Turtles Forever

The 2003 series is my favorite rendition of the famous Ninja Turtles outside the comics, so this was a masterfully satisfying conclusion to a great series.

Filled with fan service of all generations, from the Mirage Comics, the 80's TV-show, the then present TV-series on top of a solid plot of stopping the One True Shredder who despite his eternal exile to a lonely asteroid in outer space.

And even though the art style is style of the weaker side of the show, the animators' put in a lot of work to make each generation true to its respective tone and style with some surprised thrown in to finish it off.

This is a must see for every Turtle fan!

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.

I was a kid when the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series came out. I was, to put it lightly, a fan, as well as for the first two theatrical movies. It's this young-inner- fanboy that had a "Cowabunga!" at the news that they would be brought back for one time only to the new 21st century show. I thought it would be just one episode, but as it turns out it's really a fond goodbye (for at least now) to the franchise of cartoons. It's premise brings both universes, and then some, together like this: a trans-dimensional portal has opened thanks to 1988 turtles bringing them into the 2003 turtle universe, and with them the Technodrome and Shredder and Krang the brain. But as it turns out, the Shredder from the new 2003 show - not really called Shredder but something like Ch'rell, comes back to life and plans to wreak total havoc on not just the turtles present but ALL of the turtles from the dimensions and incarnations by going to the source: the original Eastman-Laird comic- verse.

Yeah, it sounds confusing, and a little too geeky to get into, but somehow it works. It should be interesting to see the reactions from fans of the 2003 animated series, or just younger folks, who aren't as familiar with the 80's animated series let alone the original comics. It's a blast from the past though, and the kind of movie that would probably be interesting to watch with young kids with their parents who may have grown up on the show themselves. We get the wacky (and sometimes just stupid and goofy) antics of the old turtles, but contrasted with the self-serious newer turtles (who do have their own merits as a ninja-style show) it makes a lot more sense and the two even compliment each other. It's like watching an awesome evolution given homage and a new creative story like something out of Roger Rabbit: what happens if the entire dimensions are destroyed by means of cutting off the source? Everything, it would seem, would just disappear.

There's plenty of solid action, corny one-liners, and some genuinely funny scenes (my favorite was the old-school April having to be saved by a banana monster, among other creatures), put against a backdrop of cool animation, and some mocking of both young and old. It works, more or less, as its own self-contained movie, and as a lasting tribute to the boys in green.

Turtles Forever is a TV movie that serves as both the final adventure for the 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but also to celebrate the franchise's 25th anniversary. In this, when the Turtles go to the surface after Master Splinter finds news footage of heroes looking like them foiling a robbery, they arrive at the Purple Dragons' base, only to see the Turtles in question, who were captured, are the 1987 Turtles. Brought to the 2003 dimension after their last battle with their Shredder caused an explosion, now the two sets of Turtles, each with different personalities and logic, must find a way to fix things, especially when 1987 Shredder has brought back the 2003 Shredder, who proceeds to take over the Techodrome and plots to eliminate all turtles and rule the multiverse.

This movie teams the more serious 2003 Turtles with the more goofy 1987 Turtles, and it shows. The 1987 Turtles are always goofy and joking about (one of the main jokes is confusing the 2003 characters with their fourth wall breaks). Also, the movie manages to put some references to the 1987 show in, as well as characters from other series.

However, while it is good, it's not perfect. The 1987 characters all have new voice actors due to 4Kids not wanting to hire the original VAs due to them being a non-union company (and located in New York City, where the VAs in question are in Los Angeles, where some are retired while the rest are even signed with the Screen Actors Guild, which means they would refuse to do this due to not being sanctioned like most of 4Kids' other works. Also, 4Kids uses their own music, making a new soundtrack for the 1987 Turtles' dimension to avoid paying licensing fees to Lionsgate (who owned the rights to the 1987 TMNT cartoon at the time). So instead of Cam Clarke as Leonardo, we get Dan Green (who never sounds like Cam, as his voice is more like his earlier 4Kids role, Yami Yugi, the transformed form of the main character of the original Yu-Gi-Oh anime 4Kids owned at the time), while Sebastin Arcelus takes over 1987 Raphael from Rob Paulson (although unlike Dan, his voice in this is almost accurate to Rob's). In fact, Sebastian and Johnny Castro, the latter voicing 1987 Michelangelo in place of Townsend Coleman, are the only two replacement VAs that sound close to the original VAs.

Despite the voice actor replacements, music issues, and even some continuity errors, this is a good way to end the 2003 series. With a good story spanning different incarnation of the franchise, some neat action, and even some good humor, Turtles Forever may not be perfect, but it's a good end to 4Kids' incarnation of the mean, green fighting machine.

Having never even heard of this film until now (mid 2014) I took a chance and gave it a whirl. What I found was a highly enjoyable film that is obviously made for fans.

The plot is actually very, very good and ties in well with the concept of dimensions heavily used in the 80's series the action moves along smoothly although the screenplay will not win any awards.

Special mention must go to the re-creation of the 80's style animation which I have to say is scarily accurate and a joy to watch again!

The only two downside to this film is that the original voice actors of the 80's cartoon not be involved because of union disputes (and the sad passing away of James Avery (Uncle Phil/Shredder) means it can never be re-dubbed!) The second downer in the film is that the 80's turtles were portrayed far too goofily. It was a goof show yes,but having rewatched it recently I can honestly say that it was never as daft as is portrayed in Turtles Forever. Not disrespectful as they do have their great moments but there is just one too many obvious and unnecessary jibes.

To end of a positive note another special mention must go to the animation and portrayal of turtles Prime. The are absolutely BAD-ASS and although no real violence was shown they had the attitude and I'll be honest....I wouldn't hate seeing a whole series done in that fashion with maybe a bit more gore and adult themes because lets face it, the child fans of the 80's like me are all grown up now and the comic on which turtles prime was based was much more violent and gritty.

I enjoyed the computer animated TMNT film but I'd say this is a better film for the fans overall and is a hidden gem that really needs more advertising.

if you can look by the borderline rude treatment and inaccurate portrayal of the 80's turtles then you will enjoy it greatly!