If you grew up during the early to mid 90's, you are most likely very familiar with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. If you were anything like me, you were also not just a fan. In my family, the Turtles were a way of life. We watched the show religiously and owned many of the toys. I am pretty sure that I was a Ninja Turtle for Halloween, three or four years in a row. We took this seriously.
Admittedly, I have not really kept up with the attempt to bring the Turtles back in to relevancy over the past several years. I never watched any of the cartoons other than the original (including the current version), and I never saw the animated movie, TMNT, that came out in 2007. For me, there was only one cartoon series, and the original three movies (all of which are incredibly corny now).
Is it possible that another reboot for the Turtles, with Michael Bay involved, could bring them back to their former glory? Was there even a need for a reboot? When I first heard that there would be another movie, it really seemed to come out of nowhere. I remember the current cartoon being fairly new, when it was announced that another movie would be coming soon. I thought this to be premature because the franchise had still not rebuilt much momentum.
Fast forward to 2014, past several months of leaks of the new design of the characters, and people either loving or hating it. The movie takes place in New York. The city is being taken over by crime, and who is behind it? You guessed it... The foot clan. The foot clan has made the transformation from stealthy ninjas, to a paramilitary group who wear tactical gear and carry assault rifles, in this movie. They are lead by the mysterious Shredder. Take the word "mysterious" seriously. There is not much explanation about this guy.
April O'Neil (Megan Fox), is a budding news reporter. She knows that there is something more about the crime in New Work, and wants to find out more, but can't seem to get anyone to trust her. With a tip, she finds herself at a shipping dock just as the foot clan are there. They are not the only ones there though. She witnesses a vigilante fighting back, thwarting the criminals plans.
April comes in contact with the Turtles after witnessing them battle it out with foot after taking hostages in a subway station. She follows them to a rooftop where the flash of her camera phone gives her away. Queue obnoxious jokes from Michelangelo about April being his girlfriend throughout the rest of the movie.
She is eventually lead to Eric Sacks, a former business partner of her father. All seems well in turtle town until it turns out that he is in cahoots with the Shredder, and they have devised an evil plan that could be disastrous for the people of New York. With the help of April and her camera man, Vernon, the turtles must protect the innocent and defeat Sacks and Shredder.
I had no idea what to expect with this movie. There has been so much controversy with the whole thing, with the possibility of the Turtles being aliens, a change to their origin, and their new look. I expected that it would be different than anything I was used to, and it most definitely was.
I am by no means going to say that it was my favorite movie. I can, however, say that it is a fun movie that a lot of people, especially younger people will enjoy. There were some good laughs, but a lot of the jokes also fell flat. If you think of Ninja Turtles from days gone by, just think of this as a concentrated version. There are lots of goofy moments, attempted one liners, and pizza hut pizza.
The personalities of the Turtles are almost more extreme versions of what we have seen in the past. Raphael has always been the mean guy. They take it up a notch to being borderline douchey. Also, Donatello has always been the smart one, but did they really have to give him nerdy glasses with tape in the middle? I can handle the crazy contraptions strapped to him, but the glasses were too much.
I really couldn't complain much about the new look of the turtles. I actually like seeing different interpretations of what characters might look like. This had been a pretty hot topic for quite a while. The motion capture on the character was also particularly impressive. Between this movie, and the latest Planet of The Apes, I am very excited to see where motion cap goes in the future.
Thankfully, Michael Bay's connection to this movie did not lead to the action sequences being a blur of swinging limbs and body parts, like he has done with the Transformers movies. I think a lot of people with be entertained by the action. The rest of the movie screams Michael Bay, however.
Honestly, I could continue about the many little black marks this movie had against it, and about the fun little winks to the past movies and cartoons, but that would make for an unnecessarily long post. If you can look past the new super strength of the Turtles, the Shredder having a ridiculous suit, along with a hand full of other things, then you will have a good time with this movie. Like I said, this is not my favorite movie, but its a fun way to spend an hour and a half, for anyone looking for funny action movie. If you are a purist and are completely opposed to anything new, please keep a distance. PLEASE!
