Turtles Forever

Having grown up watching the old 1988 series, it was great to see the specific characters of the turtles and their villains then, in the universe of the new more serious turtles that kids watch today. The whole thing is animated well and has an interesting enough storyline.

The only thing I slightly disliked about this movie, was that the older versions of the characters, both good and bad, are depicted as being somewhat helpless in the 21st century Turtle universe. They mostly get the goofy lines and carefree attitude. However, to be fair the old show was never as serious as the newer one apparently is, and there were excellent tributes to the old show. One running gag in the movie I really enjoyed, was that the older turtles would sometimes direct their attention to the viewer, which would confuse the 21st generation characters. At some point a turtle is actually asked; "Who are you talking to? There is nobody there!"

Although there is definite goofiness and corniness present, this movie offers a nice look at the turtles through time, and is a nice way to end this saga of the turtles (as Nickelodeon is apparently planning to make the next show fully CGI).

I like this crossover overall, but the execution was wanting. The 80s turtles are reduced to cowardly, incompetent, childish fools, with their individual quirks and personalities stripped away. (As silly as the 87 cartoon was, the green team was certainly not comprised of "four Mikeys" as 2003 Raphael suggests). It's really aggravating. 80s Shredder and Krang are given little to do and what little seriousness they had on the original cartoon is taken away. They serve as idiotic foils for the newer villains and little else. They weren't integrated into the plot that well either. The only 87 characters given the proper treatment at all were Bebop, Rocksteady, and Splinter.

It was cool to see the Mirage turtles included (and how they knocked down the 2003 turtles a few pegs). The plot itself was interesting, and the comedy and action generally worked well. It's just hard to praise this one when one half of its crossover is so shamefully treated. Honestly, it felt more like a "hey look at how cool the 2003 turtles are!" most of the time, rather than a celebration of the franchise as a whole. It's unfortunate.

This movie is for fans and non-fans alike. It starts off with the Turtles in it's latest incarnation (2003 4kids series) viewing a news report of a robbery broken up by four turtles..but not by them..

At a risk of spoiling, I will not go into further detail. As a fan of the shows and the various versions of the Turtles, I really enjoyed this movie.

Funny thing is this movie wasn't promoted well, if not at all (which is sad because this could have been released in the theaters and would have made a lot of money... I happened upon this movie by accident and have a "Kool-Aid smile" for it's humor, story, action, and nostalgia. This made for TV movie did what the previous shows and the theatrical release did not.

It gave the fans a action packed, humor-filled completion to a wonderful franchise... Thank you to all that were involved....And here's hoping that this was not the end to it all.

Turtles Forever (2009) just made me smile. I'm so happy with this film, I love it. I love this whole thing.

Long story short, there's an inter-dimensional plot that allows all three major adaptations of the TMNT (Original comic, 1987 cartoon, 2003 cartoon) to collide for awkward genius and hilarity.

Especially amusing scenes when the much sillier 1987 Turtles' crack their trademark cheesy jokes and puns... and the more serious 2003 world doesn't welcome it.

2003 Shredder is huge, pure evil, and makes 1987 Shredder look like a bumbling fool when they meet each other. 2003 Shredder remodels the Technodrome ( "What is this? A giant golf ball on wheels?") ripping out 1980s looking monitors and replacing them with 60" flat-screens.

Then BAM they do a perfect rendition of the sinister, original comic turtles. Mesh them all together, then wrap it up with a cameo from when Mirage Studios was merely two guys in a garage, hoping their little hand-made turtles story would sell.

The art was very consistent with source material from all three generations- note the black and white comic world of the first turtles even has a texture to it, like it's been hand drawn on cheap paper.

The writing was appropriate, they really did their best making this movie. The original voice actors from the 1987 series aren't present (4Kids, sigh) but the replacements are close enough to where it doesn't detract.

I've read amateur reviews of this movie, mostly guys my age complaining that the 1987 turtles were portrayed as TOO silly. They aren't. That's exactly how that show was- puns, pizza, cowabunga fun for kids. Having the new (EXTREME!) ninja turtles interact with my kid heroes was perfectly awkward, and at times made me laugh aloud.

If you haven't heard of this until now- don't feel bad. The marketing and release of Turtles Forever was horribly botched. Which is a shame, because this is brilliant work, and is a must-see for any Ninja Turtles fan.

The 2003 Turtles discover that their '87 counterparts have been captured by Hun and his men, and after learning that it was because of the inter-dimensional portal in the Technodrome, they attempt to stop their Shredder, who goes searching for his new counterpart, not realizing what he is about to unleash. This is a bit of a love letter to the two series, and one can debate which it favors, or if it indeed chooses one. As for the old one, it certainly does make those Ninjas seem goofy, stupid and honestly, at times, downright cowardly(with that said, they do save the day on several occasions, and their ways prove to be efficient *because* of what they do, not in spite of them). They're constantly joking around and some audiences will find them obnoxious. I did love that they implemented their vehicles(if even those were mocked some), and that we visit their universe, as well. The personalities fit pretty well, albeit Leonardo is too similar to Michaelangelo, and not much of a leader(his voice is off, as well, though most of them are spot-on). Their villains are also overly useless and comical. Then again, the point could be made that they are the more fun version, and the new millennium ones are too serious(...they're man-sized, green mutant animals, after all... and *teenagers*, lest we forget), and while they are the competent martial artists, they wouldn't be as interesting to watch(and I'm with The Nostalgia Critic, why do they keep saying "what the shell" and variants on that? It's not that good a line) for the 80 or so minute duration(based on the Director's Cut). The humor isn't all silly, there are clever nods at stuff, references and just how they react to each other. This is rather action-packed, and nearly everyone you might want to see fight, do so. There may even be a tiny bit of the good guys going up against each other, and that's all I'll say. Anyway, yeah, Purple Dragons, Foot Soldiers(and a suped-up counterpart) and goo-affected monsters on the one side, and both incarnations of the four titular characters and the newer Casey Jones and April on the other, and we've got close-quarter weapons, lasers, machines and even improvisation. The pace is great, you're never bored, the well-written story(that really smartly brings all of these together, and takes the consequence of what it introduces, leading to a truly epic, badass and memorable climax) is constantly moving forward and with cool developments, building in tension and scope towards aforementioned conclusion. This is beautifully animated, with the distinct visual styles not clashing which must have been a feat, and the two are quite accurately reproduced, and the sometimes massive scenes are rendered very nicely. There is some disturbing and/or violent content in this. I recommend this to any fan of the TMNT cartoons, whether it's based on the recent one or the original one. 8/10