about a franchise that has successfully redeemed itself after some very mediocre entries. After ‘X-Men’ and ‘X2’ director Bryan Singer left the franchise to go direct ‘Superman Returns’, the series really started to go downhill with the highly disappointing ‘X-Men: The Last Stand’ and the god-awful ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’. The series managed to get back on track with ‘X-Men: First Class’ (which Singer produced) and Wolverine even got a much better solo outing with ‘The Wolverine’. And finally, Singer returned to the director’s chair with ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’, which I feel is the best X-Men film to date. The film of course is based off of the iconic X-Men storyline ‘Days of Future Past’ from the comics though from what I hear, the film doesn’t stay true to the original story that much but regardless of that, it is still a well-written film with the best ensemble cast of any X-Men film to date. Even though the film does focus on a select few of the cast, everyone does their job in this and I really have to highlight James McAvoy who is just phenomenal in this movie. Whereas Michael Fassbender stole the show in ‘First Class’, this movie belongs to McAvoy. I really like how they’ve been handing the character of young Professor X as he starts to mature more into the Professor X that we knew from the original film trilogy. But most importantly this film is pretty much the filmmakers’ apology to the fans for letting the series go the way it did with ‘Last Stand’ and ‘Origins’ as this film pretty much eradicates those films from the series’ timeline. Now we know that this series is back in the right hands now that Bryan Singer has returned to the franchise that he started back in 2000. I can’t wait for 2016’s ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’.

TAMMY

This was another summer comedy that I didn’t see in theaters. I wasn’t really interested in it before it came out and once I heard it got rather mediocre reviews, I just went to go see ‘Jersey Boys’ again during 4^th of July weekend. As for ‘Tammy’, this is Melissa McCarthy’s newest film. She of course has been on a roll ever since she got nominated for an Oscar for ‘Bridesmaids’. In this, she stars as the titular Tammy, a woman who has a really bad day (she gets fired from her job, she finds out her husband is cheating on her, etc…) so she takes a road trip along with her grandmother (played by Susan Sarandon who, despite playing her grandmother in this, is actually not that much older than McCarthy). Anyway, so the reviews weren’t all that good for it but another reason why I didn’t see the film was because I hadn’t really seen a lot of McCarthy’s work. I’m sure she’s a very funny lady but for the most part, I haven’t really seen a lot of her recent big hits like ‘Bridesmaids’ and ‘The Heat’ so I didn’t really have much interest in ‘Tammy’.

THE EXPENDABLES 3

It’s kind of sad that the newest entry in ‘The Expendables’ franchise performed pretty badly at the box office during its opening weekend. Franchise fatigue might have been the main factor in this along with the filmmakers’ failed attempt at marketing this film towards a younger audience by having the film rated PG-13 (more on that in a second) but clearly a major factor for this poor performance was because of an incident where a Digital Copy of the film was leaked online weeks before the film was set to come out. I know that if the film wasn’t leaked early, it still was at risk at doing poorly at the box office but still it’s pretty sad because this film wasn’t that bad. I’ll admit to being a fan of ‘The Expendables’ films, especially the second one which I feel was a major improvement over the first film by not taking things as seriously and for having better action sequences. So now we come to this third film and it’s rated PG-13 following the first two which were both R-rated and well-deserving of that rating. This change in rating, though, isn’t entirely a bad thing. Yes, a lot of the action sequences are heavily edited but at the same time it eliminated the use of those digital blood squibs that I know a lot of people really hate so it’s not all bad. Plus, even under a PG-13 rating, this film is still pretty damn violent. Like the two that came before it, ‘The Expendables 3’ is cheesy and pretty stupid but I still found it to be pretty entertaining.

