As someone who grew up with this franchise, I was really looking forward for this one to be released! 1. Because it was edited the same way as “Spider-Man: Across The Spiderverse”. 2. I had this feeling that it would be a better movie than the Michael Bay ones!
This movie acts as a reboot of the entire franchise.
This movie was released on August 2nd 2023.
This movie starrs Rapper Ice Cube (Ride Along”), Ayo Edebiri (“The Bear”), John Cena (“Vacation Friends 2”), Seth Rogen (“Platonic”), Rose Brune (“Platonic”), Giancarlo Esposito (“Kaleidoscope”), legend Jackie Chan (“Wish Dragon”), Paul Rudd (“Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania”) and Musician Post Malone (“Wrath of A Man”). Just to name a few.
This movie was directed by Jeff Rowe (“Disenchantment”).
This movie was produced by Seth Rogen.
This movie is an Animation/Action/Family/Adventure/Comedy.
Onto the premise: The film follows the Turtle brothers as they work to earn the love of New York City while facing down an army of mutants.
Pretty much everything I’ve wanted in a TMNT movie for decades, just a ton of fun in the theater. I’m as surprised as anybody that we have Seth Rogen to thank for this, but hey, whatever works. And there’s plenty to be said about the art style borrowing from the Spiderverse movies, but it just fits. The Animation is vibrant, kinetic and absolutely lends itself to both the action and the humor. The whole movie looks like the margin drawings of a high schooler’s notebook, that unrefined pencil and marker aesthetic.
For me, the biggest present under this Christmas tree is the age-appropriate cast. Their chemistry is incredible and the turtles actually sound and feel like teenagers for once. As much as I gravitate towards Mikey in any given iteration, Donatello had all of the killer one-liners here; I loved Micah Abbey’s performance.
Maybe it’s because of this Summer’s frustrating movie season, but I left the theater with a real high after this. If the turtles needed a reboot, this was the way to go, and I enjoyed it from start to finish! I had a blast and similar to the “Spider-Man: Across The Universe” movie, you have to watch this one multiple times to get all the Easter eggs and references to the TNTM franchise!
Whilst this may be an origin movie, the film is well paced and doesn’t dwell on any one area for too long. After an introduction and 15 year time jump, we quickly get to understand the feelings and motivations of the characters which drive the plot in a natural manner.
As a result the characters feel real which make for interesting on screen interactions. Splinter is an overly protective Father whilst the turtles are teenagers trying to grow out of their shells. Set in modern day New York, these Teenage Turtles are up to speed with pop culture which leads to funny one liners, easter eggs and mentions.
The voice acting is great all round. Ice Cube is fantastic as Superfly, a street wise villain with a disdain for humans. At its heart, TMNT: Ninja Mayhem is a film about fitting it, growth and acceptance between amongst both humans and ‘mutants’. This results in a perfect mix of a fun, comedy and a heartfelt story which can be enjoyed by everybody young and old.
This movie was definitely a watch and I highly recommend it to you!
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Movie reviews with ceren 