Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Would you believe that 12-13 year old me didn’t want to see “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” when it came out in 1990? While I liked the franchise from a far– okay, I enjoyed the video games –I wasn’t really into the universe. When we had a family movie night, the options were going to see “TMNT” by myself, or “Another 48 Hours” with my parents; I chose the latter. Even after watching the 2007 CG-animated film when it came out, I still didn’t watch it. Now that a Michael Bay-produced film has hit theatres, it’s time to finally do so.
The premise, if you honestly need a primer, involves four turtles who have been transformed into human-like form through contact with radioactive ooze. They are raised by their rat master Splinter in the sewers underneath Manhattan and eat pizza. (That part at the end led to a favorite discussion with a friend from work where he said he could buy into everything but the fact that they eat pizza.) I think it goes without saying that a little suspension of disbelief is required to accept this idea, but even in the threadbare screenplay by Todd W. Langen and Bobby Herbeck, the universe created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird is fully realized, with a villain in the Foot Clan, and their nefarious leader, Shredder, that is just as compelling as the main characters. What ultimately needs to work is the tone, story, and characters, which is why the ’07 film was a mixed bag for me.
This film, directed by Steve Barron, is not a bad effort. The story is a compelling origin tale, finding smart uses of the classic supporting characters of April O’Neil (Judith Hoag) and Casey Jones (Elias Koteas), while also establishing the battle between the Foot Clan and the Turtles in an entertaining fashion. And one of the best things about the movie is that it doesn’t sanitize the film’s universe in a militantly kid-friendly way, even if the attempts at humor and “awesome” behavior date the film almost as much as the rubber turtle outfits that bring the title characters to life; in its way, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” belongs in discussions with Tim Burton’s “Batman” film of the year before in terms of atmosphere and dark production design in comic book films. Since the characters, even the more unusual ones, all derive themselves from traditional archetypes, it’s not easy to get any of them wrong, and the writers do a fine job of getting them right, although there’s nothing close to great acting on display. The important thing to do in watching this film is just to enjoy the silliness, and not really think too much about it. In that way brings madness, not fun.