3 FILMS EARNED (IRONICALLY) THREE VOTES

NEIGHBORS

In terms of the comedies that came out these past few months, the summer movie season got off to a pretty nice start with ‘Neighbors’, in which Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne star as a couple who end up getting into a ‘turf war’ with a local fraternity when they move in next door. The main reason why I feel this movie worked as well as it did is because while this is about a prank war between the two main ‘parties’ of the film (family vs. frat), this film doesn’t have a ‘villain’. Sure, the film is primarily from the view of the couple and they are a likable couple (Rogen and Byrne do have really nice chemistry) but at the same time it doesn’t portray the members of the frat as ‘a-holes’. They have an admirable goal; become legends of their frat and their leader, Teddy, is doubtful about his future, which is a nice bit of contrast with Rogen and Byrne’s characters who want some more excitement in their lives. So in the end, the frat members aren’t portrayed as being the villains; if they were portrayed as such I feel that this movie could’ve ended up giving fraternities a bad name but it didn’t. Two of my fellow panelists on ‘The Feature Presentation’, Matt and Alex, are in a fraternity and they agree that this film did a really good job when it came to portraying fraternities so overall, this is a fun little comedy that may not be my pick for the funniest film of the year (that honor goes to a film that’s coming up in a few moments) but it is still an incredibly entertaining comedy that has its fair share of laugh-out-loud moments.

MALEFICENT

Disney’s latest live-action fantasy film, ‘Maleficent’, is a re-telling of  their classic animated film ‘Sleeping Beauty’ but told from the perspective of its villain, Maleficent, who is arguably the best animated Disney villain of all time. Fans of the character might be a little disappointed, however, that Maleficent is not the main villain here. Instead, she’s the protagonist but it still works because unlike the original film, this film actually does give her a motive for her revenge against the King whereas in the original her motivation for revenge was that she was uninvited to Princess Aurora’s christening. In this movie, she befriended a young boy when she was younger but years later when the boy has the chance to become king, he takes it and betrays Maleficent by cutting off her wings. We do sympathize with her character, even when she acts like the ‘bad guy’, and of course Angelina Jolie is phenomenal in the role. But probably my favorite part of this whole movie is the relationship between Maleficent and Aurora. There’s sort of this ‘mother-daughter’ relationship that develops between them and this really is the heart of the film. Of course the visuals are excellent and at just 97 minutes, the film never overstays its welcome. In terms of the recent big-budget live-action fantasy films that Disney has made in recent years, I still prefer last year’s ‘Oz the Great and Powerful’ but I will say that I did end up liking ‘Maleficent’ more than I did Tim Burton’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’. So far I’d say that Disney is doing a pretty good job in regards to these kinds of movies and I’m interested in seeing more of these kinds of films; live-action versions of their classic animated films.

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES

Despite the fact that director Michael Bay’s newest film, ‘Transformers: Age of Extinction’, received some of the worst reviews of the year, it still became the highest grossing film of the year worldwide as it’s currently the only film this year that has grossed over $1 billion. Bay’s other major film this year, ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’, has faced similar scrutiny with critics. Heck, the film was controversial ever since it was first announced and not just because Bay was producing it; there was the alleged change of the origin story, the casting of Megan Fox as April O’Neil, and much more controversial developments that caused many people to predict that this was going to be a disaster. Well, considering what the reviews have been like, I’m guessing many people feel like they were right… however I disagree with that. In fact, while I do understand the criticisms towards the ‘Transformers’ films, I really don’t get the hate towards this film. Now let me be clear; I don’t think that this movie is ‘great’. In fact, compared to the other movies that we got this summer, there’s really nothing about it that ‘stands out’. But regardless of that, I still managed to have a lot of fun with it. When the Turtles are on screen that is where the movie really shines; they had great camaraderie and while I know I’m in the minority on this, I didn’t mind their CGI design.

But I want to address a complaint that I’ve heard that’s being thrown around when talking about this movie and that is that some people feel like this film ruined the TMNT franchise the same way Bay’s ‘Transformers’ films ‘ruined the Transformers franchise’. Again, I get why people would say that about the ‘Transformers’ films but I call major B.S. on the idea that this new TMNT film ruined the franchise. The main reason why is because all of those supposed controversial changes that were allegedly going to happen (e.g. the ‘alien’ origins, William Fichtner being the Shredder, etc…) are not present in any way in this film. This does feel like a Ninja Turtles movie that stayed true to what made this franchise so famous in the first place, more so than Bay’s ‘Transformers’ films ever did. In fact, despite the fact that this is produced by Michael Bay and directed by a Michael Bay wannabe (Jonathan Liebesman), this doesn’t feel too much like a Bay film. For one thing, there aren’t millions of explosions happening every minutes. Plus, even with a PG-13 rating, this film is generally harmless for younger audiences. So in short, I strongly feel that the new ‘Turtles’ film isn’t as bad as the entire internet is putting it out to be. I’ve said the same thing about the ‘Transformers’ movies but this time, I stand by that belief.

