NGP Review: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)

Box-office predictions have the new Ninja Turtles overtaking the Marvel space opera Guardians of the Galaxy by a margin of 22 million this weekend. The popularity of just the TMNT brand alone is huge and given this, the turnout for the movie has been one of the biggest this summer. I had the chance to watch the movie and going in with incredibly low expectations (Rotten Tomatoes has the movie at 20%) I came out really surprised. 

I have always really liked the Turtles and they were a big part of my childhood. I collected all the action figures, which now sit in my parents basement in pieces, and I also watched the Saturday morning cartoon every week. This movie gave me some serious throwback goosebumps to see the whole gang of Turtles running, jumping, flipping, and boarding through the sewers of New York. I might be in a minority but I actually really like their new updated look. It's what you would expect from a science experiment gone wrong. They are noticeably bigger than previous Turtles and their outfits have received a massive upgrade as well. These are all things that you would expect out of modern day super heroes.

Old-school ninjas.

The acting in the movie is distinctly cheesy. You can definitely tell the writers were trying to target as large an audience as possible. However, even through its cheesiness, the actors deliver their lines with an energy that makes it feel like this is a comic book come to life. Even Megan Fox, who is the biggest weak-point in the cast, brings a pinch of feeling to her portrayal of April O'Neil. This is amazing considering it is nonexistent in any of her previous roles. The stand out character is by far Michelangelo who delivers some really funny one-liners and even a "cowabunga!!!". The role of Shredder was also well done I just would have preferred some back story on the character. He was powerful and commanding as a villain but the only thing we know about him is that he is a martial arts master and Sensei to the other villain in the story played by William Fichtner. Fichtner's character is basically the cash behind the evil plots of Shredder and his Foot Clan. Overall the story was pretty basic but it was entertaining enough just to see the Turtles in action again and doing it with turtle power.

"Is this what emotion looks like?"

The action in the movie is a character in and of itself. Typical of a Michael Bay film it had some really great action pieces (side-note: this movie was only produced by Mr. Bay but for some reason people wanted to bash on this movie with him as the reason why it would suck). The first face off between Splinter and Shredder is very well done and stands as a foundation to show off just how powerful these characters are. Like Yoda wielding his green light-saber and making a fool out of the greatest Sith warriors, Splinter holds his own against a man in a giant suit of armor and a seemingly infinite amount of blades. This leads right into a heist-of-sorts set piece in a snowy mountain top environment. The special effects of this movie are on full display during this scene as the Turtles must fight together and escape to stop the villain's evil plot. Donatello assisting Raphael in becoming a Turtle wrecking ball is definitely something worth witnessing on the big screen.

Turtle Power!

I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw from this movie considering the beating it has been taking at the hands of critics. If you are a fan of cartoony action movies you might just be as surprised as I was by the new iteration of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

-Demo