TMNT Review Thread

[Brainiac 8]

Yea, my wife and I are going with some friends to see it tonight after work....can't wait.

 

[The Guardian]

HI GUYS, I JUST GOT BACK FROM THE MOVIE AND IT WAS AWESOME, I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!!! THE STORY WAS SIMPLE BUT GOOD, THE CG ANIMATION AND ACTION WERE OUTSTANDING, AND THEY SETUP A SEQUEL AT THE END!!! IT WAS A GREAT, FUN, FAMILY FILM, I REALY ENJOYED IT, 10/10!!!

 

[LostSon88]

I'm just gon' assume that the lack of activity here is because everyones seeing it...LOL.

Speakin' of which, i'm gon' see it in about 2 hours.

 

[Sam Fisher]

a burly, brawny redo, like a kiddie cartoon on CGI steroids. (Isn't TMNT what Barry Bonds was accused of using?)"

irrelevant, strictly generic junk that could very well deaden the brain cells of children everywhere if this thing defies the odds and becomes a box-office hit.

Despite nonstop mayhem, even the Turtles’ most loyal fans probably will be squirming in their booster seats.

Are critics stupid or something? And never trust RottenTomatoes

Set after the events of 1993's "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III," archnemesis Shredder has finally been defeated and half-shelled brothers Leonardo (voiced by James Arnold Taylor), Donatello (Mitchell Whitfield), [/quote[Obiously this guy can't get his facts straight

 

[DOG LIPS]

Saw a midnight showing last night, it was great. The animation/music/story/etc. was all very fun and interesting. Raph kicked all kinds of ass. I might try and see it again in theaters before buying the HELL out of it on DVD. t:t: 9/10

 

[WildChild]

Just got back from seeing it,And well it was great.The animation of the turtles and the action is spectacular.The story is a simple one but works oh the whole.God it was great to go see an TMNT movie again.
4/5

 

[Mr Jide]

Let me say this first, this film didn't allow itself to go ridiculously over the top, so kudos there. Now, what a great film. I'm impressed by the way the voice actors seem to sound like they did 10-20 years ago. Anyway, the animation was awesome! the fights were a joy, mikey skateboarding through the sewers was just poetic and the guy had perfect comic timing, especially when he hands over that turtle mask/helmet to splinter to put with the rest of the mask collection. The leo vs Raph fight was pure skill. This is easily a solid movie that impresses and makes me proud to have been a child of the 80s.

 

[DBella]

Saw a midnight showing last night, it was great. The animation/music/story/etc. was all very fun and interesting. Raph kicked all kinds of ass. I might try and see it again in theaters before buying the HELL out of it on DVD. t:t: 9/10

I'm going to watch it again tomorrow. First viewing, I gave it a 7 or 7.5 but I'll most likely give it an 8 after tomorrow. Yes, I'm stingy but I really enjoyed this movie very much. Can't wait for the sequel!

 

[SpideyFan85]

This movie was great! Random question: Does anyone know the song that played when Raphael was fighting that red "Jersey Devil" monster in the kitchen? Sounded familiar...

 

[DOG LIPS]

I'm going to watch it again tomorrow. First viewing, I gave it a 7 or 7.5 but I'll most likely give it an 8 after tomorrow. Yes, I'm stingy but I really enjoyed this movie very much. Can't wait for the sequel!

The crowd I saw it with probably helped me enjoy it much more, they were very enthusiastic, laughing at the right times, and cheering/applauding at the beginning and end. Made it a great atmosphere.

 

[Matt]

I wouldn't say great can be applied to this movie (then again, can great be applied to anything about humanoid, teenage, turtles?), but it certainly is fun and worth the 8 bucks!

 

[Carnotaur3]

Damn it. I was going to see it tonight but a friend bailed out on me.