THIS FILM EARNED FOUR VOTES

BOYHOOD

The most popular film of the write-in section, ‘Boyhood’ is the highest rated movie of the summer according to Rotten Tomatoes with a 99% Tomatometer score (Given how much a lot of people are loving this film, I’d really hate to be the two critics who gave it negative reviews right now). For those who haven’t heard about this film, here’s the basic rundown about it; the film was shot over a span of 11 years so that director Richard Linklater could properly tell a ‘coming of age’ story with the same kid actor (Ellar Coltrane) as he grew from childhood to adulthood. Just a quick disclaimer; I haven’t seen this film yet so I know a lot of people are going say that ‘I must see it’ so with that in mind I assure you that I will try and see it soon. But for now, it’s safe to say that ‘Boyhood’ is one of the most popular films from this summer as proven by the fact that it was the fourth most popular film on this poll.

AND NOW… THE THREE MOST POPULAR FILMS OF SUMMER 2014 (AS VOTED BY YOU, THE FANS) WITH FIVE VOTES EACH

THE FAULT IN OUR STARS

Here’s a funny little story about this film. My co-panelists on the ‘Feature Presentation’, Matt and Alex, were going to see ‘Dawn of the Planet of the Apes’ but when they went into the theater they ended up coming in during the last few minutes of this movie making them wonder if they went to the wrong theater… thankfully, they didn’t. But anyway, back to ‘Fault in our Stars’, this being an adaptation of a popular novel of the same name by John Green about a young cancer patient (Shailene Woodley) who falls in love with an amputee (Ansel Elgort) when they meet at a cancer support group. I didn’t see the film but from what I’ve heard online, it’s actually pretty good. As embarrassing as it is to admit this, I wasn’t really that interested in this film because I thought it looked like another ‘chick flick’ but thankfully it looks like I was very much wrong about that. So with that said, I probably will see this movie sometime soon; I can’t make any promises but given the fact that I’ve heard a lot of good things about it, it’s more than likely I will end up seeing it in the near future.

22 JUMP STREET

I’m just going to come out and say it… ‘22 Jump Street’ is the best comedy sequel of all time. Now to some that may not be saying much given that most comedy sequels aren’t really that good but this is one of the rare exceptions of a film that is not only as good as the film that came before it (21 Jump Street, a film that I’m pretty sure none of us were expecting would be as good/hilarious as it was) but also better. This film is filled to the brim with meta humor that heavily plays up the fact that this film is pretty much note for note rehashing the exact same plot of the first film, a mistake that a lot of comedy sequels make. However, in this case it works because they continuously poke fun at this and like the last film, the writing is superb and the camaraderie between leads Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum is terrific. Admittedly there are some jokes in the film that come off as being incredibly awkward, such as when Hill’s character keeps getting called ‘Maya Angelou’, who had just died a few weeks before the film came out as well as a scene where Tatum’s character criticizes the fact that some people are still using the ‘other F-word’ in 2014, which comes off being really awkward considering Hill’s recent incident in which he used that exact same word on paparazzi. However, the film more than makes up for that with multiple gut-busting laugh-out-loud moments, including one of the best end credits sequences ever in which they do numerous fake sequels to the film. Simply put, ‘22 Jump Street’ is easily the funniest comedy of 2014 (so far), and directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller strike gold once again. At this point, having made 4 films that all seemed to be risky ventures at first but ended up being terrific, they really can do no wrong.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

It’s clear that we all got ‘hooked on a feeling’ with Marvel Studios’ latest, and strangest, film, ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’. Remember when everyone was saying that this would be a major risk for the studio given that odds are that most people were unfamiliar with these characters (myself included when the film was first announced)? Well, this ‘major risk’ ended up being the highest grossing film of the summer (stateside) and is currently the highest grossing domestic release of the year. Rightfully so, as it truly is a fantastic comic book film. The film feels self-aware about how this is a much more obscure franchise compared to something like ‘Iron Man’ or ‘Captain America’, resulting in an incredibly entertaining space film a la ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Serenity’. It’s also one of the funniest out of all the MCU films but at the same time it isn’t a straight-up comedy; it takes itself seriously when it needs to be but at the same time isn’t all gloomy and depressing (looking at you, DC, and your alleged ‘no jokes’ mandate). It has the best non-Avengers ensemble cast of the entire MCU with a great cast of leads and some pretty awesome villains.

