Wow, it took me nearly all weekend to read this whole thread (I wanted to get as much information on this upcoming film as I could before posting an opinion).
First I would like to say that I am very happy that this franchise is being rebooted. I usually moan and groan about reboots/remakes/reimaginings/etc, but after the rather poor sequels we got after the first film in 1990 this franchise needs some new life and fresh air. And I like much of what I've read on this thread so far. I'm one of the Ninja Turtle fans who was introduced to the comics first before the cartoon. I didn't care much for the cartoon itself, because I found it too silly for my tastes at the time (I was about 13 or 14 when it was on). I did watch it with my nephew quite often though, as he was only a toddler at the time, it was his favorite show, and I was often stuck babysitting him. I really loved the live action movie. I feel, as has been mentioned by others on this thread, that it was the perfect blend of the original comics and the cartoon series. The Secret Of The Ooze was okay. I didn't like how only Donatello got to use his weapon though. Everyone else just kept them tucked in their belts. I think I had heard on Entertainment Tonight that they had done that because parents had complained about the level of violence in the first movie. But all in all, not a total disaster. As for part 3? I had to scrub my eyeballs with steel wool after watching that attrocity. I still haven't gotten around to watching the CGI movie, but I have seen a few episodes of the 2003 series and vastly prefer that to the old one from the '80s.
As for the new movie, I'm very happy that (at least thus far) they're saying that they're going to make it closer to the original comics than the previous incarnations. I too am hoping this movie will have a hard PG-13 rating. It doesn't have to be gratuitously bloody or violent, but maybe something along the lines of The Scorpion King, Willow, or Beastmaster in terms of violence. If you watch those movies you'll notice that while the heroes do in fact stab and slash with their swords, you actually see very little blood if any at all. A villain gets slashed or stabbed, he falls, the hero moves on to the next. I wouldn't be opposed to adding a few elements from the old, or even the new, cartoon to make it more universally appealing. Giving the turtles the personalities similar to the ones they have in the cartoons, much like what was done in the first movie, would be fine. As would having the turtles love pizza.
I like the idea posted earlier of Shredder being a behind the scenes villain. Make this movie the first part of a trilogy, where Oroku Saki is a Japanese business man to the world at large, but is secretly the head of the Foot Clan and the mastermind behind most of the crime in NYC (kinda like The Kingpin in the Marvel comics).
I also like the idea that the turtles start out all wearing red masks, but April has trouble telling them apart (likely in a comedic rehashing of the scene from the first or second episode of the old cartoon). So she goes home and makes a bunch of masks of different colours and gives them to her new friends as presents. Everyone accepts them gratefully except Raph, who hates the colour she chose for him. Maybe even have him say so.
Raph: Black? Do I look like freakin' Zorro to you, lady?
Splinter: Raphael! Do not be rude to our guest! She has shown great thoughtfulness in her generous gift.
Raph: Sorry Master Splinter. (To April) Hey, look I'm sorry. I apreciate it and everything, but if you don't mind I think I'd prefer to keep my old mask.
April: Hey, forget about it. You look better in red anyway.
(Or something like that)
For the first movie, maybe have Baxter Stockman, the mousers, Hun, and The Purple Dragons as the main villains. In the second movie they can start battling the Foot Ninja, though not necessarily see their significance until the third film. Perhaps introduce a more serious and intelligent Beebop and Rocksteady as the heavies (make them as tough to beat in the movie as they were in the arcade game). Then in the third film of the trilogy, they take on a whole army of Foot ninjas, as well as killer robots, and finally face off against the evil ultrom Krang and the (very human) master ninja, Shredder.
But if they're not going to do that then I say just do a straight up adaptation of the first comic, where Shredder dies in the end.
The only thing that is giving me cause to begin to worry about this project is Michael Bay's involvement. Because quite frankly, pretty much all of his movies suck. The only ones that I haven't completely hated were the Transformers movies, which I thought were okay but far from great. I'll have to wait and see how this one turns out.
As for the turtles? I want them to be men in costumes with CGI enhansments for the faces. That seems to be the general concensus on this thread, an I agree 100%. And with the advancements made in wire-fu fighting technology, the turtles aught to be able to pull off some pretty funky stunts in this one and make the scenes look really good.
And as for casting, I'm surprised no one has suggested Don Cheatle (spelling?) for Baxter Stockman.
t:
