TMNT Reviews

I was exactly the target age for a rebooted Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle franchise that wasn’t explicitly kiddie back in 2007. I know I’ve watched this movie at least twice, each time thinking I hadn’t seen it before only to realize I had but forgotten practically all of it. That about summarizes things, really.

 

At least a vague prior knowledge of the material is required as it wastes no time in reintroducing the characters well into their vigilante life. April is even in on the action game as we’re introduced to her adventuring somewhere in Central America, and she brandishes a sword in the climatic fight. Vague plot details punctuation between the action scenes only long enough to get us from point A to point B.

 

Shredder is long gone, but the Foot Clan is still around and being led by Karai. She’s working for an immortal businessman who wants to go back to morality, but he needs to capture thirteen monsters and sacrifice his reanimated monstrous siblings. The turtles, of course, are all that stops between humanity and total destruction if they could just stop fighting long enough and get it together. They do, naturally, as this is not a film that is seeking to reinvent the wheel but merely reanimate a franchise. In short: forgettable cinematic junk food that attunes itself towards your childhood nostalgia.

Since I grew up in the 90’s, of course, I watched the cartoon many times. I honestly didn’t care at all for the live-action features as I thought the concept didn’t fit this medium at all and looked pretty stupid but many people loved those flicks. Anyway, I thought it was a great idea to adapt those characters into a CGI animated feature which was, in my opinion, the best medium for them. However, since no sequel came afterwards, my guess is that it was not really successful at the box-office, even though the critics and fans were rather positive. My guess is that even if the Turtles were really hugely popular in the 90’s, those days are however long gone and except for the die-hard fans looking for some piece of nostalgia, the rest of us didn’t really pay attention to this flick. Still, I have to admit that it was actually not bad at all. Indeed, like I said before, CGI animation was a perfect choice and the whole thing looked really good. The story was entertaining enough but nothing really mind-blowing though. I guess, it all depends that where you stand about the Turtles. If you think that mutated turtles with some awesome fighting skills is a great concept, this movie is for you. Personally, I never really bought this concept so it might explain why I wasn’t a really huge fan of this movie. Still, to conclude, it remains a decent CGI animated feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are a fan of those wacky turtles.

I loved this and I can't decide if it's because of it being a good movie or just because I loved the turtles as a kid, possibly the latter. Like the saying goes, love is blind.
Seriously though it was really good. Animation was excellent, I enjoyed the story and it was just the right length of time too. Plus I didn't dislike April in this either which is a big thing for me because in the original turtles she annoyed me beyond belief.
Also I think that if kids these days like the turtles then I'm sure they'll enjoy this movie (that's going by my nephew's reaction). Now I just hope they make another one because I know that would please my inner child greatly...

Went to this one with a few people my age, and dare I say it, it was actually good.

It was a pleasant surprise to see, as I was secretly hoping that it wouldn't suck big time. The turtles are brought back once more to save the day, and it's a bit more serious than the campy 80's cartoon. But, the animation was of course great, the storyline was decent, and it was just simple and fun.

And that's of course what I look for in a movie. I'm big into voice-over actors too, so it was good for me to pick em out. Yeah, I'd pick it up on DVD, after the price dropped a bit.

Btw, Leonardo is also the voice of Tidus in FF X.