But most importantly, this film really benefits from having a lot of emotional resonance because you really come to care about the ‘Guardians’. While they are criminals and, to quote a line in the film, ‘a bunch of a-holes’, they’re really just misfits trying to find their place in the universe. You really have to give Marvel a hell of a lot of credit for making us feel for a talking raccoon and a tree creature. It is because of this emotional resonance and the fact that I feel that ‘Guardians’ is actually the funniest MCU film to date (because it’s more consistent with its humor) that I feel that ‘Guardians’ is actually better than ‘The Avengers’. Now I know that’s an incredibly bold thing to say. Also, please don’t misinterpret me because ‘Avengers’ is still phenomenal but after just two viewings of ‘Guardians’, it’s now my new personal favorite MCU film because I feel it does a few things better than ‘Avengers’ (e.g. humor, emotional resonance, etc…). It’s clear that a lot of you share that same sentiment because as this poll shows, ‘Guardians’ was one of your top three favorite films of the summer.

So those are your picks for your favorite films from these past four months of this year. I’m not going to do a ‘Worst of Summer 2014’ poll, mostly because I can already tell which film(s) is/are going to win that argument. So once again, I’d like to thank all of those who voted on this poll and as the end result shows, there truly were a large number of great films that came out this summer based on the various responses you gave me.

I leave you with this... dancing Groot!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) review

As we all know, there have been plenty of controversial films over the years, including ‘Passion of the Christ’, ‘A Clockwork Orange’, and ‘The Da Vinci Code’ just to name a few, each controversial for their own unique reasons. But the newest ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ film easily takes the cake as one of the most controversial films in recent memory. That’s because pretty much every major bit of news surrounding the film since the day it was first announced got heavily scrutinized by fans of the franchise. For those who weren’t aware of all this, here’s a general recap. First of all, the project was to be produced by Michael Bay and given his track record with audiences,  mostly in regards to his work on another extremely popular 80’s franchise, ‘Transformers’, it’s no surprise that a lot of TMNT fans got worried, even though Bay wasn’t even going to direct the film. But then it was none other than Bay himself who dropped a bombshell in March 2012 at a Nickelodeon press conference where he said that there was going to be a change to the turtles’ origin; now they are from an ‘alien race’. This really got the fans pissed off and it also didn’t help when a supposed early script utilizing that alien origin story-line was leaked online. In it, the focus was more on the character of Casey Jones than the Turtles themselves, which was similar to a problem that many people have had in regards to Bay’s ‘Transformers’; not enough focus on those who should be the ‘main’ characters. However, Bay later stated that this script was written before his company joined the project and that ultimately nothing was going to change regarding the Turtles (including their origins).

But that wasn’t the end of the ‘TMNT’ reboot controversy; it was then announced that Megan Fox, who apparently repaired her relationship with Bay after the whole incident where she compared him to Hitler, which resulted in her being booted off ‘Transformers: Dark of the Moon’, was cast in the major role of the Turtles’ main human ally, reporter April O’Neil… and really folks, I can go on and on in regards to the controversies that have surrounded this film because there are plenty. Pretty much everyone has been predicting that this was going to be an epic disaster. Well after seeing the film I can safely say this… this is ultimately not the disaster everyone was expecting it to be. Now let me be perfectly clear about this; I’m not saying that this is a masterpiece. In fact, compared to some of the other movies we’ve seen this summer, this one is kind of, shall I say, ‘light’ by today’s standards. But really… it’s frigging Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for crying out loud! You should seriously know what to expect from a movie like this just from that title alone. In the end, this is just a fun little action movie that at least manages to entertain with some fairly good action sequences and visuals. Also when compared to Bay’s other 80’s franchise, this at least feels like they’re staying true to what made TMNT as popular as it was in the first place.

