Well.... after seeing movie clips and reading some reviews, I am not so confident that TMNT will make it past the 100mil mark. Sorry Kevin Munroe, I know you had to fight through Hell and back to get a CG TMNT made, but this one might only be appreciated by fans or curious people who actually investigated some of the Ninja Turtles backstory, not only limited to the movies or TV shows.
There are some parts of the clips that are really awesome, others that leave me with a twisted face. The animation rocks at times, but then absolutely sucks. Some of the design is wonderful. Like one reviewer said, lots of noir-like shots. Very lovely. But I can't get over the fact that the human designs SUCK SUCK SUCK SUCK SUCK... I hate being blunt. And I know how difficult it probably was to hire an inspired design team, but that doesn't change the end product of the design.
I already know the movie won't be great. It's not that the dialog isn't Shakespeare, or deep. It's that it flows nicely when it's not copping out, and suddenly pulls the magic rug from beneath us, breaking the believability of the moment.
Take that nice argument between Leo and Raph which began strongly. All of a sudden, the dialog became almost irritatingly weak. It was like no one besides the director/scriptwriter got to take a look at it and point out that it was weak and could stand to be tweaked to give it more raw power. (For what it's worth though, I think the vocal performances were superb considering what they had to work with. Most of the energy from the scene came from the delivery.) Leo's line "I'm better than you" is supposedly the climax of the argument. What should happen is that Leo convey the message without stating the obvious. Raph makes an equally weak comeback.
I was led to expect, through the energy of the argument, that somehow this would resolve in such a way that would make my hair stand on end. But in the end, Leo did not truly insult Raph. That is, his "insult" was hardly an insult worth fighting over. My God. I've said smarter equivalents of the "And you know something? I'm better than you" line to my little brother when we had our superiority squabbles.
The bottom line of my impressions thus far: we're given all this momentum, and then it stops. Or it gets offset by something as weak as the preceding was strong. I really hope the rest of the movie isn't this way. That'll keep the crowds from coming, regardless of what the critics say.
I for one will see the movie. But I'm going in mainly for curiosity as a part-time TMNT fan, hoping there might be some fun action segments, knowing that the plot might not unite the whole "stick together as a family" theme with a toy commercial... "Every 3000 years the stars align, unleashing an army of monsters--" Come on. If you're going to have an outlandish plot, then use one that hasn't already been parodied to death. Actually, I swear that was the intro to one toy commercial I heard...
Okay, I really ought to keep the crude harshness down a bit. I've read up and heard of the director's enthusiasm, his knowledge that he had a tough project ahead of him. He was a TMNT fan who wanted to make a good movie.
I'm a little ticked cause I wished Munroe could have waited -- or that he'd gotten more support for this film. From the clips, it looks like there's a lot of strong stuff, scattered here and there. But the tension, the momentum builds and then stops without resolution or adequate climax -- I'm speaking on a small level here, from the individual snippets we've seen. But my prediction is that this is an indicator of the movie as a whole -- it will have its moments here and there, but will probably be disjointed and won't be fulfilling.
The first Ninja Turtles live action movie had on its side the great weapon of novelty and discovery. It was an introduction into the secret lives of creatures that might live beneath our feet. It played to our sense of curiosity-- what was that I thought I saw out of the corner of my eye down that alley? Those rooftops are pretty high up -- someone could be watching me and I'd never know it. The first movie was also more sure of its purpose and that's why I think it "delivered" for most people. Though I still didn't like it much, it at least gave what it promised. It didn't build my expectations and then betray "the big payoff" by giving less than it implied it would give. Kevin has promised something sort of new -- an edge on family. Tension, rivalry, and teamwork. Will he deliver?
For a franchise this old, this classic... I disagree that you should fudge something just for the hell of "whoopie, making another TMNT movie!!" Give us something new, but don't give us crap. This isn't the 90's. We want our "sequels" (yeah, I know this isn't a sequel, but it's still got something to measure up to, like it or not). I'm sure the director tried very hard not to give us the latter. I hope for his sake, as for the sake of the TMNT franchise, that this movie does better than I think it will.
And
Cryogenic... I'm sorry for being so vague in my earlier comment but that's my irritating way. I know I've gotten many people angry or confused in the past. Hope this clears up my views somewhat. And I see nothing wrong with "intellectualizing the TMNT property." I particularly like what you said here:
Cryogenic said:
What was once seen as silly and played as such, even when the Turtles were just hitting the big screen, has now been assimilated into the narrative of this new picture and treated as normal.
When a TMNT movie ceases to be silly, it had better redeem itself in other categories. Action, dialogue, animation, VA, plot had better be damn good.
I don't think it'll be damn good in any of these areas except perhaps voice acting and maybe music, but whatever. I'll see for myself this weekend. I expect a mild, heartless, mindless, fun, culturally inaccurate action flick that will try to develop a brain and heart but will, most likely, get lost on the way to the Emerald City of catharsis.
t:
Not that the first TMNT movie lacked in either of these categories.
