From the Sewers and Up to the City, Four Turtles Leave Their Shells

From left: April O'Neil (Ayo Edebiri), 
Donatello (Micah Abbey), Raphael (Brady Noon),
Michelangelo (Shamon Brown Jr.),
and Leonardo (Nicolas Cantu) in 
"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: 
Mutant Mayhem"
Photo Credit: RottenTomatoes.com

Growing up, I wasn’t a fan of the Ninja Turtles, which started as a comic from Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, and then branched out into other forms of media.  Not that I found anything wrong with them, but when you’re a kid, there are so many cartoon characters trying to get your attention, that the famous crime-fighting turtles didn’t quite break through to me.  Despite learning a few details of the TV shows and movies over the years, I haven’t seen any of them.  Although I never felt out of touch not being interested in them, it was fun having a recent opportunity to see on what I missed out.

That chance came with director Jeff Rowe’s kinetic animated film, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.”  With fun characters, stellar animation, and clever humor, this is a movie that can be enjoyed by adults every bit as much as children.

In New York City, ninja turtles Donatello (Micah Abbey), Michelangelo (Shamon Brown Jr.), Leonardo (Nicholas Cantu), and Raphael (Brady Noon) have been living in the sewers with their mentor and guardian, Splinter (Jackie Chan).  Having lived underground their whole lives, the turtles set out to accomplish acts of heroism, while still trying to be seen as normal teenagers.  When an evil mutant known as Superfly (Ice Cube) and his fellow mutants threaten to destroy the city, it’ll be up to the turtles to bring them to justice.

The voice cast for the turtles exhibits a wonderful dynamic, and it helps that the film cast teenagers in the roles, unlike the other movies.  Not only do they obviously sound like teenagers, but they also have dialogue that sounds like what a teenager would say, and the four voice actors go through their interactions with an energy that exhibits how much their characters have come to bond over the years that they’ve spent together.  This absorbs you in their adventurous spirit as they travel the city streets and do what they can to protect its citizens.  Aside from their humorous banter, they also provide some poignancy as they think about how they want more out of life after spending most of their time in hiding.  This provides the film with some heartfelt moments that show how this movie does what it can to make sure it isn’t an emotionally empty rehash of a well-known cartoon, but something that has something a little more to offer.

Other than the turtles, there are many great supporting characters, when many of them share the screen and only get a couple of words in at a time.  Ayo Edebiri gives a witty performance as high-school journalist April O’Neil; Jackie Chan provides terrific work as Splinter; and, Ice Cube exhibits a humorous tough-guy persona as Superfly.  Then, there’s Superfly’s gang, which includes John Cena as Rocksteady, Seth Rogen as Bebop, Rose Byrne as Leatherhead, Natasha Demetriou as Wingnut, Paul Rudd as Mondo Gecko, Post Malone as Ray Fillet, and Hannibal Buress as Genghis Frog.  Just like the fun chemistry that’s seen amongst the turtles, the same thing happens with Superfly and his crew as they populate the screen and offer an abundance of laughs with their personalities.

What’s great about the screenplay by Jeff Rowe, Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Dan Hernandez, and Benji Samit is that, despite having several writers, everything coalesces and doesn’t feel like several ideas cobbled together.  Although the turtles are familiar characters to many people, the narrative spends plenty of time setting them up and showing a care for how their presented, establishing their connections to each other, to Splinter, and the above-ground world in which they long for acceptance.  There are some nice emotional beats as the turtles show how much they care for each other, but also want to leave their home and get to know others.  Once the turtles meet the other mutants, we get enough time to see the turtles interact with Superfly and his crew, having the turtles go through a conflict of trying to choose between siding with the mutants who accept them, or protecting the humans who see the turtles as menaces.  What’s more is that, even though this is a children’s movie, there’s clever humor that audiences of all ages can enjoy, humor that also has just the right amount of Rogen’s edginess.  Although the villain’s motivation is something we’ve seen a couple of times before, there’s still a lot to like in the story.

As a director, Rowe works with animation that has a sort of griminess to it that emphasizes the rough nature of the city in which the turtles live.  Not only is it superbly detailed, but it also does great work in blending 2D and 3D animation, especially for the 3D design of the turtles.  With this animation, these well-known characters are presented in a whole new way that reinvigorates the mythology of Eastman and Laird’s creations.  There’s a significant amount of energy to the fight scenes, employing inventive visuals that burst off of the screen as the turtles take action to save their city.  The fight sequences are backed up by a thrilling score from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, heightening the excitement as the creative designs of the characters and settings fill up the screen and immerse you in this new interpretation of the TMNTs.

Given how often these characters have appeared in television and film over the last few decades, the fact that this movie does whatever it can to seem fresh is one of the best cinematic treats of the summer.  Whether you’re already a fan of these characters or are experiencing them for the first time, you’re sure to have fun exploring the city with this crime-fighting quartet.

Grade: A-