Resident sensei rat Splinter oversees the reunion that re-teams the slacker ninja turtles with former allies April O'Neil (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Casey Jones (Chris Evans) to take on a vicious crime gang called the "Foot Clan." Evil mastermind Maximillian J. Winters (Patrick Stewart) releases an army of ancient giant monsters that the Foot Clan is helping to protect. A throughline of organized violence permeates "TMNT" as a baby step toward preparing youngsters to become soldiers in America's never-ending war on humanity.

This guy is ******ed. The fact that he thinks this film is political and that he even brought up politics to begin with.

 

[griffolyon12]

I loved this movie.As most people are saying,it has a simple story but it works perfectly.The thing I loved most about it is it has more in common with the original comics than any of the other mediums they have been in.The action is top notch,my only complaint is I wished for more of it.This movie is great and is worth your money.

A goof 9/10!!!!!!!!!

 

[Ash J. Williams]

I actually thought it was really good. Just about every minute of the film gave me goosebumps -- in a good way. I didn't mind the intro's re-caps and how Yaotl and the Stone Warriors came to be. The fight scenes truly amazed me and they were perfect. Just...wow, I couldn't have asked for a better fight scene between Nigh****cher and Leonardo. The animation was top notch -- from the simple facial expressions to something as complex as Mikey's hardcore sewer skating -- I loved it.

It was cool how the Turtles interacted with each other -- mainly conversation and personality-wise. Things like Casey's conversation with Raph and Leo's conversation with Raph really made the dialogue and story shine. I can tell that the voice actors had fun doing the voices for movie -- really getting into character and giving new meaning to the term "character development."

Overall, I enjoyed the movie and I'd like to see a sequel. I give the movie an A because I felt it was too short.

 

[terry78]

Those of you saying this wouldn't be an event movie couldn't have been further off the mark. The theatre was standing room only, literally. There were more older people than kids at the thing, and one guy wore a bandana. I am not even lying. As soon as the lights went down, there was applause, and once the opening credits began, the whooping and hollering started. I can tell when that type of thing is sarcasm, but people were genuinely excited.

 

[LastSunrise1981]

I work at a movie theater and I got to see it before going on the clock.



My opinion? I loved it. Truly loved how the animation flowed and how the story was. It's one of those films that I watched and get a kick out of since it's so fast paced and has some emotional moments too.

Spoiler

Did anyone else tear up when Raph was trying to save Leo?

The music and Raph literally running with everything he has made me feel bad for him. Who were the voice actors? Mikey, Leo, Don, and Raph were amazingly done.

 

[Dread]

After a 13-14 year absence from the big screen (after the 1993 flop TMNT III), the Turtles are back for a 4th go, with CGI replacing live-action costumes and coming off the successful relaunch of their TV series in 2003 (even if it has spent half of 2006 as the fluffy "Fast Forward"). Considering I didn't actually see the craptastic 3rd Turtle film in the theatres (I saw it maybe a year or two later on VHS, and I am ashamed to admit I still own it), this was the first Turtle film I saw in the theatre since SECRET OF THE OOZE in 1991. Ah, the memories...

Anyway, so, how did this 4th one (which is given no co-title or number, simply TMNT) stack up? Nostalgia aside, it was aces better than TMNT III was (which is no hard task), and the move to CGI made for some feats and acrobatics that no actors could perform. It developped a lot of the characters and really gave you a sense that time had passed and there was some dust on the shells. In fact if I had to pick the one major stumbling block, it was that all the pieces to a better film were stuck behind a fairly generic TV episode/Video Game plot. Kevin Monroe, creditted with the story, actually has written a few video games, and that doesn't surprise me. That was most of the problem of TMNT III as well; after the sequal advanced the plotline, the 3rd simply took a TV episode plot and stretched it to over an hour, and had very poor villians at that. TMNT 4, if you want to call it that, essentially has the same problems, although at least their "generic plot" was a stronger one, and the villians were better. Obviously another sequal has been set up, but part of me wishes they'd just dove right in.

