Review of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016) by Dan R — 07 Jun 2016
The Ninja Turtles dominated my middle school years with the comics, cartoon series, and first two movies. When they were rebooted to the big screen a few years back I was not a fan. It was hard for me to get used to the new design of the Turtles themselves, and the story left a lot to be desired. If it was given a re-write by a true fan they might have had something. This time around you can tell director Dave Green is a true fan and it pays off!
THE BREAKDOWN:
STORY: 2.5/5.
Strengths:
Taking a lot of elements from the first cartoon series!
Lot's of nods and jokes to fans.
Weaknesses:
Clunky dialog. I know this is a family movie about Ninja Turtles and aliens but this could have been handled better.
CHARACTERS: 2.5/5.
Strengths:
Leonardo is now voiced by the motion capture actor, Pete Ploszek vs Johnny Knoxville.
Bebop (Gary Anthony Williams) and Rocksteady (Stephen Farrelly) are true to their original characters and are a blast every time they are on screen.
All the Turtles feel much truer to their characters then they did in the last film.
Weaknesses:
Casey Jones (Stephen Amell) has some good moments of entertainment, but feel he could have been a lot stronger if they stayed closer to the original character.
Karai (Brittany Ishibashi) has nothing to do for most of the movie except stand at Shedder's side.
Baxter Stockman (Tyler Perry) felt like forced humor and was more distracting. Hopefully if they bring him back as the Fly it might be a better fit.
Can we please get someone else to play April O'Neal instead of Megan Fox?
VISUALS: 4/5.
Strengths:
All the animated characters felt they fit into the environment.
Weaknesses:
Some of the Technodrome shots in the climax stand out as un-polished animation.
BOTTOM LINE: 3/5.
If you are a Ninja Turtle fan you'll have a great time! We finally get Bebop and Rocksteady and they are fantastic! Unlike the first outing the Turtles voices and personalities are handled well and they all have their moments to shine. With the exception of Shedder just ignore the human cast and let the mutants and aliens run the show!
NO POST CREDIT SCENE. YOU ARE FREE TO LEAVE THE THEATER.
This review of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016) was written by Dan R on 07 Jun 2016.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows has generally received mixed reviews.
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