Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

This weekend, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem releases in theaters. TMNT: Mutant Mayhem follows the four famous ninja turtles as they long to become a part of the human world. When the villain Super Fly emerges, the turtles must put aside themselves to save New York City. For some context, I never watch Ninja Turtles as a kid, my first time watching them was a couple of weeks ago. I become interested in this movie due to the voice cast and because it was supposed to be in a similar animation style to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

This movie was actually a lot of fun and contained a surprising amount of heart. This movie definitely puts the teenage in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The portrayal of the turtles is definitely that of how a teenager would act today. Their behavior, use of cell phones and social media along with their maturity perfectly match that of a teenager and really gives a different feel to the Ninja Turtles. I also quite liked the animation style of this film. It reminded me a lot of the animation style of Into the Spider-verse, while still also having its own unique style. It is not quite the work of art that Spiderverse is but it is still unique and very well done. I enjoyed all of the action in the film as well. We get to see quite a few fight scenes from the turtles that all look very good because of the animation style. Aside from the turtle, the movie has a lot of fun supporting characters. Superfly is a fun villain with a different energy than what we are used to. Additionally, his whole team is a lot of fun with some very unique personalities. The movie also has a stellar voice cast. There is Ice Cube, Seth Rogan, John Cena, Jackie Chan, Paul Rudd, and many others. It is a lot of fun to hear their voices in a movie like this. This movie also had a lot of funny moments with several jokes that made both the kids and adults laugh. The movie also has a lot of heart to it, especially in the third act when we see the turtles go through their arc. Finally, I thought this movie did a great job of being very accessible to all audiences. It is easy to sit through for kids, but also has a quality enough story that adults will enjoy it as well. It is just a fun movie that the entire family will enjoy.

I only have a couple of minor issues with the film. The first issue was just that I wasn't a bit fun of the portrayal of Splinter in the movie. He feels a bit less serious than he should be considering he is supposed to be the mentor of the turtles. I also thought that the whole TCRI subplot was a bit underdeveloped. I think they should have not been in the story at all or included in it movie as more of a secondary villain. The way they are included now just feels a bit out of place.

In the end, this is an entertaining exciting film that is fun for the whole family. Even for someone like me who isn't a hardcore TMNT fan nor has any kids, I still had a good time with this move.

Score: 8/10 Grade: B+ Recommendation: A good watch for families