Review of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) by Thequietgamer — 16 Dec 2014

A reboot of the classic franchise on the big screen with twists to the fiction and the turtles being brought to life by CGI. The plot feels stupid thanks to a glaring hole in the villains plan and the turtles new look takes a lot of getting used to. They look disgusting and monstrous most of the time, but after a while you get used to it and don't mind anymore. However the biggest flaw it has is that the turtles themselves feel like side-characters in their own movie.

There's way too much of a focus on April O'neil. This movie is pretty much her origin story. The heroes in a half-shell are pushed to the side in favor of tying her into their past. Even worse is that Megan Fox gives an absolutely crappy performance as O'neil. If she somehow manages to avoid getting a razzie for this I will be amazed. There is no emotion in her performance what so ever and you can clearly tell she isn't trying in the slightest.

So why isn't my score lower? The answer is the turtles themselves. They're brotherly back and forth is entertaining and often funny. Despite how ugly they now look it's hard to not get excited when they appear on-screen. The action isn't anything spectacular, but still provides some decent entertainment.

You can tell it's trying hard to be one of the big blockbuster superhero movies in order to compete. Because of that it takes a lot of the same paths recent superhero flicks have and lacks some necessary originality. However it does still make for a pretty entertaining flick. Especially for the younger TMNT fans out there.

Changes to the fiction are sure to anger hardcore purists and it's not really a great new start for the series on the big-screen. That being said it can still be an entertaining watch. I wasn't really impressed with it and a lot of elements make it seem more geared to a new, younger crowd, but I wasn't bored by it.

If they had focused more on the title characters it could have been a lot better. As it stands it's an at least watchable movie that shouldn't completely burn your inner TMNT fan. There's enough humor and decent action to make it a decent popcorn flick, but it's not hard to see how it could have been better. With more emphasis on the turtles as well as injecting it with more of the series personality the sequel could actually be pretty good.

This isn't a bad TMNT movie, but it's changes clearly make it more geared towards attracting a new audience by giving them what so many other box-office hits have been offering as of late. Because of that it lacks some intelligence and well as enough of the turtles themselves. It makes for a TMNT movie that's watchable, but not entirely satisfying. Especially not for old-school fans. I personally view it as still worth a watch though. Just don't expect to be blown away. My total score for the movie is a 6.5/10.