It’s Turtle time as we look at the first big screen Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles adventure alongside the most recent, Mutant Mayhem…
Since the original cartoon, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (“Hero” replacing “Ninja” in some territories) launched in 1987 (based on a 1985 comic book), closely followed by the first toy runs in 1988, the adventures of Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo and Donatello have endured on screen for over 35 years. Through innumerable animated TV reboots, video games, comics, relaunched toy lines and seven movies the popularity of the Turtles doesn’t seem in danger of dying out.
I grew up watching the original cartoon and then the first trilogy of films and now as my daughter grows, she has a new plethora of cartoons to see and the most recent big-screen release, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. We’ve watched Mutant Mayhem and the first big screen outing very recently. I’ve seen the original film countless times but it was her first introduction to it, and the first time she’d seen the Green Quartet in live-action (“they look creepy.”).
There’s a problem I have with so many reboots in this day and age. It’s an inability to strike a balance between reverence and evolution. Sometimes there’s just too much heavy reliance on lazy nostalgia and fan service at the expense of storytelling. Other times the original material might be cast asunder and treated with complete disrespect.
There have been a host of films and shows (many of which are from The House of Mouse) that seemed to treat original fans with disdain whilst going further and showing newer fans just as little by making something that’s only meant to be watched intermittently when you flick an eye up to the TV, away from your phone. I have news for producers. You don’t need to abandon one demographic to appease another.
We took a family trip to the cinema, only my daughter’s fourth cinema visit (she’s 6), and the first time the three of us (wife too) all headed there. Here’s our turtle history in a nutshell. I’m all about the OG series and the first two movies (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III was irredeemable). I’ve dipped in and out of the occasional animated retread show on Netflix et al, some of which my daughter watched and sort of enjoyed. My wife is, like everyone, very aware of the Ninja Turtles but only watched it in passing decades back years back.
It’s an interesting cross-section of fandom for the new movie to satisfy (old fan, new fan and casual viewer). I watched the Michael Bay-produced films and they’re awful. I’m not averse to changes or interesting creative choices and don’t care if original legacy characters are nixed. Just give me a decent movie. The kid just needs her attention held and likewise, my wife wants something that’ll keep her awake and if at all possible, genuinely entertain her. But before we look at Mutant Mayhem, let’s take a look back at how much lasting appeal the original film has…
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
We all have childhood favourites but occasionally the passage of time and maturity isn’t kind. No such worries with Steve Barron’s film. The first movie is clearly aimed at younger audiences but never talks down to its audience. There’s a level of maturity and some strong moments of drama in a film that effectively balances action and comedy with some heart.
What is very key later, is that the first two films have a number of elements recycled in Mutant Mayhem. The central characters all have similar fears as outsiders, whilst the central threat of the second film revolves around the creation of more mutants (by harnessing ooze) to pose a threat to humanity. As for that second film, The Secret of the Ooze…well, it’s definitely more firmly aimed at kids and watered down of most of the mature themes in the first, but it’s still a fun movie. It’s a more classic example though, of a film that is much better when you’re a kid.
The first film follows the Turtles who intermittently come above ground to grab pizza and fight crime in a City being plagued by the rise of a criminal gang. The most iconic villain of Turtles lore, Shredder, is the man behind the foot clan. Along the way the turtles encounter roving reporter, April O’Neil, her boss’s troubled son Danny, and vigilante Casey Jones. Splinter remains wary of humans as well as troubling signs that this foot clan may come from a connection to his past.
This is a kids’ movie so there are elements that are ridiculous, like a pet rat imitating its Master’s Kung-Fu. However, if you’re coming to a movie about mutant turtles with a love of pizza and looking for logic, you’ve come to the wrong place.
There’s a great score from John Du Prez in this that jumps nicely between high-energy action sequences, the rousing training sequence accompaniments and the more refrained drama moments. You’ve also sensibly got much of the film shot in darkness to help mask the Turtles’ costumes. Sure, we see the seams every now and again but they still hold up well, combined with some sterling Henson animatronic faces. There’s also a rationing of shots with all four turtles on screen at once, assuming the logistics would have been difficult. The Shredder is kept enigmatic, largely appearing in darkness but retaining a looming threat.