The city of New York has been facing an increase in crime recently due to the rise of the criminal organization known as the Foot Clan, led by the mysterious Shredder. Hoping to investigate further into the matter, as well as trying to get away from doing nothing but puff pieces, Channel 6 reporter April O’Neil (Megan Fox) discovers that there is apparently a vigilante in the city that is fighting off the Foot Clan. She soon discovers, however, that this ‘vigilante’ isn’t alone; instead there are four ‘vigilantes’, more specifically four genetically-mutated talking turtles; Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael (portrayed via motion capture by Pete Ploszek, Noel Fisher, Jeremy Howard, and Alan Ritchson, respectively (Leonardo is voiced by Johnny Knoxville)). These ‘Mutant Ninja Turtle Teenagers’, who used to be experiments in a lab where April's father used to work, live underground in the sewers with their master/‘father’ Splinter (portrayed via motion capture by Danny Woodburn and voiced by Tony Shalhoub), who trains them in the art of ninjutsu. April ends up befriending them as they look to stop the Shredder before he ends up taking over the city of New York.

Like I said, you really can’t take a film centered on a group of walking, talking, pizza-loving Ninja Turtles that seriously. The plot is pretty stupid and it even copies the ‘bad guy releasing a toxin into the city’ plot-line from ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’. Heck, this film even tries to attempt to connect April O’Neil to the Turtles more than ever before by having them be experiments in the laboratory April’s father worked at (in other words, they were once her ‘pets’) and having her be the one who saves them when a fire destroys the lab and releasing them into the sewers. But really I went into this knowing that it was going to be stupid and ultimately I thought it was pretty fun. The best parts in this movie are when the Turtles are on-screen because it really feels like this is staying true to the essence of the franchise; they’re wisecracking heroes in a half-shell and they do maintain the proper character traits that define each of them. However, that does mean that any of the scenes where they are not on screen are fairly weak by comparison. That does include the opening which kind of goes on a bit too long. Now for those who are really worried about Michael Bay’s involvement with this film, this actually doesn’t feel too much like a Bay film; if anything, it’s not like there are hundreds of explosions going off every minute. Plus, compared to Bay’s ‘Transformers’ films, I’d say that this film is actually fairly harmless towards kids even with a PG-13 rating because it’s less intense than those films.

I know I’m going to be in the minority on this, but I really don’t mind the new CGI designs of the Turtles. I mean I will admit that it did take me a little bit to get used to them but overall the CGI is actually pretty good, especially during the action sequences. I also have to give credit to the four guys who portrayed them through motion capture (and that also includes having Johnny Knoxville be the voice of Leonardo) as they did have really good camaraderie together. The biggest standout amongst them is easily Noel Fisher as Michelangelo as he gets the funniest lines in the movie. But what about Megan Fox as April O’Neil, the casting choice that has faced nothing but scrutiny ever since she was cast? Look… the role of April O’Neil hasn't always been the most ‘well-written’ in the world. The April from the 80's was known more as a 'damsel in distress' who always got kidnapped by Shredder and had to be saved all of the time by the Turtles and for the most part that was sort of the same scenario with the previous 3 live-action movies. With this film, I do have to give the writers a lot credit for having her be more involved in the action, more so than any of the live-action TMNT movies from the 90's. As for Fox herself... yes there clearly were much better choices to play the part but at the end of the day, she’s not THAT terrible. You can’t fault her for at least trying. As for some of the other members of the cast, Will Arnett gets a few funny lines here and there as April’s camera-man Vern and William Fichtner does a pretty solid job as well in the role of Eric Sacks, a scientist who used to work with April’s dad years ago. And for the record, he’s not playing the Shredder as it was reportedly supposed to be during pre-production; he’s actually Shredder’s ‘protégé’.

I’m not saying that the new ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ is a masterpiece… in fact, it doesn’t really stand out compared to some of the other films we’ve gotten this summer. But if anything, it’s still a fun little action movie. Yes, it’s stupid and silly but really that has always been the case with this franchise from the very beginning. I would be incredibly surprised if someone actually went into this film and tried to take it seriously because you really can’t. How can you with a franchise with a title like ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’? Still, the action sequences in this movie are pretty good as are the visuals (e.g. the Turtles themselves). The best scenes in the film are when the Turtles themselves are on screen. In the end, this film, compared to Michael Bay’s ‘Transformers’ films, actually does feel like a TMNT movie and is also less intense so it’s more family-friendly even with a PG-13 rating. Some people will say that this is a ‘severe mishandling’ of the franchise; in fact, I’m pretty sure some people already thought that before they even saw the damn film. Well, I can assure you folks that it really isn’t. It does stay true to what makes this franchise so memorable in the first place. Again, I’m not saying that’s a great film, but I at least managed to have fun with it.

