My brother and I used to watch the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series all the time when we were kids, and we loved it too. He loved it so much he even wasted money on the new franchise. I, on the other hand, couldn't care less about those movies and I skipped them. This one though, the first movie about those turtles, I checked it out. Not that I thought it'd be good, because it isn't, but because there's Sam Rockwell in it.
Unfortunately, Rockwell is barely on screen as he plays a thug "working" for the Foot Clan, a mysterious ninja criminal organization that terrorises the streets of New York. It's up to four mutant ninja turtles, Leonardo (Brian Tochi), Donatello (Corey Feldman), Michelangelo (Robbie Rist) and Raphael (Josh Pais) to protect the city.
If it sounds like a very simple, straightforward storyline it's because there's nothing complex or intricate about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' plot. The film is mainly an origins story, it tells us how Splinter (the giant rat) and the turtles became the way they are (I'm pretty sure there's not a soul in the world who doesn't know that) and how they meet/befriended reporter April O'Neill and vigilante Casey Jones.
It's clichéd, predictable and not so interesting, but at least it's not stretched to infinity and beyond. Actually, it's got a pretty good pace. It has some drama as well and they both prevent this from being boring. And it shows, mostly to kids, that joining a gang will never be the answer for anything, those thugs will never be family.
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| New Line Cinema |
The characters are a little better than I was expecting. I guess the filmmakers realized the film would have had a mostly adult audience so there's something resembling character development here. I also like that, opposite to the kid animated series, the characters in this film are more mature. We really get to know them, especially Raphael and his issues. By the way, am I the only one who still wonders why Raphael is the only one without the Italian name? The turtles are named after Italian painters so he should be Raffaello, not Raphael. Am I right?
Anyway, the acting is pretty cheesy, though not terrible, especially Judith Hoag as April O'Neill, Elias Koteas as Casey Jones and James Saito as the Shredder. The latter is a bit over the top but it's in line with the rest of the film. The turtles' voices feel wrong though.
The special effects aren't that good but on the other hand, the turtles' costumes are pretty good and the action sequences are kinda cool and fun. The musical score too is decent and fits the film very well.
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