TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES

Reviewed by Paul Gibbs

GRADE: B
Starring Megan Fox,  Will Arnett, Johnny Knoxville, William Fichtner, Tony Shalhoub
Directed by Jonathan Liebsman
Rated PG-13 (violence, mild profanity)




The 1990s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies and cartoons are a perfect example of how nostalgia can rose-color perceptions. The acting and writing in the movies was frequently terrible. But I'll freely admit that I have a fondness for the turtles which goes back to the original comic book and the role-playing game which sprung from it, and taking my little sister to see those first two movies is a great memory. I still revisit them from time to time and, while sometimes I groan, I also have quite a bit of fun. And I still think the 2007 animated film TMNT is underrated.

> For those of us with a fondness for the franchise, it's good news that the Michael Bay produced reboot of  isn't anywhere near the disaster it was anticipated to be (no, they aren't aliens, and no, the evil Ninja Shredder has not been turned into a caucasian American.). In fact it's hard to remember a movie getting more mileage out of simply not being terrible. That's not to say director Jonathan Liebsman's film is a complete success. There are plenty of things to criticize. But fears of it bearing no resemblence to the source material have not been realized, and it's a lot less shrill, chaotic and just plain irritating than Bay's Transformers movies have been. Taken as what it is, it's an enjoyable enough nostalgia trio for fans.

> The basic set-up is the same as always: intrepid reporter April O'Neil (played this time by Megan Fox) investigates the proliferation of a Ninja-based criminal organization called the Foot clan, and ends up encountering four pizza loving teenaged turtles who have been trained in the ways of martial arts by a rat named Splinter. They are named Leonardo, Donatello, Michaelangelo and Raphael after the famed renaissance artists.
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> The turtles' backstory has been considerably reworked to include April and  a scientist named Eric Sacks (William Fichtner), in what will likely be the biggest sore point among fans. But it's worth noting that the popular cartoon series which introduced most fans to the property also played fast and loose with the origion story. I personally didn't mind the alteration to make April a part of their past and giver her a more personal stake in the story, but I didn't see the point in how watered down the Japanese/Martial arts aspect of their past was, especially considering Splinter's obvious Japanese apperance and the fact that the villainous Shredder was still part of the equation (though his overly elaborate gadget armor makes him feel less like a ninja and more like a Transformer).

 

> The humans are actually, as a general rule, less grating than they often were in the 1990s films or the cartoon. I've never been a Megan Fox fan, but she's just fine as the film's nominal protagonist, and it's nice to see April a lot less sexed up and objectified than her Transformers character was. Will Arnett is likable as April's co-worker Vernon Fenwick. In many ways it's a shame that the gifted comic is never given anything all that funny to do, but it's actually quite enjoyable to see him play the shy guy for a change. Fichtner is far less over the top than he was in The Lone Ranger, and neither particularly distinguishes or embarasses himself.
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> Of course, it all really comes down to the turtles. I don't agree with the common geek perception
that these incarnations look "creepy" (one of the most annoying ubiquitous and lazy geek geek words for something that doesn't look the way they think it should) , but I conceed that they are overly buffed up and less overtly endearing than other versions have been. But they're still the turtles that fans know and love, with their personalities more or less intact and a strong bond between them. After a point I more or less forgot about how different they looked and just embraced them. But it's a shame to see their characters and group dynamic underdeveloped, especially considering that the movie is a good 25 minutes longer than it really needs to be at 101 minutes. We could have used fewer scenes of April arguing with her boss (a sleepwalking Whoopi Goldberg) and more which developed the tension between Leonardo and Raphael. Their best moments come toward the end when we get to see their brotherly bond in the face of danger. Overall, I liked the turtles, and that's what made the film as enjoyable as it was.
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> Director Liebsman and his writers have developed an overall fairly flat tone and a plot which is once flimsy and over complicated. But a few enjoyable actions.sequences (especially a chase down a snowy mountain) help. Liebsman tends to shoot some of the scenes too chaotically, but not as much so as producer Bay likes to do when he's directing.
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> Ultimately this is neither the best nor the worst Ninja Turtles movie. It's esentially a guilty pleasure, but with Bay involved that feels like a small miracle, and anybody who whines about how it murdered their childhood is an even bigger ass than is usual in these situations. Take an 8 to 10 year old kid with you (I had two of nephews with me at the screening and that enhanced the experience a lot), keep your expectations low, and just go with it, and it'll bring back fond memories. If you don't have fond memories of the franchise and you're over 15, this movie isn't really for you.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is rated PG-13 for violence, mild profanity, one or two mildly vulgar gags and a shot of Megan Fox's butt in tight jeans. In most cases I'd say it's okay for kids 8 and up with an adult with them, or for kids 13 and up.