5.8/10
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)

Trailer
2:34 | Trailer
When a kingpin threatens New York City, a group of mutated turtle warriors must emerge from the shadows to protect their home.

Director:

Jonathan Liebesman
Reviews
Popularity
2,167 ( 10)
1 win & 10 nominations. See more awards »

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Photos

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Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Megan Fox ... April O'Neil
Will Arnett ... Vern Fenwick
William Fichtner ... Eric Sacks
Alan Ritchson ... Raphael
Noel Fisher ... Michelangelo
Pete Ploszek ... Leonardo
Johnny Knoxville ... Leonardo (voice)
Jeremy Howard ... Donatello
Danny Woodburn ... Splinter
Tony Shalhoub ... Splinter (voice)
Tohoru Masamune ... Shredder
Whoopi Goldberg ... Bernadette Thompson
Minae Noji ... Karai
Abby Elliott ... Taylor
Madison Mason ... Councilman
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Storyline

Darkness has settled over New York City as Shredder and his evil Foot Clan have an iron grip on everything from the police to the politicians. The future is grim until four unlikely outcast brothers rise from the sewers and discover their destiny as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The Turtles must work with fearless reporter April O'Neil and her cameraman Vern Fenwick to save the city and unravel Shredder's diabolical plan. Written by Paramount Pictures

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Taglines:

Meet the new face of justice. See more »


Certificate:

PG | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

View content advisory »
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Did You Know?

Trivia

Brett Ratner was in talks to direct the film. See more »

Goofs

Consistent with TMNT lore, Splinter and Shredder seem to have an ongoing rivalry with each other. In this incarnation, their epic battle in the sewer is actually the first time they meet each other, thus rendering any history they may have as nonexistent. See more »

Quotes

[first lines]
Splinter: You are extraordinary, my sons. Unlike anything the world has ever seen. Bowed in greatness, destined to protect the people of New York! A dark force is growing: a criminal organization known as the Foot Clan, so named because they step over the good people of this city with no regard. Their leader, Shredder, will come at you with ferocity. His Foot Clan will outnumber you! The people of New York will look upon you as their only hope. Eyes focused! Elbows locked! Stance lowered! Be...
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Crazy Credits

The film opens with an animated montage, reminiscent of the original TMNT comics. The film title appears at the end, with Leo's katana slicing through that. See more »


Soundtracks

Hollaback Girl
Written by Gwen Stefani and Pharrell Williams
Performed by Gwen Stefani
Courtesy of Interscope Records
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises
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User Reviews

 
Do the turtles have more than one character trait?
9 August 2014 | by estebangonzalez10See all my reviews

"Do not say a word about this to anyone. If you do, we will find you."

A much more fitting title for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles would be April O'Neil considering she is the main character in this film and is on screen for almost its entire running time. Megan Fox was believable as this reporter who was looking for an important story so I didn't have a problem with her performance. My main issue with this film is how poorly developed the characters were. Its as if they forgot to give these characters personalities and only centered on the action. There were some OK action scenes, but I never felt engaged with the characters which rendered those sequences kind of pointless because I was never interested with what was going on. As a kid I grew up watching the cartoons and the movies in the early 90's so I thought I would be invested in these characters and that the nostalgia factor would play a key role in my enjoyment of this film, but I was wrong because I felt completely disengaged with the turtles. I don't think I would've even remembered the names of the turtles if I hadn't already been familiar with the characters. Sure, I know that Leonardo is the leader of the four, Donatello is the brains, Raphael the rebel, and Michelangelo the dude, but other than those basic characteristics we don't get anything else from these characters while they are running around and fighting off Shredder and the foot clan. After having seen Guardians of the Galaxy last week and being invested in those characters, I was really disappointed with how little they tried to give these turtles some personality. And don't even get me started with the rat, Splinter, which looked completely fake and was perhaps the weakest thing about this entire film. I know it's hard to pull off a film like this with a talking rat and four talking turtles, but Guardians of the Galaxy proved it could be done with a talking raccoon and tree. This film has nothing going for it, not even the comedy nor the wisecracking attempts at humor from Michelangelo. The characters seemed like they were taken from the Alvin and the Chipmunks franchise, it was really bad.

Considering Michael Bay was the producer of this film a lot of comparisons can be made to the Transformers franchise where you have big action scenes and very little character development, but in my opinion this was even worse. Director, Jonathan Liebesman, who still hasn't made a film I actually enjoyed, gives us a pointless action film which follows pretty much the same standard formula of basic action movies. You have one of the scientist betraying the other (formula we've seen in the Spiderman films) and not being able to finish the experiment without the other, then you have the vigilantes trying to save the city, and finally the climactic scene in a skyscraper while a time clock is running down to zero as the evil villain is trying to wipe out an entire city. It doesn't get more formulaic than that, so it wouldn't surprise me that in a few days memory of this film would be entirely wiped out because there isn't one original or note worthy moment during its 100 minute run time. It has no life to it whatsoever and I expect fans of the franchise to be disappointed while newcomers will be in disbelief as to why this was made in the first place. I hope some day these Turtles actually get a chance of getting a decent reboot because I grew up watching the cartoons and playing the awesome video games.


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Frequently Asked Questions

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Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook | Official site | See more »

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Japanese

Release Date:

8 August 2014 (Canada) See more »

Also Known As:

Les Tortues Ninja See more »

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA See more »

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Box Office

Budget:

$125,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$65,575,105, 10 August 2014

Gross USA:

$191,204,754

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$485,004,754
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Company Credits

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Technical Specs

Runtime:

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1
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