I’m a big fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I was born in 1983 and the classic Ninja Turtles cartoon came out in 1987, so I was the perfect age to get hooked for life to those super fun adventures and all those collectible toys. I’ve caught most or some of every Turtles adaptation since, though even I haven’t been able to keep up completely. Still, I am fully on board with TMNT: Mutant Mayhem and everything it has to offer.

Movie Rating: 9/10 – Great

I have been very excited for this film since it was first announced. Seth Rogen is using his power in Hollywood for awesome adaptations, from Preacher to Invincible to now a really great take on the Turtles. And then we got some trailers, met the characters and now we’ve seen the flick. It was marvelous, and a great new take on this beloved franchise. Mutant Mayhem is one of the best movies of the year, hands down, and I hope it drives Turtles content for years to come.

Maybe it’ll get me to finally start reading all those IDW hardcover Turtles comics I keep buying…

Join me after the jump for my fully review/thoughts on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. Expect FULL SPOILERS for the movie. And feel free to share your own thoughts in the comments below.

6. Loved everything about this movie

Mutant Mayhem was everything I hoped it would be. It didn’t turn out to be more, and that’s fine. It is damn good for what it is, and what it is is a joyful, energetic, well-crafted new adaptation of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Clearly, everyone involved put a lot of thought and creativity into the new Turtles. I love their youthful energy and family camaraderie. The voice actors do a great job, and it’s clear they were having fun recording lines together. The Turtles are the best part of this Ninja Turtles movie.

And the story works very well. Acceptance is a really good theme for the Turtles, and the movie wastes no time in setting up the issue and then playing it out in a fun way. The villains work well for the lessons learned, and the movie sticks the landing on both that acceptance storyline and Splinter’s overbearing father storyline. I really liked how that came together. And I really liked how the Mayhem Mutants joined the good guys in the end, because I love me some extra action figure mutants.

Of course, the real star of the show is the artwork. Gorgeous. Simply gorgeous. I’ve been loving all the new animation styles we’ve had in the wake of Into the Spider-Verse and Mutant Mayhem goes even further. It’s a wonderful mix of paint and notebook doodles. Loved it! My only real complaint is that there were far too many scenes set in either darkness or dark buildings. Obviously, the Turtles work at night, as do the villains, but the vibrant colors in this film were often put in darkness and that was disappointing sometimes.

5. I don’t mind the changes

One thing I have come to accept as a Ninja Turtles fan over the decades is that there will be changes to the lore, and that’s perfectly fine. I’ve come to accept that with all my fandoms. So I don’t mind that Splinter’s origins don’t have anything to do with Hamato Yoshi. I don’t mind that the Shredder and the Foot Clan are not the main villains in the first film. I sure as hell don’t mind that April is Black. These are all, ultimately, very minor changes, and this is hardly the first adaptation to make such changes. Anybody on the internet whining about these changes needs to take a step back and look at the big picture. There will always be change in the TMNT franchise, and it’s fine. Things will eventually change back. Things will change again. It would be so boring if every single adaptation was the exact same way over and over again.

4. Great villains

I loved Super-Fly as the villain, and I loved the Mayhem Mutants. As I said above, I was huge into the toys as a kid. I love all the extra mutants in the Turtles universe, and I always want to see more. Shredder, Krang and the Foot are great and all, but let me see the Turtles fight Leatherhead and Old Hob and Mondo Gecko and Ace Duck and Monty Moose and Walkabout and Halfcourt. I could go on and on. More mutants is just more fun! And Super-Fly was great! I’m glad he was his own person and not just the Mr. Hyde version of Baxter Stockman. I loved his parallels with both the Turtles and Master Splinter, I loved how that was developed. I really enjoyed how he accepted the Turtles and welcomed them into the family right away. It was neat. And then Ice Cube just nailed it in the voice performance, especially when things got really fun and silly in the kaijua battle finale. 

I really enjoyed all the Mayhem Mutants. Granted, they didn’t all get a lot of lines, so I don’t know why they needed to make such a big deal about the voice actors. But they served their roles well and really fleshed out the universe. One of my all-time favorite TMNT characters is Wingnut, so I was already thrilled that a version was in the movie, and I thought that character was super fun, even with their small role. There was just one thing missing…

3. Needs Screwloose

They didn’t even give us some kind of Screwloose Easter Egg! We had Wingnut, why not Screwloose? Yeah, it would have been an extra, unnecessary little character…but not even an Easter Egg? No Wingnut making a mosquito mutant buddy at the end of the film? Nothing? Such sadness. Guess he’s being saved for the sequel! 

2. Leonardo is still best Turtle

Leonardo is my favorite Ninja Turtle. I was born a Leonardo fan, I will die a Leonardo fan. And I thought he was great in the new film. He’s a perfect sort of nervous and dorky, and then comes into his own in the leadership role in the end. I very much enjoyed this arc, and very much enjoyed his nervous crush on April. I think each new iteration has a different turtle crushing on April, and I guess now it’s his turn.

Friend-zoned at the prom though…

1 Bring on high school cartoon!

Reports are that this movie will lead into a two-season cartoon series before an eventual sequel. I am all in favor of this decision. Synergy between a Ninja Turtles cartoon and the movie series should be super fun. And it’s a time honored tradition. How many Disney and Dreamworks animated films spun off into a cartoon series? I am fully on board with a Ninja Turtles cartoon featuring the turtles in high school. It’s something new and different, and that’s perfectly fine with me. I only hope they can maintain this creative team and this caliber of work, and it’s not the actual quality of those Disney and Dreamworks spin-offs.

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