Ninja Turtles: Teenage Years

Prior to showering it with compliments, I'd like to address a couple of minor criticisms. To begin with, Splinter underwent significant changes from the familiar and beloved character. Certain villains were left with insufficient screen time to truly shine, and Raphael's anger wasn't adequately explored.

Moving on to the positives: The animation boasted exceptional uniqueness, accompanied by superb pacing. The humor was genuinely delightful, and the turtles authentically conveyed their teenage nature through their dialogue. The voice acting was skillfully executed, capturing both the tone and essence of teenage voices. Particularly notable was Jackie Chan's portrayal of Master Splinter, which stood out significantly. Overall, this movie provides a highly enjoyable viewing experience.

Things I liked:

I liked that they used actual teen actors for the turtles for the first time, and getting them to record at the same time created a natural, but at times chaotic and difficult to decipher, dialogue.

Splinter's character was more fatherly and less focused on the strict sensei/teacher role.

Superfly was a decent central villain with a bit of a backstory. He was kind of likeable to start with and turned quite dark and psychotic. Well acted by Ice Cube and gave the character some depth.

The action set pieces were exciting and fast paced.

The art style is different enough to make it visually interesting and the colours pop.

A decent soundtrack of East coast hip-hop tunes.

Things I didn't like:

April is supposed to be a vulnerable teen who is a victim of bullying, but she came across a little annoying and arrogant, with an attitude, making it difficult to warm to her.

Michelangelo wasn't "Mikey" enough, not the silly 'party dude'. Donatello didn't 'do machines' either, no gadgets or creations. There was a definite lack of distinction between the individual turtles personalities.

Many of the villains felt under used and had little screen time. With dialogue often difficult to hear clearly due to background music or sounds. They also seemed very easily swayed over their allegiance.

The origin story was changed and didn't make as much sense, but I guess it meant that they could drop Shredder and skim over it in 5 mins.

Love it or hate it, the art style is different enough to appreciate, but I hated the use of real world footage at the movie and on YouTube. It snapped you out of the world they had created. At one point I thought the cinema had randomly started playing a different film.

Some blatant product placement.

Deliberate gender and race swapping, that felt forced to appease the Hollywood quotas, and often failed to hit the mark.

Some poorly forced 'jokes' and cultural references that were often over pushed and quite literally 'milked'.

What an entertaining wild ride this movie is! The animation rivals anything that Pixar or any other studio puts out with being very original and stylistic. The casting is picture perfect as well for example Jackie Chan as Master Splinter was awesome! The soundtrack is also top notch. What I really enjoyed about this entry in the Ninja Turtle universe is they actually made the Turtles teenagers which is how it should have always been. I found myself laughing alot throughout the film as there are many funny/enjoyable moments for the duration of the movie. If you are looking for a good time or are a fan of the Ninja Turtles then you don't want to miss this. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem gets 8 huge stare ou of 10 from me. Bring on the sequel!

"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem" is the new film based on the acclaimed cartoon that aired from the late '80s to the mid-'90s, both animated and live action film adaptations had previously been made, this new film stands out with its computer animation mixed with some scenes based on the look of a comic, in addition to the excellent use of shadows and colors. The script is common telling the story of people trying to fit in and family relationships, all from a mutant perspective. The soundtrack is good, having an eighties style in some of its compositions. A well-made film, with an unoriginal script but wonderful animation.

Pretty much everything I've wanted in a TMNT movie for decades, just a ton of fun in the theater. I'm as surprised as anybody that we have Seth Rogen to thank for this, but hey, whatever works. And there's plenty to be said about the art style borrowing from the Spiderverse movies, but it just fits. The Animation is vibrant, kinetic and absolutely lends itself to both the action and the humor. The whole movie looks like the margin drawings of a high schooler's notebook, that unrefined pencil and marker aesthetic.

For me, the biggest present under this Christmas tree is the age-appropriate cast. Their chemistry is incredible and the turtles actually sound and feel like teenagers for once. As much as I gravitate towards Mikey in any given iteration, Donatello had all of the killer one-liners here; I loved Micah Abbey's performance.

Maybe it's because of this Summer's frustrating movie season, but I left the theater with a real high after this. If the turtles needed a reboot, this was the way to go, and I enjoyed it from start to finish. Even that feels like an understatement ... I had a blast!