From there the lure of the turtles just grew – soon they had their own comic book series and as one cartoon series ended another would begin. The interest in the turtles seemed to never go away, and back in 2014 Michael Bay once brought the heroes in a half-shell back to the cinemas with his own take on their story.
Now we find ourselves over 30 years after the first cartoon series was released on TV. Today the turtles still have a TV show, still have comic books (in which they have shared adventures with Batman and even the characters of Stranger Things) and now directors Jeff Rowe (The Mitchells vs The Machines) and Kyler Spears (Amphibia) have teamed up with producer Seth Rogen to bring us a brand-new, big-screen turtles adventure in the form of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.
The film really does set the Turtles universe by going right back to the beginning and showing how the turtles, Donatello (voiced by Micah Abbey – Grey’s Anatomy), Michelangelo (Shamon Brown Jnr. – The Chi), Leonardo (Nicolas Cantu – The Walking Dead: World Beyond) and Raphael (Brady Noon – The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers), were created in a lab by rebel scientist Baxter Stockman (Giancarlo Esposito – Breaking Bad).
During a raid on Stockman’s lab, orchestrated by the evil Cynthia Utrom (Maya Rudolph – Bridesmaids), several of the mutants escape. The turtles are rescued and cared for by a mutant rat named Splinter (Jackie Chan – Rush Hour), who brings them away from society, fearful of what might happen if they are discovered.
As the turtles become teenagers they become more and more aware of the outside world and try to sneak out into it whenever they can. It is during one of these adventures that they meet budding young student reporter April O’Neil (Ayo Edebiri – The Bear). As they begin to learn about the world through her they soon find themselves in the middle of a battle as some of Stockman’s other mutants, led by Superfly (Ice Cube – Ride Along), begin an attack on the city.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is a film that is going to conflict true Turtles fans. While the film itself benefits from the slick graffiti-style animation, there is still a big question: why did this need to be an origins story? True fans of the turtles already know the story while even kids going to see the film well and truly know about the turtles and their lives thanks to the Nickelodeon TV series.
With that in mind though most people will find that the film works remarkably well. Making the turtles actual teenagers and having them go through teenage problems is a stroke of genius by the writing team that was made up of Rogen, Rowe and Evan Goldberg (Sausage Party). In a way their screenplay here makes the turtles feel more relatable as characters.
It is also easy to see that as a team they listened to the fans out there who have been pointing out for years that there is more than one villain in the turtle universe. It is a breath of fresh air to see a turtle story that doesn’t have Shredder as the main villain – and with a myriad of villains here voiced by notable actors like Paul Rudd, Post Malone and Rose Byrne, no one is going to leave the cinema disappointed. There is also an interesting take on old-school villains Bebop (Seth Rogen – Dumb Money) and Rocksteady (John Cena – The Suicide Squad) that shows that creativity is certainly not dead in this franchise.
What is really impressive here though is the artwork. As mentioned, the animation here takes on an urbanised graffiti look that matches the tone that the filmmakers have brought to the film – giving it a streetwise teenage vibe. Yes, it feels like the filmmakers have taken a leaf out of the book of what we have seen with the current Spider-verse films, but at the same time it is different enough and matches the street lingo used throughout the film.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is a film that is going to surprise a lot of cinema-goers. Fans of the turtles will embrace it as it stays true enough to its original source to give it credibility while the youngish vibe of the film will appeal to lovers of the Nickelodeon series.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is currently screening in Thailand and is rated G
3/5 Stars
David Griffiths has been working as a film and music reviewer for over 20 years. That time has seen him work in radio, television and in print. He is also an accredited reviewer for Rotten Tomatoes. You can follow him at www.facebook.com/subcultureentertainmentaus