The beginning narration reminded me of how some video games start, although Laurence Fishburne was doing the narration, so it worked. It recaps the mythology of the Turtles, taking the "SUPERMAN RETURNS route" of picking and choosing which films in the series it wants to include itself in. It gives mention of the origins of the Turtles and their defeat of their enemy, The Shredder (whose helmet also appears in Splinter's chambers). No mention of the abysmal 3rd is given, but nothing is said that omits it deliberately either. But immediately after that we get the recap of the main plot, involving a warrior who used an allignment of a few stars to open some sort of energy gate, much like Disney's HERCULES. The process made him immortal, but turned his 4 generals to stone and unleashed 13 monsters on the world. Some 3,000 years later, this warrior wants to reactivate the gate anew.

Much like some of the other films, there is buildup that leads up to the first Turtle appearence, in this case, Leonardo, who has set up shop as a jungle avenger of oppressed people in South America. Turns out Splinter had set him out to "train" for about a year, but he's long overdue to return and without him, his brothers have become more aimless. While working for megarich Max Winters (Patrick Stewart, who naturally excells as a voice actor), April O'Niel runs into him and tries to convince him to return, and for the moment, fails. Back in NYC, Donatello has gotten a job doing tech-support, and Mikey masquarades as "Cowabunga Carl", a rent-an-entertainer, which leads him to "have nightmares about birthday parties". And Raph spends all day sleeping, because by night he dons silver armor and fights crime as "The Night-Watcher". Once Leo returns, however, his brothers are overjoyed to see him and Splinter wants him to reorganize their team, but Raph is less than pleased.

The scenes before the union really gave a sense of the disorganized Turtles. Afterwards it was understandable for Raph to have issues about Leo leaving them like that, only to return and still be considered "Splinter Jr." The Night-Watcher bit was a good design, but is a considerable plot-hole. Honestly, NO ONE could figure out it was Raph aside for Casey Jones? And why is the Night-Watcher any worse than Leo's "jungle ghost" routine? About the only difference is that Leo seemed to merely react to vandals in the jungle, whereas Raph's armor had a police radio and he more directly sought out trouble. Leo was also more subtle in his fighting, and Raph more blunt.

April has taken to learning some kendo, and Casey Jones still nightlights as a vigilante himself, talking with Raph about his doubts to committing to April. Leo and Raph's conflict boils over to a rooftop brawl in the rain that is argueably the high-point of the film, with a winner that is actually surprising. You also have what is left of the Foot Clan, run by Karai. Instead of being shadow-lords of the underworld, they simply are hired muscle for whoever has the cash, in this case Max Winters, who wants them on the lookout for monsters, who all seem to be converging in NYC in time for the new star-allignment.

But it's that darn stars/immortal warriors/monsters/stone-men plot that seems to intervene and hog a movie that could have been far stronger. Frankly it would have been better if they adapted the CITY AT WAR storyline, establishing Karai as Shredder's daughter and spending more time focusing on those characters. True, the 2003 series adapted that story well...but they adapted EVERYTHING. That shouldn't stop a film version that even being PG can get away with more. That might have meant more "TMNT vs. Ninjas", but the film did that anyway, didn't it? I'm not saying that plot was bad, it just was generic and made the flick worse than it could have been. Much like Night-Watcher, the Max Winters "reveal" is really no mystery either, although it is partly treated as one.

The main twist is that Winters' stone generals don't want to undo the spell that created them, because they like being immortal and virtually indestructable. So they replace the 13th monster with Leo (left defensless after his fight with Raph) and sabotage the energy portal. This leads to a final showdown at Winters' pad and finding that last monster. The fact that the Turtles literally have to stand silent and watch the Winters/generals plot unfold in front of them seemed to show me how tacked on that plot was. In-between there are some good dabs at humor, a few bad lines, and a few good ones. Naturally, the theme of family is expressed, which is the core of the Turtles. And it seems that 2007 is the year of having 4 Stone Generals, including one with a large hammer, be villians, as INVINCIBLE IRON MAN had the exact same villians, only they never spoke so they seemed more lifeless. These generals didn't have much character to them, but at least they spoke and had interplay with the heroes, which is nice.