Rating: 3.5/5

TMNT: Film Franchise Retrospective

This weekend sees the release of the new live-action ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ film and as many of you are more than likely aware by now, there has been quite a lot of controversy surrounding this film pretty much literally ever since the project was first announced. First off, the fact that it was to be produced by Michael Bay clearly must have had plenty of TMNT fans worried after his work on the ‘Transformers’ movies. Of course we all know how those films fared reviews-wise amongst critics and audiences. But really, the fact that Bay was producing it (he wasn’t even going to direct it) was relatively minor compared to the other major controversies that emerged during the film’s production. There was the supposed change in the Turtles’ origin (as reported by Bay himself) in which they would be aliens. Then there was the supposed leaked script which used that origin story and focused more on the human character of Casey Jones than the actual Turtles themselves (which is a problem that many people have had with Bay’s ‘Transformers’ films). Ultimately, the alien ‘origin’ back-story was abandoned; however, the controversy towards the film continued. It clearly must have reached its peak when Megan Fox was cast in the major role of fearless reporter April O’Neil. In other words, almost every major bit of news surrounding this film has faced quite a large amount of scrutiny from TMNT fans.

But even though I’m certainly going to be in the minority on this, I must say… I’m actually really looking forward to this movie. I mean I’m kind of obligated to see the film anyway given that I did two separate posts on the film during its pre-production period back in 2012 (one on the controversial ‘alien’ back-story in May and another on the ‘leaked script’ in September) but I really think that this movie is looking really good. The second trailer that was released is what sold me on it; it made the film look much more appealing than what we saw in the first trailer. If anything, I’m hoping that this will stay true to the essence of the franchise more than the ‘Transformers’ films… and yes I’m saying this even though I’ve made it clear that I am a fan of those films. However, if this new ‘Turtles’ film does suck, this time we can’t put the full blame on Michael Bay because he didn’t direct it; he only produced it. That’s like saying he’s the main one to blame for all of the horror remakes his studio has made. Still, if Bay’s toughest critics do need something to fuel their fire, I guess if the film doesn’t turn out that good we can blame him for picking Jonathan Liebesman (a director who doesn’t really have that good of a track record) to direct the film but that’s really about it.

But for now, before the new film comes out, today we’ll be looking at the previous TMNT movies, which includes the original trilogy of live-action films that came out during the 90’s and the 2007 animated film that was supposedly going to revive the film franchise but it seems like that didn’t really go too far seeing how this new film is now coming out. Plus, I’ll even throw in a little bonus review of a made-for-TV TMNT film that was released a few years ago. Now this is not going include much about any of the TMNT television series that have come out over the years, which include the original cartoon from the late 80’s, the incredibly weird live-action series titled ‘Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation’ which ran for one season in the late 90’s, the 2003 revival, and the recent computer animated series on Nick. That’s because, aside from the last film I’m covering here, they really don’t factor that much into any of these films. However, I will add that I did watch a few episodes from both the 80’s and 2003 series before watching these films, which for the record I had never really watched before now, so that I could be a bit more familiar with the franchise. So with that said, it’s time to look back at the films starring our favorite ‘heroes in a half-shell’; the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (1990)

When the first live-action TMNT film came out, I’m guessing that most of the TMNT fans at the time might have been expecting something that was more in line with the animated series, which had just finished its third season just a few months earlier. However, the film turned out to be something a bit more mature than the cartoon. Instead, it is based more on the original TMNT comic book series which, for the record, I haven’t read but I am aware that it is much darker and more violent than the cartoon. As for this first film, I have to say that I think it actually does hold up pretty well. The film does a pretty good job of mixing the darker elements of the comics with some of the more light-hearted elements of the cartoon. I mean, if you look at it nowadays, the film isn’t really ‘that dark’. I mean sure, there are a couple instances of mild language, easily the most infamous example of that being the scene where Raphael just yells ‘DAMN!!!’ at the top of his lungs while chasing Casey Jones through the city (I also want to use this time to point out my favorite line in the film where Michelangelo and Donatello are watching a cartoon and at one point Michelangelo says, ‘Ninja kick the damn rabbit!!’). Also the film is a bit more ‘violent’ than the cartoon when it comes to the action. Still, in retrospect, there have definitely been a lot of other ‘PG’ rated films that are much more violent than this one. In the end, this one is pretty tame by today’s standards.'

