Thoughts on TMNT: Mutant Mayhem · 4:11am Aug 19th, 2023
Okay. I have to admit, I was wrong about this one. I didn't want to watch it at first, because I have no love for Seth Rogen and his involvement in this movie immediately turned me off to the news. But my mom was curious to see it (having fond memories of her and I watching the 2012 Turtles cartoon on Saturday mornings) and I decided it was as good a way to ring out the summer as any.
And yeah, it was. I did have a good time with this reimagining of the TMNT and their mythos. (One thing I really appreciated was that they don't use the Shredder as the big bad, because that's been done so many times. While the movie does end with the promise that the character will be inbound, it was a real breath of fresh air to have the villain NOT be old Shred-head yet again. Good to see the creators show that restraint.) One can clearly see the debt owed to the classic 1987 cartoon - particularly for the variety of oddball mutants in the story, and the importance of humor - but by and large I found it a pretty sensible updating of a lot of the Turtles to the modern era, with a few extra wrinkles thrown in along the way.
The titular Turtles themselves really feel like actual teenagers. Not just because they're voiced (in a franchise first) by REAL teens, but because their interactions really do capture the vibe of brothers messing around with each other, goofing off, and most of all, distracting each other. I liked the movie reimagining Splinter as more of an overprotective dad than a stern ninja master, and while it IS definitely basic, I liked his character arc of coming to push past his fear of humans, all for the sake of his sons. 
If I had to name an MVP for the movie, I'd be hard pressed to choose between either Ayo Edebiri as April O'Neil, or Ice Cube as the villain Superfly. Ayo's performance as April managed to be funny, endearing, and relatable (I really liked the intertwining of her story with the Turtles in that they're both driven to become famous and be remembered for something good; basic, again, but so relatable to the teenage desire to be noticed... and the fear of embarrassment as well). And Ice Cube managed to walk a very nice line between being surprisingly charming (you know, for a giant fly-mutant) and obsessively psychotic.
The character beats of the movie are all very straightforward, but the real joy of it all lies in the presentation of it all. And in that regard, the movie more than admirably succeeds: the animation and style of "Mutant Mayhem" is freaking gorgeous, capturing the vibe of sketches in a teenager's notebook, with a hint of a claymation kind of feeling as well. It's a fantastic look for the Turtles and their world and it really pops throughout the movie. (The action sequence in a chop shop is a particular gem. It's comedic and chaotic in equal measure!)
The movie does show some nice teeth in its climactic act, with Superfly's mutation going to some grody extra levels. Admittedly, I was spoiled to *that* particular plot twist, but still... wow. 
Seeing that onscreen was a level of batshit insane I've scarcely seen from a Turtles work before, so major props for that.
Also, the ending of this movie was an audacious new step forward for the franchise as well. It's interesting to see, in a franchise where so much of the story focus has often been on "Mutant" or "Ninja," we have a TMNT where the ending allows the Turtles to finally be teenagers - maybe not "normal" teenagers, but still, as close to normal as they might ever get. Food for thought at any rate.
All in all, glad I saw this, and glad to have been proven wrong. 
You know, I also have some dubious thoughts when it comes to anything that involves Seth Rogan, but then sometimes I'm blown away with the result too. Such his role of Donkey Kong from the new Super Mario movie that came out earlier, I was actually impressed with how well he performed that role.
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That's a fair point. Seth Rogen definitely can be a good actor, for sure, when he applies himself to it. While I haven't yet seen him in the Mario movie, I was also very impressed by his role in Steven Spielberg's The Fabelmans from last year.
Huh. I admit, the trailer didn't terribly endear me to the movie, but I might give it a shot at some point.
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That's quite fair. Like I said, I didn't have high expectations going in, but the movie proved me wrong. If you do give it a try (and no pressure!) I hope that you enjoy.
There is one grossout gag in the movie, I will mention by way of forewarning, but otherwise, I really enjoyed the way that this movie presented the story of the TMNT and their world.
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I have very little attachment to the Turtles, come to think of it. I had the first few episodes of the 80s show, a few episodes of the 2000s one, I followed the 2012 for a bit, I might watch this one.
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I've had a decent amount of exposure, even though I was something of a latecomer to the franchise. I've seen the original 1990 theatrical movie (good), the sequel (meh), four seasons of the 2000s show (pretty good), two and a quarter seasons of the 2012 series (fun), and read a number of the comic book from IDW Publishing (also pretty good).
I wouldn't consider myself a *dedicated* fan of the Turtles the way that I am for some other characters out there, but they've had some really good outings imo.
Like I said before, hope that this one proves worthwhile. ^_^