I was born in 1997. Ninja Turtles was a little bit before my time, so going into this movie I didn't exactly have the nostalgia to sit me down all the way. I never really watched the old television cartoons or got excited about the feature films that came out in the early 90s; to be perfectly honest going in I didn't know very much at all about the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" except their name. In the end though, that's all you need to know. They're Teenagers, they're Mutants, they're Ninja's, and they're six-foot Turtles. That's enough of a plot basis right there to support three television shows and five full length films, including this one.
Megan Fox plays April O'Neal in this version of TMNT, taking the part of the essential lead for this film. Giving her as much credit as possible, receiving a role like this does come with some serious constraints. We've all seen the aspiring news reporter waiting to catch her first big story a million times, so nothing new was expected from Fox as she took the part. Which is a good thing, because nothing more was delivered. I was hoping for a little something more, especially considering that Fox said this was her dream role, but I wasn't given anything more than what we always get. Fox did what she should and didn't venture any further than that.
The Ninja Turtles were voiced by Alan Ritchson, Noel Fisher, Pete Ploszek, and Johnny Knoxville in their respective roles. Each were delightful in their place, however Knoxville's vocal work as Leonardo did tend to bother me at times as he didn't seem to fit in quite as well with the rest of the gang. This is could root from the fact that he was only Ninja Turtle to not perform the character's Motion Capture work as well as voice the role. Co-starring in the film were Will Arnett, William Fichtner, and Whoopi Goldberg, along with Tohoru Masamune as Shredder and Tony Shalhoub voicing Splinter.
As you walk into the theater to watch this film you have to take a moment to realize that you are sitting down to watch a movie where the main characters are giant karate fighting turtles. This isn't a movie made to portray things realistically, this is a movie made to be a movie. A time when you can let your imagination run wild and see and experience things that real life is never going to give you. Yes this movie is laughable at times because of how ridiculous it is, yet it's cheesy beyond belief (five layers of cheese with a stuffed crust! Cowabunga!), but it's meant to be. Seeing this movie is a time when you go to the theater to forget about work tomorrow or the math test you have on Monday and just have fun.
If only director Jonathan Liebesman and the various character designers had realized that. There was only one thing that seriously turned me away from this movie once I came to that initial realization. The way things looked. I understand this is the first live-action version of the Ninja Turtles and that they wanted to take advantage of the incredible Motion Capture technology that there is today, but the characters honestly just looked pretty nasty. The turtles were easily lost in their surroundings, save the fact they are green, and I initially thought Splinter was a villain from his appearance. Typically if you see a slimy nosed rat with black eyes and stringy whiskers it's safe to assume it will turn out to be a bad guy. What I suspect is that the designers were intending to take our modern technology to make them look as realistic as possible. This would work if the rest of the film was made the same way, but this film was not made to be realistic; it was made to be fun. If the story and the characters had been consistently fun or consistently realistic we would have ended up with a good film, but since they were conflicting we got an overall unpleasant experience.
It seems like such a tiny and amateur detail, but in the end it made a complete difference for me. There were wonderful parts to this film: the snowy mountain slope chase was excellently choreographed and the brief elevator interlude brought me to tears with laughter, but overall it was like watching two conflicting ideas battle it out on screen. So as I walked out of the theater it wasn't too much of a hike.
I give "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" a 6.9/10.
Megan Fox plays April O'Neal in this version of TMNT, taking the part of the essential lead for this film. Giving her as much credit as possible, receiving a role like this does come with some serious constraints. We've all seen the aspiring news reporter waiting to catch her first big story a million times, so nothing new was expected from Fox as she took the part. Which is a good thing, because nothing more was delivered. I was hoping for a little something more, especially considering that Fox said this was her dream role, but I wasn't given anything more than what we always get. Fox did what she should and didn't venture any further than that.
The Ninja Turtles were voiced by Alan Ritchson, Noel Fisher, Pete Ploszek, and Johnny Knoxville in their respective roles. Each were delightful in their place, however Knoxville's vocal work as Leonardo did tend to bother me at times as he didn't seem to fit in quite as well with the rest of the gang. This is could root from the fact that he was only Ninja Turtle to not perform the character's Motion Capture work as well as voice the role. Co-starring in the film were Will Arnett, William Fichtner, and Whoopi Goldberg, along with Tohoru Masamune as Shredder and Tony Shalhoub voicing Splinter.
As you walk into the theater to watch this film you have to take a moment to realize that you are sitting down to watch a movie where the main characters are giant karate fighting turtles. This isn't a movie made to portray things realistically, this is a movie made to be a movie. A time when you can let your imagination run wild and see and experience things that real life is never going to give you. Yes this movie is laughable at times because of how ridiculous it is, yet it's cheesy beyond belief (five layers of cheese with a stuffed crust! Cowabunga!), but it's meant to be. Seeing this movie is a time when you go to the theater to forget about work tomorrow or the math test you have on Monday and just have fun.
If only director Jonathan Liebesman and the various character designers had realized that. There was only one thing that seriously turned me away from this movie once I came to that initial realization. The way things looked. I understand this is the first live-action version of the Ninja Turtles and that they wanted to take advantage of the incredible Motion Capture technology that there is today, but the characters honestly just looked pretty nasty. The turtles were easily lost in their surroundings, save the fact they are green, and I initially thought Splinter was a villain from his appearance. Typically if you see a slimy nosed rat with black eyes and stringy whiskers it's safe to assume it will turn out to be a bad guy. What I suspect is that the designers were intending to take our modern technology to make them look as realistic as possible. This would work if the rest of the film was made the same way, but this film was not made to be realistic; it was made to be fun. If the story and the characters had been consistently fun or consistently realistic we would have ended up with a good film, but since they were conflicting we got an overall unpleasant experience.
It seems like such a tiny and amateur detail, but in the end it made a complete difference for me. There were wonderful parts to this film: the snowy mountain slope chase was excellently choreographed and the brief elevator interlude brought me to tears with laughter, but overall it was like watching two conflicting ideas battle it out on screen. So as I walked out of the theater it wasn't too much of a hike.
I give "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" a 6.9/10.