Maybe the 2003 era cartoon has raised the bar, but I've seen those batches of writers and storyboarders do better with far less airtime (3 episodes would only be 66 minutes, this film was over 80 minutes). The fighting was pretty good, though, very fluid and acrobatic. Even if the ending felt very much like a boss battle, punting the generals into the portal. The film ends with all the pieces still in place for a better sequal, with Karai (who is Shredder's adopted daughter, a key detail left absent here).

It's not nearly as bad as the critics say, but it's hardly going to make the first 1990 Turtle film budge from it's spot as the best.

The designs have a WB touch to them, and while the Turtles actually look like terrapins, the designs of everyone else sometimes were touch and go. The designs of the humans actually reminded me a little of THE INCREDIBLES, with April being very skinny, Max having a Bob Paur-esque nose, and so on. Splinter fared the worst, though, as he hardly looked like a rat but more like Cheeto the Cheetah. The two monsters that got the most screen-time were a very Man-Bat from THE BATMAN esque bat, a large Gorilla-beast, and a "Jersey Devil" that gives Night-Watcher a heck of a spanking.

Judging from my avatar, I like Casey Jones a lot, and he was still decent here. His design was a little skinner than I would envision, but not bad (plus, the live actor, Elias Koteas, was hardly wrestler sized either). Chris Evans was fine in the role, as was Sarah Michelle Geller as April. The late Mako as Splinter sounded a little...stiff at times, as he mixed old man humor with some fortune cookie philosophy. And TV show viewers will recognize a lot of old favorites doing the voices of the generals or other goons about the film, including John Di Maggio, Jennifer Hale, Jim Cummings, Phil LaMarr, Fred Tatasciore, Kevin Micheal Richardson, Tara Strong, and Grey DiLeslie. The Turtles themselves are voiced by veteran TV people who attempt to duplicate the jobs of the past film VA's, and mostly do a good job, especially Nolan North as Raph (best known as Giant Man from the ULTIMATE AVENGERS DTV's). Raph and Leo get the most focus here, with Mikey mostly serving as goofball comic relief. Thankfully, the Turtles rely on a lot less pop culture references than in their past films, which will make some of their jokes not seem "old" after a few years. The film isn't as dark as the first 1990 one, but in some ways darker than the last two sequals (especially the 3rd), a sort of blend between. I hate to speak ill of the dead, but Mako didn't have anything on the 2003 TV show voice actor for Splinter. And Ziyi Zhang was fine as Karai, even if she had little to do. I REALLY liked Casey's black costume at the end, though, even if it reminded me a little of Marvel's Night-Thrasher, complete with a black hockey mask. He was enjoyable in all his scenes and I liked how when he leapt with Raph, he seemed less sure of his motions and clumsier, for contrast.

Despite the flaws, though, it is a far better film than the one put forth in 1993 that marked the end of the Turtle domination of the late 80's-early 90's, and kids should eat it up. The theatre atmosphere was naturally light and I had to roam around most of Brooklyn to find a showing that wasn't sold out. I think it will be #1, easy, and should also match GHOST RIDER's domestic take of about $107 million or so, at least. And I hope it does because a sequal that deals with Karai and doesn't sidetrack itself from the Turtles will be killer.

The music was less "synthesized" than the last films, relying more on an orchastra, which was a nice change for a Turtle movie, although my inner child misses some sort of cheesy themesong. CGI is good for the Turtles though, as well as the budget dept.

Out of 4 stars, I'd give it 2.5. Out of a scale of 1-10 I'd give it about a 6.5, 7 for nostalgia. Not the biggest dose of Turtle Power for a movie, but good enough to bury TMNT 3 once and for all. Definately a crowd-pleaser.

