"I love bein' a turtle!"
So I just got back from seeing the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, and I gotta tell you, that was $10 I didn't mind spending.
It's been fourteen years - can you believe fourteen whole freankin' years?! - since TMNT III came out and left many a fan either wanting of something, well, better, or completely disenfranchised. Of course I liked TMNT III. Suire, it was hands down the worst of the three, but hell, it was a turtles movie. That's all I needed to know. Having gone though all this time with only a half-baked live-action series and a new animated run that I never had a chance nor the interest to get in to, I figured I was in for an hour and a half of mild entertainment of mostly nostalgic value. On the one hand, they went back to the genesis of the turtles, returning to an art style more reminiscent of the original creations of Eastman and Laird (I didn't even know Laird was an executive producer on the film until I saw the credits, and his involvement shows), but then again, they were moving away from the live-action/animatronics stunt fest I had grown up loving. While I still think it's prime time to bring back another live-action TMNT movie, (as well as Ghostbusters III, damnit!) this was definitely more than just a stroll through '80s/'90s-tinted memory lane.
It's hard to tell from the commercials, but the visuals are extremely good. At first, the characters have a mild Toy-Story-like appearance, but you're blown away from the beginning with the level of detail in the background and environment. Imagi did an excellent job with the computer graphics. The only comparison I can think of is the visuals of Half-Life 2 with all the visuals boost to the max - it's that good. Again, the character designs seem slightly out of place, with an almost Walt Disney meets Peter Chung look. Central American villagers are given a smooth texture, low detail, large, jovial appearance, while the first shot of the turtles and -gasp!- April O'Neal have a slightly deformed, over exaggerated lanky look to them. As the movie goes on, the turtles and fellow characters seem to better fir their NYC surroundings, and for some reason, also get more detailed as the movie goes on.
I'll skip the action, since besides from a few key scenes that any description would be a spoiler for, the action didn't play a particularly important role. Sure, they're NINJA turtles, but the action scenes, though very, very good, are more plot devices for the overall themes of brotherhood and betrayal/repentance. That leaves us with the cast. Having gone through three movies and nine seasons of the cartoon, there was a certain expectation - you already have an idea of what the characters should sound like. While I still like the first three movies a little better, the voices in this movie are far better than in the cartoon. They all have the tone you'd expect from their given character, but they seem to have a little more depth from anything before. There was a phenomenal supporting cast, with Chris Evans as Casey Jones and Sarah Michelle Gellar as April. Patrick Stewart made an excellent semi-antagonist, and Zhang Ziyi was probably my favorite voice as a new character, what I would assume to be a lieutenant of sorts of the Foot Clan. Hell, they even got Laurence Fishburne to narrate, and Kevin Smith made a vocal appearance with a minor character, which I didn't pick up on at the time. The one ever-so-tiny gripe I had was with Splinter, as played by the late Mako Iwamatsu. Sure, he sounded enough like a Splinter, but for some reason I can't quite put my finger on, I just wasn't quite sold with that choice. It didn't help that his face came to mind every time I heard his voice. And, now I just find out he passed away last year from esophageal cancer.
All in all, this was a wonderful movie. It brought to mind the success of other revival movies like Batman Begsin and Superman Returns, and though the "turtle power" has been relatively quiet over the last decade plus, I hope this movie sees more than enough commercial success to continue the series. If nothing else, at least this TMNT didn't feature Vanilla Ice!
(Oh, and don't even get me started on the crazy TMNT fangirl who's video has been making the viral rounds. Seriously. Otherwise I'll have to slap you. Dude.)
It's been fourteen years - can you believe fourteen whole freankin' years?! - since TMNT III came out and left many a fan either wanting of something, well, better, or completely disenfranchised. Of course I liked TMNT III. Suire, it was hands down the worst of the three, but hell, it was a turtles movie. That's all I needed to know. Having gone though all this time with only a half-baked live-action series and a new animated run that I never had a chance nor the interest to get in to, I figured I was in for an hour and a half of mild entertainment of mostly nostalgic value. On the one hand, they went back to the genesis of the turtles, returning to an art style more reminiscent of the original creations of Eastman and Laird (I didn't even know Laird was an executive producer on the film until I saw the credits, and his involvement shows), but then again, they were moving away from the live-action/animatronics stunt fest I had grown up loving. While I still think it's prime time to bring back another live-action TMNT movie, (as well as Ghostbusters III, damnit!) this was definitely more than just a stroll through '80s/'90s-tinted memory lane.
It's hard to tell from the commercials, but the visuals are extremely good. At first, the characters have a mild Toy-Story-like appearance, but you're blown away from the beginning with the level of detail in the background and environment. Imagi did an excellent job with the computer graphics. The only comparison I can think of is the visuals of Half-Life 2 with all the visuals boost to the max - it's that good. Again, the character designs seem slightly out of place, with an almost Walt Disney meets Peter Chung look. Central American villagers are given a smooth texture, low detail, large, jovial appearance, while the first shot of the turtles and -gasp!- April O'Neal have a slightly deformed, over exaggerated lanky look to them. As the movie goes on, the turtles and fellow characters seem to better fir their NYC surroundings, and for some reason, also get more detailed as the movie goes on.
I'll skip the action, since besides from a few key scenes that any description would be a spoiler for, the action didn't play a particularly important role. Sure, they're NINJA turtles, but the action scenes, though very, very good, are more plot devices for the overall themes of brotherhood and betrayal/repentance. That leaves us with the cast. Having gone through three movies and nine seasons of the cartoon, there was a certain expectation - you already have an idea of what the characters should sound like. While I still like the first three movies a little better, the voices in this movie are far better than in the cartoon. They all have the tone you'd expect from their given character, but they seem to have a little more depth from anything before. There was a phenomenal supporting cast, with Chris Evans as Casey Jones and Sarah Michelle Gellar as April. Patrick Stewart made an excellent semi-antagonist, and Zhang Ziyi was probably my favorite voice as a new character, what I would assume to be a lieutenant of sorts of the Foot Clan. Hell, they even got Laurence Fishburne to narrate, and Kevin Smith made a vocal appearance with a minor character, which I didn't pick up on at the time. The one ever-so-tiny gripe I had was with Splinter, as played by the late Mako Iwamatsu. Sure, he sounded enough like a Splinter, but for some reason I can't quite put my finger on, I just wasn't quite sold with that choice. It didn't help that his face came to mind every time I heard his voice. And, now I just find out he passed away last year from esophageal cancer.
All in all, this was a wonderful movie. It brought to mind the success of other revival movies like Batman Begsin and Superman Returns, and though the "turtle power" has been relatively quiet over the last decade plus, I hope this movie sees more than enough commercial success to continue the series. If nothing else, at least this TMNT didn't feature Vanilla Ice!
(Oh, and don't even get me started on the crazy TMNT fangirl who's video has been making the viral rounds. Seriously. Otherwise I'll have to slap you. Dude.)