1990’s TMNT still so much fun with a perfectly lithe run time. The blend of action and comedy and an appreciation of an audience young and (slightly) older is a recipe oft repeated in modern blockbusters and it probably effectively foreshadowed how comic book/toy movies would most effectively play these days.
It’s a good old yarn with a first and foremost remit to entertain. That it makes you care too is down to the direction and enjoyable performances (including the voice cast that features Corey Feldman). Judith Hoag and Elias Koteas are also great as April and Casey, both of whom were really missed in the sequel (Hoag was recast, and Casey wasn’t featured in the second). By the end too, my daughter had overcome the creepiness of “in-flesh” mutant turtles and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
So how did Mutant Mayhem stack up? After an arduous wait through adverts and trailers and the threat of vampires lurking in the rafters of the screening room (according to my kiddo anyway), the film began and launched straight into a thundering action scene. The stylistic choices with the animation felt like a nice mixture of different influences and every character has their own distinct look. It’s a great-looking film with slick animations that look colourful, cartoony and vibrant and not the grim ugly mess we’ve seen in the Bay adaptations for example.
As I said before, modern IP films, reboots, and remakes, often fall into traps and never find the right balance in satisfying several generations of fans (nor several generations regardless of them being fans). Mutant Mayhem is a master class in entertaining a 42-year old Turtles fan of the first generation, my wife (whose age I almost wrote down but then remembered I have appointments I need to be alive for next week) whose stance was neutral, and a 6 year-old whose Turtle watching is very much focused on cartoons from the past couple of years.
We were all hugely entertained. Sure, I knew the story, I knew every character struggle given to the group. That they aspire to be above ground and treated as normal but know humanity has a cruel streak driven by fear of the unknown. The villain’s grand scheme, as said earlier is effectively what we’ve probably seen in cartoons and comics, as well as the second movie.
Seth Rogan, Evan Goldberg and Jeff Rowe write as a generation who probably grew up on the original show and movies and pay suitable homage. As you’d expect from Rogan and Goldberg we get an array of pop culture references but they never alienate one generation in favour of another, offering a nice balance of old-school references to pop culture of the OG turtles era, as well as modern references to popular geek and music culture.
Most importantly, this does a better job than any of the movies thus far of capturing the “teenage” aspect of the characters, all of whom just wanna be like most high school kids. April O’Neil is reimagined as a high school senior with journalistic aspirations. Okay, there aren’t groundbreaking characterisations, if such things even exist now, but the Turtles are likeable, with a family dynamic that is easy to relate to. There’s great voice work from the entire cast (including Jackie Chan as Splinter) but Ice Cube manages to completely steal the movie as the villain, Superfly.
Much like Steve Barron’s first film, Mutant Mayhem (directed by Rowe and Kyler Spears) is fast, funny, and action-packed but also takes the time to ensure you’re emotionally involved in the journey. It perhaps gets a little too chaotic at times and the soundtrack, though largely great, is occasionally obtrusive. Though this has done reasonable big screen business it has found itself somewhat overlooked having come out slap bang in the middle of Barbenheimer season.
Perhaps people viewed this with a certain level of trepidation given we’ve had so many Turtles films this century, many of which have ranged from plain terrible, to largely forgettable. Upon hearing of the film’s existence, way after its initial (slightly fanfare-less) announcement, I expected another turkey. So the fact this hit so many of the right notes for my crew not only took me back to the innocence of being introduced to Ninja Turtles, but resulted in one of the most pleasant surprises of the year.
What do you think of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem and the original film(s)? Let us know on our social channels @FlickeringMyth…
Tom Jolliffe is an award-winning screenwriter and passionate cinephile. He has a number of films out around the world, including When Darkness Falls, Renegades (Lee Majors and Danny Trejo) and War of The Worlds: The Attack (Vincent Regan), with more coming soon including Cinderella’s Revenge (Natasha Henstridge) and The Baby in the Basket (Maryam d’Abo and Paul Barber). Find more info at the best personal site you’ll ever see here