 

[Ash J. Williams]

I work at a movie theater and I got to see it before going on the clock.



My opinion? I loved it. Truly loved how the animation flowed and how the story was. It's one of those films that I watched and get a kick out of since it's so fast paced and has some emotional moments too.

Spoiler

Did anyone else tear up when Raph was trying to save Leo?

The music and Raph literally running with everything he has made me feel bad for him. The music and Raph literally running with everything he has made me feel bad for him. Who were the voice actors? Mikey, Leo, Don, and Raph were amazingly done.

Here, sir: http://imdb.com/title/tt0453556/

 

[terry78]

I also liked how the PG rating granted them the power to actually have villains and crooks using and shooting realistic guns, something I haven't seen since Incredibles.

 

[Paste Pot Pete]

Any other eagle-eyed viewers notice the time-travel septre on Splinter's wall of fame? TMNT III is in continuity, after all. t:

Awesome movie. What a blast. The theatre was packed with 80s kids (and youngsters with their parents); it was great.

Some funny bits, GREAT action, and some really spectacular animation. Raph vs Leo in the rain was pure eye candy (and good writing, to boot!)

 

[XP NACHOS]

Leo and Raph's conflict boils over to a rooftop brawl in the rain that is argueably the high-point of the film, with a winner that is actually surprising.

I saw it earlier tonight and thought it was great. I haven't seen the turtles on the big screen in a long time and I missed it. As far as the Raph/Leo fight, I agree that it was the high point of the film, and in a way gave more to the story line of their conflict with eachother than the rest of the dialogue.

Spoiler

I must say that I can't really say the winner of the fight was that surprising. Don't get me wrong I am more of a Leo fan than a Raph fan, and I think that Leo was the more skilled fighter, dramatically and storyline speaking Raph had to win the fight. With his personality, he probably wouldn't have come around about his temper and aggression if Leo had won. For 2/3rds of the fight where Leo chases Nigh****cher and fights Nigh****cher, Leo was easily outmatching him, but once Raph was revealed it seemed like he stopped holding back and just barely held back from truly hurting Leo, whereas Leo was probably holding back in order to stop himself from truly hurting Raph. Which just goes to show what Raph learned, that Leo was the better turtle for the leadership role.

 

[LostSon88]

On first viewing, I give it a 7.5...what we got was great, I simply just wanted MORE! It was wayyyyyyyyyyyyy too short. The characterizations and voices of the turtles were spot on and the fight scenes were pretty tight.

My favorite scene however was the part where Raph hears Leo's scream as he gets captured and Raph tries to go back and rescue him...that was kind of an emotional scene.

Oh and regards of the attendence...FULL HOUSE BABY! Whoever said the TMNT was a has-been franchise don't know what they were talkin' about. t:

 

[Shmoil]

I saw it just a little while ago, and while the house wasn't full, it was a good crowd. I loved the movie, everything from the music to the visuals to the voice acting to the plot, I thought it was all great for a Turtles movie.
Call me an old fashioned turtles fan, though, but I missed the almost "surfer-dude" like personalities of them. Mike still had it, but I missed the whole "We were awesome! Bodacious! *****in!" attitude. But that didn't keep me from enjoying it.
One other small nitpick would be the look of the humans, but again I don't find it to be a distraction. I would really love a live-action movie, but with CG turtles, to keep the feeling of the old ones but still have the great fight scene capability, but I really mostly loved the way this film looked so I'm not so sure. Altogether a great movie, 8/10.

 

[terry78]

As far as the stylized look of the humans, you can thank designer Jeff Matsuda for that one. You an avid cartoon watcher or comic reader, you know about his design.

 

[deathshead2]

Noo it only made 8 million this friday. Hopefully the rest of the weekend will boost its take. If not then I think TMNT is doomed.