Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem hits the screens re-energizing the franchise with teen voices and crazy animation! It is directed by Jeff Rowe who also co-directed The Mitchells vs the Machines (2021) and co-directed by Kyler Spears who was storyboard artist for The Mitchells vs the Machines. The story is Rowe and producers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, executive producers for the Invincible superhero animated series. Brendan O’Brien is also one of the story writers, he also wrote the comedy, Neighbors (2014). Rogen, Goldberg, and Rowe also worked on the screenplay along with Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit, both are co-writers for Pokemon: Detective Pikachu (2019). The turtles were introduced with the first issue of the black and white comic book in 1984. They were created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird.
The appeal of the TMNT was not only that it parodied Marvel Comics Daredevil title written and illustrated by Frank Miller, but created its own world. The comics are still produced today now by IDW with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles The Last Ronin The Lost Years. It really was the animated series that started in 1987 and lasted until 1996. The lastest is Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with a total of five shows. The popularity hit new heights with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) live action film with the Turtles realized by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. Two sequels followed and also the 2014 animated film. A total of seven films with this movie. The animation is by Mikros Animation which is said to be school notebook sketches, but I think the designs look more like the original Eastman and Laird artwork. We see the NYC sewer grate before we the truck with helmeted soldiers of the TCRI (Techno Cosmic Research Institute).
They report to executive, Cynthia Ultrom (Maya Rudolph), who is shadowy on a computer screen. Rudolph voices Connie LaCienega in the animated comedy show, Human Resources. Cynthia wants the solders to use their anti-mutant rifles and bring back Stockman’s mutant. Anti-mutant? This would mean the company has already has the radioactive ooze to make something that reverses it. In comics, the mutant inventor, Forge, had a neutralizer that removes mutant powers. I think this plot device should have been saved for a sequel or the animated show. We see the lab of Baxter Stockman (Giancarlo Esposito) who is a lonely scientist and wants companion ship from the mutants. Esposito voices Lex Luthor in the Harley Quinn cartoon series. He uses various ingredients to make the glowing green ooze. Also in his lab are test tubes filled with water and tiny turtles plus various subjects like a warthog. The TCRI team breaks in and demand the lost specimen!
The lost specimen races past overhead and then the mutant fly knocks out several soldiers. It attaches to the leader’s face. Baxter warns him about the gas tanks, but the leader shoots and there is an explosion! This kills Baxter, but this mostly implied. The violence, some humor, and dramatic content would not be suitable for a very young audience. The leader reports to Cynthia who wants the lab material taken to duplicate the experiment and the rest to be destroyed. We see though that a canister, unnoticed, falls into the sewer. This shifts to 15 Years Later where we get an introduction to the TMNT. Closeups of Leo putting on his mask and the others readying their weapons. There is Leo (Nicolas Cantu), the de facto leader, in a blue mask and he uses swords. Cantu voices Charlie in the Skull Island animated series. Donnie (Micah Abbey), purple mask, wielder of the bo staff, and the inventor like Data in The Goonies (1985). Abbey played Leaf in Nickelodeon comedy show, Cousins for Life. He wears glasses and has a squeaky voice that is very funny.
Then, there is Mikey (Shamon Brown, Jr.), has braces, and wears an orange mask and has nunchaku as his weapon. He has a flat, roundish head. Brown, Jr. played Stanley `Papa’ Jackson in dramatic show, The Chi. Lastly, there is Raph (Brady Noon), hot tempered, gap toothed, with his sais and he has a red mask. The nicknames makes them fun plus hides the Renaissance painter names. The color coding of their masks and their love of pizza came from the 90’s cartoon. For the first time, teen actors are cast as the Turtles, they bring the energy and humor to the film. They race across the moonlit rooftops at night which looks right out of the Eastman and Laird comic. Then, a group shot of the Turtles against the moon as Leo explains they have a “very important mission” from Master Splinter; Go-Gurt! Funny. There is no emphasis of pizza. The team recites Master Splinter’s rules warning them about humans. Mikey says he likes Beyonce, Raph brings up Drake, and Leo admires Tom Brady. They work together and argue like brothers.