Aside from that, the fight sequences are pretty good, which actually does say quite a lot considering that some of the participants of these fights are wearing giant turtle costumes. And on that note, the Turtle suits, which were designed for this movie by Jim Henson, who of course many of you will know as the creator of ‘The Muppets’, are also really good as well. I mean, let’s be honest… this movie is fairly cheesy. This is a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film… that title alone should give you an idea of what kind of movie this is. Is it perfect? No, not really but it’s still pretty entertaining and the main edge that this film has over the other films in the series is that it did take the bold route of staying more true to the original comics than the cartoon and keep in mind, this was 1990, right during the peak of the franchise’s popularity. I have the feeling that most TMNT fans at the time were more familiar with the cartoon than the comics so hopefully this film might’ve made those fans of the cartoon interested in the comics that started it all. So overall, the original ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ film may not be a perfect movie, but at the end of the day it is still the best of the original live-action TMNT films. In fact on that note it’s also still the best TMNT film period.

Rating: 4/5

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES II: THE SECRET OF THE OOZE (1991)

So because the first ‘TMNT’ film was more dark and violent than I’m guessing that many people were expecting, this led to some backlash by parents which then resulted in the next film, ‘TMNT II: The Secret of the Ooze’, which was released just one year after the first film, being much more light-hearted than its predecessor. In this film, the Turtles rarely use their actual weapons and the action is this film is much more comedic in tone… oh yeah and to top it all off, Vanilla Ice makes a cameo where he does an impromptu ‘Ninja Rap’ (‘Go Ninja, Go Ninja Go!’). In other words, this film is clearly more oriented towards kids than it is towards adults. So for older TMNT fans, I kind of feel that this movie isn’t really for you because it doesn’t have the same edge that the first film had; whereas that film felt more like the original TMNT comics, this one feels more like the cartoon. But really, that’s not entirely a bad thing. The way I see it, for kids this film is pretty harmless. It’s cheesy, playful fun and as one might expect from a Ninja Turtles film, it doesn’t take itself ‘too seriously’. The action sequences are still pretty good as are the Turtle costumes and this film even gives the group some mutant enemies to fight, a key element of the cartoon. So if you’re a younger TMNT fan, then I believe that you’re really going to like this film. However for adults, your enjoyment of this film may vary.

Rating: 3/5 (just keep in mind that is in the perspective of its target audience)

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES III: TURTLES IN TIME (1993)

First off I just want to note that the actual movie does not have the subtitle ‘Turtles in Time’, which was also the name of one of the most popular TMNT arcade games. That subtitle only became part of the title in recent home video releases. As for the film itself, this is widely regarded as the worst of the live-action TMNT films and after seeing it… I definitely agree with that statement. Now I don’t know how much I can add to this discussion considering that James Rolfe (AKA the ‘Angry Video Game Nerd’) did an excellent video review for it a few years ago. But regardless of that, I will still note some of the biggest problems that I had with the film. The whole idea of the Turtles going ‘back in time’ is a fairly interesting concept but it’s not really done well here. Now for the record I’ve never played the arcade game ‘Turtles in Time’ but from what I can tell that game kept the characters in New York whereas here they’re sent back to Ancient Japan. In other words, a good chunk of the film really doesn’t feel a whole lot like ‘TMNT’. Not only that, but early on Michelangelo is briefly captured meaning that there’s only about one major fight sequence that involves all four of the turtles, which must have pissed fans of the franchise, especially those whose favorite turtle was Michelangelo (being that he is my favorite as well, I’m right there with them). In fact, there aren’t even many action sequences in this film, so it kind of drags at points.

