The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are based on a comic book series from Eastman and Laird. They got an animated series in the 90s which launched them into superstardom but the series changed their whole persona from serious ninja warriors to slapstick comedians who eat a lot of pizza. This is pretty much what the world knows about these characters. The newest film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mutant Mayhem is pretty much this persona once again.

The thing about this version of The Turtles in a half shell is the animation is a bit different from other versions. It has a comic book look with a mix of animated series from the 90s. This style is very effective in showing the world these characters exist in in the sewers of New York City. The animation is a bit unfinished and has a gritty and dirty look to it. That shows New York City in its truest form yet.

The Turtles, Michaelangelo (Shamon Brown Jr.), Donatello (Micah Abbey), Leonardo (Nicolas Cantu), and Rafael (Brady Noon) have an innocent way about them but like all teenagers, they yearn for more than living with their master Splinter, who found them smothered in green ooze when they were very young Turtles. That curiosity led these young upstarts to find an equally young girl, April O’Neil (Ayo Adebiri) who has been picked on at school and wants to redeem herself in the school’s eyes. She helps these Turtles to uncover who is responsible for a series of high-end robberies of scientific equipment. Of course, this investigation leads them into the adventure of their lifetimes.

A good thing for these young Turtles, their master taught them martial arts from watching television and movies. The film interrupts these scenes to show the kind of fighting these Turtles have learned. At first, they are a bit clumsy but eventually, they get their act together and find out who the culprit is behind the robberies. Superbly (Ice Cube) is his name and he was mutated with the same experiments that formed the Littles into half man half animals. He schemes to build a device to turn all animals into this version of them and make humans obsolete.  The problem is this doesn’t fly with the Turtles, their master, or their new friends Mondo Gecko (Paul Rudd), Beebop (Seth Rogan), and Rocksteady (John Cena) among others.

Along with the new animation style in this film, there is also a great original score by Academy Award winners Trent Reznor, lead singer of Nine Inch Nails, and Atticus Ross. These guys have made some great scores for films such as The Social Network and other terrific films. This score uses a lot of synth sounds, drums, and a little bit of rock n roll that Reznor is so very familiar with in his career. There are also some rap songs thrown in for good measure on the soundtrack along with other classic songs that are very eclectic and cool to listen to.

With these characters being 80s/90s icons of pop culture you knew there was going to be a lot of stuff referencing those years in the film. It was almost an overload of pop culture references. There were a lot of movie references and the comedy was quite funny. There was a fish-out-of-water thing going on as well. Ice Cube as Superfly was very funny. He channels a lot of big-screen villains of the past. This movie captured the essence of what these characters have become and will continue to become in the future. This isn’t the last of these films for Parmount or its partners.

This version of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has a great aesthetic that brings a whole new vibe to these stale characters. The producers Seth Rogan, and Evan Goldberg among others, and directors Jeff Rowe and Kyler Spears infuse these characters with a new energy and a whole new outlook for fans to follow along with. This new gritty style vibes with me as a film critic who admires the films of the 70s. I loved the look and feel of these Turtles. These filmmakers found a style I can come along with. And I’m sure others can as well. This film is oozing 70s machismo and I loved every minute of it. I think we may get a second one in this incarnation of the Turtles lore.

4 stars

Dan Skip Allen