The team infiltrates a bodega to use their ninja skills to pick up groceries for Splinter. A reporter on a billboard screen covers the recent criminal spree by Superfly. His name is a fun nod to the 1972 blaxploitation crime film. The TMNT are more intersted in an outdoor screening of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986). Love the mix of live action on screens and animation. Plus, the John Hughes comedy is a classic which the Turtles think spending the day away from school is how school works, funny! Some of the human characters look like claymation. The Turtles hope that everyone will like them like Ferris Bueller! They return to the sewer sneaking along subway tracks. They go back home and find Splinter (Jackie Chan) who is worried that his sons are late. Chan stars in this year’s action comedy Ride On. Splinter wears glasses and has two tufts of white hair and a goatee.
Leo blurts out that they saw a movie breaking their father’s rules.
Splinter sees a framed photo of the family and starts to tell them about the origin. He started at as a rat feeding on garbage cans, chased away by dogs and people, Splinter has a fatalist outlook on life. Then, he finds the ooze that twists him into his current form, and also the Turtles. He starts to set a record on the record player and plays De La Soul’s “The Magic Number.” I would never believe that De La Soul would ever be played in a movie. Splinter takes care of the Turtle Tots. He goes to the outside world because his sons are interested in it. They are awed by it in Times Square. He carries the Turtle Tots in his arms and accidentally bumps into a woman. She screams, “Rat man!” which gets the rest of the crowd angry at him. The Turtle Tots roll away and Splinter is able to collect them and escape. This sets Splinter’s hatred of humans.
Splinter plays martial arts videos, live action, to help train and defend the TMNT. This is mostly Kung Fu videos and no ninja videos. He tells his sons that there are no other mutants and punishes them to not leave the sewer for one month! The Turtles go to their bunks to listen to music. In the day, a Frozen Treats truck carries the construction workers who are working for Superfly. The police chases after them and Superfly flies the truck away. They reach a stranded tanker an abandoned property of TCRI and Superfly takes out the humans. The TMNT are on a rooftop taking a cell phone video of Raph cutting through a watermelon with Leo’s katana. The next video, Mikey holds a watermelon above his head, a target for Raph’s shuriken, throwing star. It slices through the watermelon and then hurtles over the building into the street!
Leo rushes over to see that the shuriken went into the helmet of April O’Neil (Ayo Edebiri). Glory is played by Edebiri in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. April is not an adult news reporter like in previous versions, she is a teen like the Turtles. Her scotter is stolen and she tries to chase after the thief. Leo convinces the others that they are responsible so have to help her. A roll up door is opened by the thief. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles enter and find that it is a gang of thieves! Fighting that is shown is blurry, unclear action, which is not in the spirit of the martial arts movies they had watched, the animated series, or the comic books. They manage to defeat the gang and April walks in surprised. The others hide, but Leo walks into the light. April at first thinks they are costumes, but then grabs a turtle cheek and shouts.
She is disturbed, but likes that they helped her out. The Turtles say they can explain over pizza. We see the neon sign of the pizzeria, Laird, which points to the co-creator of the TMNT. April has a notepad of questions and asks them, “Is there more of you?” They don’t know. She admits that she wants to be a journalist for the school news. The same field as the cartoon and comic book character. April is asked Mikey, “Do you think there are more people like you who will accept us?” They get text from their parents, April leaves her number with them, and it is apparent that Leo has a crush on her. They have to team up to stop Superfly, the mastermind who is voiced by Ice Cube, a literal fly person. Ice Cube was in the comedy, Fist Fight (2017).
He leads a number of other mutants; Rogan voices another warthog with Bebop and John Cena plays Rocksteady, the punk rhino. Mondo Gecko is voiced by Paul Rudd, who is the mutant who likes hugs, and Post Malone voices Ray Fillet, the manta ray with scuba mask and snorkel. Rogan’s fellow actor, Rose Byrne voices the crocodile, Leatherhead. Natasha Demetriou, Nadja in What We Do in the Shadows plays the bat, Wingnut, and the axe wielding Genghis Frog is voiced by Hannibal Burress. There are so many mutants outnumbering, not matching the Turtle team, that they are needed earlier in the movie. At one hour, 39 minutes, it runs a bit long to the inevitable climatic battle. Mid-credit scenes sets up the sequel! Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is a reboot with all of the nods to past Turtles especially with the designs and given fresh and funny voices with the teen and comdy actor cast!
Five Pizza Slices out of Five!
#TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesMutantMayhem, #JeffRowe, #KylerSpears, #MicahAbbey, #ShamronBrownJr, #NicholasCantu, #BradyNoon, #AyoEdebiri, #JackieChan, #IceCube, #GiancarloEsposito, #MayaRudolph
No comments:
Post a Comment