My review: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

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!

My Review: Planes: Fire & Rescue

Let me get this out of the way... I did not like the first Planes movie. In fact, it may be one of my least favorite animated movies. It ended up being one of those movies that we saw in theaters just because we were in the mood for a movie, and it was one of the few family friendly flicks out at the time.

I found myself in a similar situation this past Saturday. We wanted to get out of the house, but with the heat, I wasn't terribly excited about being out in the sun all day. Where can I go that will be nice and cool, and also "out of the house"? Movie theater! Oh wait... There is only one Family friendly movie out that we haven't already seen. That movie, of course, was Planes: Fire & Rescue.

The movie starts out back in Dusty Crophopper's home town. He has become a bit of a local celebrity after becoming a famous racer. On a training flight, Dusty experiences engine trouble upon pushing it too hard. After being examined by his crew, they discover that he has fried some internal components, and continuing to push his engine too hard could be disastrous. Because he is an older model, the needed parts to repair him are no longer in production, and his racing career may be over.

During his pity party, dusty accidentally starts a fire in the town. A fire engine named Mayday, shows up to save the day, and all seems well. That is, until it is discovered that he is the only fire fighter, and the runway must be shut down until they can find a second. Queue Dusty's new found goal to be a fire fighter, and re-open the runway.

He travels to Yellowstone... I mean Piston Peak, where he will train with the Piston Peak Air Attack Team. They are a motley crew of various rescue vehicles, adrenalin junky smoke jumpers, Booger from Revenge of the nerds, and lead by a helicopter named Blade Ranger. While in training, Dusty must also try to hide his new found engine troubles with the rest of the team.

The remainder of the movie consists of music montages of traveling, and training. There are also more fart jokes, and puns than I really care for. I understand the fart jokes to a certain extent. We all know that kids think they are hilarious. I just really don't get the bad puns. "Kick Aston Martin". I don't know anyone who this movie is aimed toward, who could tell me what Aston Martin is. My first impression within the first five minutes was that it could also be called "Planes: Farts And Puns Edition".

When I first heard that there was going to be a second Planes movie, I instantly thought that it would look rushed, and have poor animation. The first one hasn't been out for all that long. I was pleasantly surprised. The animation on the characters looked fine, but the scenery was great. Most of the movie takes place in the woods and mountains, and they did a great job. There were even a few times where I thought I might have been watching live film. I didn't see it in 3D, but judging by what I saw, I'm sure it would look good. Between the scenic vistas, and fast paced flight scenes, I could see myself being entertained by the 3D.

At the beginning, I said that I did not like the first Planes movie. The second is a different story. I'm not going to say that it is one of my favorite movies, because its not even close. Its simply a fun movie to see with the kids, once you get past the lame puns and fart jokes. You will have a few laughs, your kids will have a good time, and it will get you out of the heat for an hour and a half. If you have kids that like Cars, and Planes, I would say its worth checking out.

My Review: Dawn of The Planet of The Apes

As a movie enthusiast and a father of small children, it seems that when we do make it to the theater, we are generally there for something animated. Please don’t take this as complaining about children’s flicks, because that is far from how I feel. I actually love animated/kids movies. They seem to take me back to the “good ole’ days”, when life was a bit more simple. Who doesn’t like that?

 

With the children recently out of the house, I had a big boy moment, and had the chance to go see a movie that was not about a princess, and didn’t have talking animals. Well… scratch that last part about talking animals. I am, of course, talking about the most recent film in the Planet of The Apes franchise.

 

Dawn of The Planet of The Apes takes place in a dystopian San Francisco, after the “simian flu”, has wiped out much of the planets population. Wars and unrest, following this outbreak have thinned the human population even further. It is implied on several occasions that many of those lucky enough to have been immune to the flu, were not lucky enough to survive the aftermath. What we do see of San Francisco has the normal post-apocalyptic vibe, complete with plant overgrowth, abandoned cars, and buildings in shambles. Did I also mention the giant stockpile of poorly guarded weapons? (poorly guarded weapons come into play late in the movie)

 

Since the previous movie, the apes have left the city, and have created their own society in the forest, with Caesar as the leader. The beginning scenes give us an idea of just how much they have learned and progressed, showing that many have started families, they are educating their young, and they have even set up laws (ape not kill ape). They have had little to no contact with any humans in years. While they seem to be thriving, the humans have experienced the opposite.

 

 

Our first look at the humans comes when a small group from the survivor colony in San Francisco, find themselves in the nearby forest, looking for an old hydroelectric dam, in effort to bring power back to the city. During their search, they make contact with the apes, digging up old feelings for Caesar, who was raised by humans, and almost tries to hide a remaining fondness for them.

 

This contact with humans causes contention between Caesar, and another ape, Koba. Koba, who seems to also be in some sort of leadership type position among the apes, is scarred a disfigured from the tests done on him by the humans. He does not trust them and advocates for war between apes and humans, however Caesar does not share his opinions. I think that Koba may be one of the greatest movie villains in the past several years. His attempt to manipulate others onto his side, and the fact that he doesn’t care what has to be done to do so, is absolutely frightening.

 

The motion capture in the movie is phenomenal. At times you forget that you watching a computer generated character, and not an actual person. Not only was I impressed by the special effects, but also the performance of the actors through motion cap. Caesar and Koba, acted by Andy Serkis and Toby Kebbell, are particularly impressive. Serkis gives a great performance, really making you feel an emotional connection to his character, and wanting to see more. Kebbell, however, sends chills up your spine with the pure evil behind Koba.

 

I left this movie thinking, “Andy Serkis needs to win some sort of an award for this movie”. I can’t think of a single instance where a motion cap performance has won any award, but there is a first time for everything, and this is definitely it. I found myself more captivated and connected with an ape over any of the human characters in the movie. Heck, I found myself caring more for Caesar than characters in most other movies. If there is some petition I can sign, or some useless facebook page I can join to get this guy some recognition, point me in that direction.

 

I would suggest that you make sure you watch Rise of The Planet of The Apes beforehand. It is not completely necessary, but it will at least give some back story on Caesar and how he was raised & became so intelligent. Honestly, I hadn’t seen it in quite a while, and I struggled a little bit to remember exactly what happened in it.

 

If you are looking for a good summer movie, this is definitely worth checking out. Not only are there some great action sequences, but you will find yourself emotionally connected to many of these characters, which leaves you wanting to know what happens to them after the credits. It is a must see!