By Geno McGahee
When I first heard that they were revisiting the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, I expected the worst. In 1990, the original was released and it was a time before CGI and it was a much more innocent time. The puppetry and costumes mixed with a good story and humor made the original a classic. It spawned two follow ups. In 1991, the Secret of the Ooze was rather good, but not as good as the first, but then in 1993, they ruined the series with a time-traveling and strange third film. The turtles showed up here and there after…mostly in animated things, but there was also that short-lived TV show that they used to play on Saturday mornings. So, it’s 2014 and that would make it 21 years since we’ve been shell-shocked and with Michael Bay involved, I wasn’t overly optimistic, but it proved to pack quite the punch.
April O’Neil (Megan Fox) is a journalist that is getting all of the fluff assignments but she is very focused on the criminal group “The Foot”, and plans to make a name for herself by exposing them. She gets too close and soon comes into danger, but is rescued by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I have to say that the turtles have never been better defined. Each turtle is a great character that stands out and the CGI is pretty good, although Splinter was rather crappy.
The fight scenes with Splinter looked a little too video game-ish and his usage of his tail to fight looked terrible. When Megan Fox is speaking to him, she is looking to her left. Either she missed her point or the CGI guy put the rat in the wrong spot. Whatever the case, Splinter looks mediocre at best, but the turtles look good and they prove very funny throughout.
After the Secret of the Ooze, the hope was to see a super Shredder as the main adversary in the third and that never happened. We get to see a super Shredder here. He wears a metal samurai suit with blades in each hand that are magnetic. When he launches them at the turtles, they come right back to be launched again. He is very imposing and a great villain.
The turtles are wanted by Shredder and a mad scientist because of the mutagen in their veins. They kidnap the turtles and start draining their blood but before they could die, they are released and have a great showdown on the top of a skyscraper in New York City. They even add in a “cowabunga” to the final fight, throwing it back to the original films.
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES is a great movie. I am very impressed. They understood the characters and really made them stand out, which really wasn’t there before. I always thought that Raphael and Michelangelo were defined really well, but the other two turtles were just there. In this one, each turtle is very developed and memorable. Splinter was also awesome in this.
I highly recommend this one. They created a TMNT movie that they could build on as they re-launch the new series.And there is hope for a new Super Shredder considering that he comes into contact with the ooze at the end of this. Let’s hope they don’t do any more time traveling.
Rating: 8/10
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