Instead of the filmmakers using villains from the cartoon series like Krang or Baxter Stockman, they instead give us a rather generic Japanese warlord and a kind-of out of place English trader. The dialogue is incredibly cheesy, and while that is something to expect from this franchise, it comes off way too cheesy in this film. Some of the jokes don’t even make sense and some of the references come out of nowhere like a weird moment where Raphael imitates Schwarzenegger by saying ‘I’ll be Back’ and another where Donatello goes, “Were you expecting maybe the Addams Family?”. As for the Turtles themselves, the costumes weren’t done by Jim Henson’s company this time and because of that, they really don’t look as good as they did before. Also, the dialogue doesn’t always sync up with their mouth movements. Now, I don’t think that it’s all ‘that bad’ as I will admit there were a couple of funny moments here and there but for the most part, this is a pretty weak sequel that really doesn’t feel much like a ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ film. So overall this is the one film in the franchise that I just can’t recommend because it truly is the worst of the live-action ‘TMNT’ films.

Rating: 1/5

TMNT (2007)

So because the third Turtles film performed poorly with critics and audiences, it ended up being the last live-action TMNT film until the new reboot. In 2007, the film series was revived with the release of a computer animated film simply titled ‘TMNT’. It performed fairly well at the box office amidst mixed reviews and it seems like plans were set for this film to get a sequel. However, that never happened hence the new film coming out this weekend. But as for this film, overall I’d say that it’s a fun and entertaining animated film and a fairly solid addition to the TMNT franchise. However, at the same time, I can’t say that it’s ‘perfect’ as there are some rather odd problems with it, most of them come from the overall story. Now I do like the idea of the Turtles trying to reunite after they start to grow apart but I’m not as crazy towards the main plot of the film, where they fight a group of ancient warriors and a series of monsters. It’s like the third live-action film; I really don’t see how this connects with TMNT. The opening prologue that sets up the whole story feels more like ‘300’. Now I know that there have been ‘strange’ plot-lines that have been done before in this franchise, but why not do something connected to Dimension X, the alternate dimension where one of the Turtles’ major villains, Krang, resides. In fact, that whole concept has not even been done in any of the films. I’m not going to say anything more about that but I’m kind of hoping that this new live-action film series does something with that storyline.

Anyway, despite the rather odd, and sometimes occasionally over-complicated, story, there are still some really good things about this film. The animation is pretty good and the action sequences are fairly well-done, even though they do sort of have a ‘video-game’ quality to them. The voice acting is also pretty good with a cast that includes the likes of Sarah Michelle Gellar, Chris Evans, Patrick Stewart, and the late Mako. Plus, when the film does focus on the Turtles, this does feel like a TMNT film. So overall, I’d say that young TMNT fans will like this movie; it’s colorful, fun, and action-packed. As for the older TMNT fans, this is sort of similar to the case of the second live-action film in that your enjoyment of the film may vary but overall I’d still say that is an enjoyable and solid addition to the TMNT franchise. However, it could’ve benefitted from a stronger story, one that focused more on the Turtles themselves and not some fantasy storyline that doesn’t really feel like something you would normally expect to see from this franchise.

Rating: 3/5

BONUS REVIEW: TURTLES FOREVER (2009)

I’m finishing off this retrospective with a review of the made-for-TV Ninja Turtles film, ‘Turtles Forever’. The main reason why this film is so special is because it’s a big crossover event (released in 2009, the year which marked the 25^th anniversary of the franchise) between the original 1987 TMNT cartoon and the more recent TMNT series from 2003 (this was before the Nickelodeon series that debuted in 2012). It’s a film that I believe will appeal to pretty much every major fan of TMNT as it pays tribute to numerous interpretations of the franchise; they even feature the Ninja Turtles from the original comic book series, which is pretty cool. It balances the roles of the 80’s Turtles and the 2003 Turtles pretty well with a pretty well-written story that doesn’t feel like it’s being done as a ‘cheap’ crossover. I will admit that I’m not that familiar with the 2003 series but you don’t really need to be in order to enjoy this movie. You can clearly tell that all of those involved with the project really worked as hard as they could in order to make this special as good as it is. My only complaint, which is a fairly minor one at that, is in regards to the voice acting for the 80’s versions of the main characters. It’s not bad, but none of the members of the original cartoon’s cast return for this, apparently because they were union actors whereas 4Kids, the company behind the 2003 cartoon, is a non-union organization. The actors who do portray the 80’s characters here do at least try their best to try and imitate the voices of their predecessors but it is a little distracting at times. Still, in the end, ‘Turtles Forever’ is a must-see for any TMNT fan as it does an excellent job at paying tribute to this long-running media franchise.

Rating: 4.5/5