The Crime Fighting Turtles are Back in TMNT
Written: Mar 12 '08 (Updated Oct 09 '08)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Fun, entertaining movie.
Cons: People not already familiar with the characters could be lost. Too silly for some.
The Bottom Line: TMNT was a fun, entertaining movie that I really enjoyed.
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| dragonfire88's Full Review: TMNT |
I remember when the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles became popular. There were cartoons, all sorts of toys, and some movies that I didn't see. I guess I just wasn't interested in the idea of mutant turtles at that point. Eventually they lost popularity and disappeared for a while. Within the last few years, they have become more known again. In 2007, a new movie, TMNT, was released. Even though I hadn't seen the previous movies, I did think it looked interesting. I recently found the movie on HBO and decided to watch it.
3,000 years ago, a powerful warrior king discovered a portal to another dimension that would open once every 3,000. When he opened it, he became immortal, his four generals were turned to stone, and thirteen monsters were unleashed on Earth.
In South America in current times, corrupt men were taking advantage of a small village. They were dealt with by a mysterious figure they never saw. The mysterious figure turned out to be Leonardo, one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Splinter had sent him away to train to be a better leader, but he had been gone much longer than he was supposed to have been. April found him when she was in the area for her work. The other turtles, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael weren’t exactly doing well without Leonardo. Donatello was working tech support, Michelangelo was entertaining at birthday parties for children and no one knew what Raphael was doing other than sleeping all day. He was actually going out at night and dealing with criminals as the Nightwatcher. Casey, April’s boyfriend who also knew the turtles, had figured out who the Nightwatcher was.
April had found the last of four statues for Winters, a very wealthy man. He brought the statues to life and hired the Foot Clan to help capture the thirteen monsters. Leonardo decided to return home after all. Splinter, Donatello, and Michelangelo were happy to see him while Raphael was resentful and didn’t want to see his brother become their leader. The four brothers had to find a way to work together again while also trying to figure out what was going on with the monsters, the statues, and Winters.
TMNT featured characters that were originally created for a comic book. The comic was self-published and the characters become more popular a few years later once a decision was made to create toys and a cartoon which eventually led to three live action movies. I had heard of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles before, but I had no idea that they were originally created for a comic book until sometime in 2006.
Even though I haven’t seen the first three movies or the cartoons, I still had heard enough about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles over the years to know their names and the names of few other characters. That was basically all I knew when I watched TMNT. From a few things said or shown, I believed that the movie was set after the events of the third movie. I confirmed that when I did a little research after watching the movie. I didn’t have any trouble following what was going on despite not knowing much of the back story for the characters. Really the only issue I had was keeping track of which turtle was which at times. I think that people who haven’t seen the previous movies or any of the cartoons can still enjoy the movie. Certain things will just make more sense to those who already know some about the characters and situations. There was actually something said very late in the movie that hinted at the possibility of another movie. With how much I enjoyed this one, I would be interested in seeing another one.
TMNT contained some violence in a few scenes that wasn’t graphic. The turtles fought a few of the monsters and even faced off with the Foot Clan. Two of the turtles ended up fighting each other at one point. Raphael dealt with criminals a few different times as Nightwatcher. The Foot Clan as well as the four generals dealt with the monsters as well. The violence wasn’t excessive and did work with what was going on. There was a good amount of action that helped to keep things interesting. I think this movie had a darker tone overall than the first three movies, so it isn’t for all children. The darker elements and tone may appeal to older viewers.
There was a lot going on throughout TMNT even though it really didn’t have a complex plot. In addition to dealing with Winters, the four generals and the monsters, there was also time devoted to Leonardo, his return home, the conflict with Raphael, and the fact that Raphael was running around the city as Nightwatcher. There was also a little bit connected to April and Casey’s relationship as well. That was a lot given the running time of 87 minutes. I did think that everything was handled well even though certain aspects could have received a bit more attention and development. The time devoted to the conflict between Leonardo and Raphael was a bit serous without making the entire movie serious. There was a good amount of humor added in as well, usually provided in some way by Michelangelo. Certain aspects of the movie could be too silly for some people.
TMNT was made with computer animation. I thought that the animation worked very well to tell the story of four walking, talking, ninja trained turtles. I have seen clips from the live action movies and how the turtles looked in them. Personally, I liked the animated look better. I guess it made them seem more believable and made it easier to suspend my disbelief and just enjoy the movie. The animation was very well done and had a stylized look in many scenes. It did have the look of a comic book. The humans, especially the female characters, had a slightly odd look with how skinny they looked. All the humans had long limbs and something did look a bit off in their movements in a few scenes, like when Casey was running. Later in the movie, there was a scene set during a rainstorm that looked very impressive, especially when the drops of water were shown running off the turtles.
The four brothers each had their own personality, which did help me to be able to keep track of who was who. They also each used a different weapon and wore a different colored mask. Leonardo, the oldest, went off to train to become a better leader and he had taken that very seriously. He didn’t have a problem following the orders of Splinter, the mutant rat who had raised the turtles. Donatello was very intelligent and good with computers.
Michelangelo was the most lighthearted of the turtles and he provided most of the humor. He seemed to be a bit of a ditz at times, but he would come through for his brothers. Raphael had a lot of resentment toward Leonardo, first for leaving, and then for coming back and trying to lead the turtles. Raphael was very impulsive and more prone to jumping into action. He had a bit of a temper. Since I haven’t seen the previous movies or cartoons, I don’t know if the personalities of the turtles were changed for this movie or not. Splinter had trained the turtles in the way of the ninja and still looked after their training. He wanted things done a certain way.
April ran her own shipping business. Her boyfriend Casey either worked for her or was a co-owner. They both knew the turtles. Casey figured out that Raphael was the Nightwatcher and started going out with him to fight crime. The Foot Clan was led by Karai, a young woman. The generals who were still stone didn’t want to lose their immortality. Winters was a very wealthy man who had collected the four statues and wanted the thirteen monsters for some reason. I thought that all of the voices fit the characters very well. The movie started off with a narrator explaining what had happened with the warrior king and his generals 3,000 years before.
Voice Talent
John Di Maggio - Colonel Santino
Chris Evans - Casey
Lawrence Fishburne - Narrator
Sarah Michelle Gellar - April
Mikey Kelley - Michelangelo
Mako - Splinter
Paula Mattioli - General Serpiente
Nolan North - Raphael/Nightwatcher
Kevin Michael Richardson - General Aguila/Additional Voices
Kevin Smith - Diner Cook
Patrick Stewart - Winters
Fred Tatasciore - General Gato
James Arnold Taylor - Leonardo
Mitchell Whitfield - Donatello
Ziyi Zhang - Karai
Written and Directed by Kevin Munroe
I watched TMNT when I found it on one of the HBO channels that I get. It is available on DVD, though I have no idea what sort of extras are included on it.
I really enjoyed TMNT even though I knew very little about the characters before seeing the movie. It was fun and entertaining and I think it is worth watching. Fans of the characters should give this version a chance.
This is one I would have given three and a half stars. Since I can't, I rounded up to four.
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Recommended:
Yes
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