TMNT review

I’ve been looking forward to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie since day one. The idea of an all CGI Turtles movie didn’t thrill me, it was just a small concern, and any fears were soon erased with the teaser trailer. In that trailer the Turtles looked like they were ripped from the pages of the comics. Their eyes were the same eyes to be found on Page one of issue one which was a big plus for me. This movie was obviously made by someone who cared about this property.

But somewhere in there something happened. It was like the TMNT movie I had put so much faith in became a safe kid’s film. Now I know that this movie was never going to sniff a rating above PG, but that teaser trailer showed so much promise and these other trailers showed so much….umm…cute monsters. What happened?

So with much hesitation I went and saw it. I was excited, but every ounce of me was waiting for a disaster. What I found instead was a Turtles film that pulled a lot of punches and yet it still manages to work somehow.

The Turtles retain a lot of the characteristics of the comics. Mike is a clown, Don is smart, Raphael is a loner, and Leo is the reluctant leader. Keeping this dynamic is crucial to the movie, and I think director Kevin Munroe realizes that. The Turtles need to act like a fractured family. If Munroe had chosen to ignore this and instead focus on the monsters then this film fails. The arc of this story isn’t in the Max Winters storyline; it’s in the Raphael and Leonardo dynamic, and the stances that they choose to take.

I mentioned the CGI earlier because I still don’t think it works. The humans are animated to be too much like a cartoon. How come a cheap Nasonex commercial has better animated humans then a top of the line Hollywood movie?

What works? The Foot here works better then expected. They are a group lacking a leader since the Shredder’s death. In many ways the Foot is what the Turtles are at the beginning of this film; Leaderless, looking for their place.

I’m not the biggest fan of the monsters and Max Winters story, but it serves its purpose. It is just a backdrop for a much bigger story to hopefully be played out in a sequel. A sequel that would hopefully include the Shredder.

Overall TMNT is a solid children’s film. It doesn’t pretend to be anything more then a fun movie, and you shouldn’t expect as much.