Turtles Forever (2009)

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles meet their match -- Literally! The modern, gritty Ninja Turtles must team up with their classic cartoon counterparts to stop two Shredders and their plans of multi-dimensional scale.

Directors:

Roy Burdine, Lloyd Goldfine (co-director)

Writers:

Kevin Eastman (character), Peter Laird (character)

Stars:

Michael Sinterniklaas, Wayne Grayson, Sam Riegel

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michael Sinterniklaas	...	Leonardo (voice)
Wayne Grayson	...	Michelangelo (voice)
Sam Riegel	...	Donatello (voice) (as Sam Regal)
Gregory Abbey	...	Raphael (voice) (as Greg Abbey)
Darren Dunstan	...	Splinter (voice)
Marc Thompson	...	Casey Jones (voice)
Veronica Taylor	...	April O'Neil (voice)
Scott Rayow	...	The Shredder / Ch'rell (voice) (as Scottie Ray)
Greg Carey	...	Hun (voice)
Karen Neil	...	Karai (voice) (as Karen Neill)
Dan Green	...	Leonardo 1987 (voice)
Johnny Castro	...	Michelangelo 1987 / Rocksteady (voice)
Tony Salerno	...	Donatello 1987 (voice) (as Anthony Haden Salerno)
Sebastian Arcelus	...	Raphael 1987 (voice)
David Wills	...	Splinter 1987 / Mirage Shredder (voice)

Storyline

An out of the ordinary encounter with strange alien ooze mutates four ordinary pet turtles Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Donatello into talking, walking, fighting green machines! Together, these brothers train with the legendary sensei rat, Splinter, to master the martial art of Ninjitsu. In this truly turtle powered tale, the turtles from one dimension meet the turtles from another dimension when a teleporting mishap occurs. What the shell is going on? Together, the turtles must locate the Technodrome to fix this mess! Meanwhile, Shredder tracks down his counterpart, Ch'rell, who devises a master plan to travel back to the Prime Universe to get rid of the turtles once and for all! As worlds collide, the turtles come face to face with classic characters like Casey and April, and a slew of enemies including Krang, Hun, the Foot Soldiers, the Purple Dragons, Bebop and Rocksteady!

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Plot Keywords:

martial arts | teenage mutant ninja turtles | crossover | based on comic | based on comic book | 

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Taglines:

Sometimes four ninjas just aren't enough!

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Genres:

Animation | Action | Adventure | Comedy | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

G

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 November 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles Forever

Company Credits

Production Co:

4 Kids Entertainment, Dong Woo Animation Co., Mirage Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When the turtles first arrive in the 1987 dimension, all the background characters were taken directly from the first episode, Turtle Tracks. Among them including Bebop and Rocksteady before they were turned into mutants and April's friend Irma. Several stores and buildings from the series, such as Channel 6, Ninja Pizza and Ninja Dentist, are also visible.

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Quotes

Donatello 1987: Okay guys, here's everything we'll need to take down the Technodrome. Exploding throwing stars, Anti-Technodrome roller skates, SPF 1000 sunblock.
Raphael 1987: And I've got the pizzas! We're good to go!
Leonardo: ...You're joking, right?
Raphael: We came all the way to "Wacky World" for this junk?

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Alternate Versions

For several months, 4kids' website featured a "Director's Cut" of the movie which contained eight minutes of footage that were cut from the TV broadcast, and eventually Paramount's 2010 DVD as well. Among the scenes restored:

• The Turtles using sonar to search for the Technodrome underground
• Karai explaining that she found the Technodrome when her monitoring systems revealed that Ch'rell had changed location
• Karai claiming the Technodrome for the Foot Clan
• Splinter settling an argument between the 1988 and 2003 Turtles
• Casey and April fighting robotic Foot Ninjas
• Leonardo detailing Shredder's scheme to the Mirage Turtles
• Shredder nearly disintegrating himself and Karai (among others) while strangling the Mirage Turtles
• Various gags and one-liners

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Connections

Featured in Nostalgia Critic: Turtles Forever Review (2010)

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Soundtracks

Fast Forward
Written by Jake Siegler, Alex Walker & Alex Charpentier

User Reviews

the last word on the lean green fighting machines (?)

I was a kid when the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series came out. I was, to put it lightly, a fan, as well as for the first two theatrical movies. It's this young-inner- fanboy that had a "Cowabunga!" at the news that they would be brought back for one time only to the new 21st century show. I thought it would be just one episode, but as it turns out it's really a fond goodbye (for at least now) to the franchise of cartoons. It's premise brings both universes, and then some, together like this: a trans-dimensional portal has opened thanks to 1988 turtles bringing them into the 2003 turtle universe, and with them the Technodrome and Shredder and Krang the brain. But as it turns out, the Shredder from the new 2003 show - not really called Shredder but something like Ch'rell, comes back to life and plans to wreak total havoc on not just the turtles present but ALL of the turtles from the dimensions and incarnations by going to the source: the original Eastman-Laird comic- verse.

Yeah, it sounds confusing, and a little too geeky to get into, but somehow it works. It should be interesting to see the reactions from fans of the 2003 animated series, or just younger folks, who aren't as familiar with the 80's animated series let alone the original comics. It's a blast from the past though, and the kind of movie that would probably be interesting to watch with young kids with their parents who may have grown up on the show themselves. We get the wacky (and sometimes just stupid and goofy) antics of the old turtles, but contrasted with the self-serious newer turtles (who do have their own merits as a ninja-style show) it makes a lot more sense and the two even compliment each other. It's like watching an awesome evolution given homage and a new creative story like something out of Roger Rabbit: what happens if the entire dimensions are destroyed by means of cutting off the source? Everything, it would seem, would just disappear.

There's plenty of solid action, corny one-liners, and some genuinely funny scenes (my favorite was the old-school April having to be saved by a banana monster, among other creatures), put against a backdrop of cool animation, and some mocking of both young and old. It works, more or less, as its own self-contained movie, and as a lasting tribute to the boys in green.