Review of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) by Robert H — 17 Apr 2016

People like to give Michael Bay a lot of flak for making over-produced, juvenile films that pander to the lowest common denominator, but for what it's worth people go and see them. Even though he only produced this remake, his fingerprints are clearly visible on the finished product (which is what this is: a product).

When I was a kid, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was one of my favorite cartoons to watch on Saturday morning and I even watched one of the original live-action movies, too. However, as an adult now, the concept seems pretty silly, to be honest.

Giant, mutated turtles that know karate and fight crime? It's pretty far out there, but it's something that kids can enjoy and on this movie works on that level. Still, the violence might be a little intense for the target demographic and a lot of the humor will probably fly right over their heads.

But for me? TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES was a slickly produced but generic action movie with little to recommend outside of the turtles. The plot was really basic and involves April O'Neil and Raphael going to save the other three turtles and stop Shredder from unleashing a toxin from one of the tallest towers in the city.

If that sounds similar to THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, that's because it is. What worked for me was the humor and banter between the four turtles, who managed to have distinct personalities, as opposed to the Transformers.

The animation on them was also pretty good. Shredder, on the other hand, was too over-the-top for me. He was definitely reminiscent of what Bay did with the Transformers, and looked like a mecha ninja suit with gigantic Swiss army knives on both arms.

The human characters, sadly, were not well-done either. Megan Fox is laughable as April O'Neil and receives top billing, but she wasn't as bad as she was in Transformers. Will Arnett as Vern Fenwick was.

..why was he in this movie other than make passes at April O'Neil? Even William Fichtner wasn't given much to do as Eric Sacks, a scientist/businessman who worked with April O'Neil's father.

However, one useful story innovation was creating a personal connection between April and the turtles (and Splinter). Overall, TMNT makes for a decent time-passer but is in no way a great film. It should satisfy the younger crowd it's aimed at, but I can't say whether or not fans of previous incarnations will enjoy it the same way.

I pity the person who paid full price to see this in theaters, but it's not too bad for a rental.