Read Marc Jason Ali’s review of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at The Fan Carpet
"kudos to Jonathan Liebesman and the creative team for bringing them into the 21st century"
Taking a beloved franchise from the 80s and updating it to modern day takes guts: there's a huge fan base and it is inevitable that there will be a difference of opinion. However, Jonathan Liebesman's latest film isn't the terrible mess that some claim it to be, while some are hellbent to hate on it because of its association with Michael Bay, which I think is unfair. A film should be critiqued on its own merits, not on the man behind it -- how much input would he have even had? Steven Spielberg has a producer credit on nearly everything made (slight exaggeration, but you see my point), but OK, with that out of the way, here we go...
We open in New York City where no time is wasted in setting up the story. The Foot Clan (whom I'll get to later) have a stranglehold over the city, and the terrified populous won't fight back and so out of the shadows come the mean, green fighting machines - the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
I was pleasantly surprised that they didn't dwell on setting up their reveal; it's fairly early on and, well, it's a Turtles movie, so why not?
The best thing about the film is the characterisation of the Turtles, they are exactly as you would imagine: Raphael (Alan Ritchson) is the hot head, he's always been the hot head and so he has his gruff mannerisms to go along with his outward appearance. He's huge; the biggest Turtle of the group -- in fact, all of the guys are huge, and I think it make sense for them to be these larger than life characters. Michelangelo (Noel Fisher) is hilarious, and whilst he definitely is the surfer dude type that we grew up watching (and even in the updated cartoon version on Nickelodeon) he has been reigned in somewhat, only uttering his iconic catchphrase 'Cowabunga' once. Donatello (Jeremy Howard) is the tech savvy member of the team, so he has a lot of gadgets on him, which does make sense. And Leonardo (Pete Ploszek and voiced by Johnny Knoxville) is the noble leader of the group. This is reflected in his and all of the Turtles' outward appearances, as well as how they speak and act. For example, they don't hold back when they hit a Foot Clan member and they go flying -- the Turtles are definitely mean, green, fighting machines!
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Film Page
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES IS OUT NOW IN 2D AND 3D