Review of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016) by Mike W — 11 Mar 2017

First, let me start off by saying that I enjoyed the first Ninja Turtles movie. It did upset me that they chose to use CGI instead of people in the costumes with makeup like they did in the films in the 90's.

But, I began to look past it and took it for what it is. I was just happy to get another live action turtles movie. So here we are, the sequel. Let me first get some of my complatints off my chest. There is by far way too much CGI in this film.

Especiallly, in the final act. The live action characters are also underused and don't much screentime. They are very much like background characters in this one. I would have like to see more interaction with Megan Fox's April O'Neill.

All that aside, let's get to what I enjoyed. The turtles are as funny as ever and I love the humorous dialogue and actions they do. They are voice acted very well and beside being overly CGI'd, they are very believable characters.

The story this time around is just above average because Shredder is used here as nothing more then a pawn to Commander Krang. By the time we see Shredder in his full uniform, he is disabled and taken out of action, never to be seen again.

This needs to change in the third movie. Tyler Perry has a some funny scenes but his character seems underused and nothing more then a filler for science materials and lines in the film. Perhaps he will be developed more in future movies.

Megan Fox like I said before is underused but I will say looks as attractive as ever. They really beautified her up here and she looks incredible. Stephen Amell is great on Arrow. Here, not so much. He tends to overact his scenes here and there and sort of comes of obnoxious.

Not a huge fan of his character here. I didn't mind the villains, especially Bebop and Rocksteady. They are funny and provide some competition for the turtles. Krang just came off a bit to cartoony here and I didn't take him all that seriously.

Shredder is alright but wanted to see more brutal-ness from him. All in all, it may sound like I had issues with this movie, and I did. But, I still found myself enjoying it as popcorn fun. The turtles are by far the best part of this film.

As they should be. The action sequences are very well done but still too much CGI and the cinematography is good. All I ask is, please include the human characters a bit more here and there and smarten them up.

Also, use Shredder the way he should be used. He is the turtles best villain.