As we all know, there have been plenty of controversial
films over the years, including ‘Passion of the Christ’, ‘A Clockwork Orange’, and
‘The Da Vinci Code’ just to name a few, each controversial for their own unique
reasons. But the newest ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ film easily takes the
cake as one of the most controversial films in recent memory. That’s because
pretty much every major bit of news surrounding the film since the day it was
first announced got heavily scrutinized by fans of the franchise. For those who
weren’t aware of all this, here’s a general recap. First of all, the project
was to be produced by Michael Bay and given his track record with audiences, mostly in regards to his work on another
extremely popular 80’s franchise, ‘Transformers’, it’s no surprise that a lot
of TMNT fans got worried, even though Bay wasn’t even going to direct the film.
But then it was none other than Bay himself who dropped a bombshell in March
2012 at a Nickelodeon press conference where he said that there was going to be
a change to the turtles’ origin; now they are from an ‘alien race’. This really
got the fans pissed off and it also didn’t help when a supposed early script
utilizing that alien origin story-line was leaked online. In it, the focus was
more on the character of Casey Jones than the Turtles themselves, which was similar
to a problem that many people have had in regards to Bay’s ‘Transformers’; not
enough focus on those who should be the ‘main’ characters. However, Bay later
stated that this script was written before his company joined the project and
that ultimately nothing was going to change regarding the Turtles (including
their origins).
But that wasn’t the end of the ‘TMNT’ reboot controversy; it
was then announced that Megan Fox, who apparently repaired her relationship
with Bay after the whole incident where she compared him to Hitler, which
resulted in her being booted off ‘Transformers: Dark of the Moon’, was cast in
the major role of the Turtles’ main human ally, reporter April O’Neil… and
really folks, I can go on and on in regards to the controversies that have
surrounded this film because there are plenty. Pretty much everyone has been
predicting that this was going to be an epic disaster. Well after seeing the
film I can safely say this… this is ultimately not the disaster everyone was
expecting it to be. Now let me be perfectly clear about this; I’m not saying
that this is a masterpiece. In fact, compared to some of the other movies we’ve
seen this summer, this one is kind of, shall I say, ‘light’ by today’s
standards. But really… it’s frigging Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for crying
out loud! You should seriously know what to expect from a movie like this just
from that title alone. In the end, this is just a fun little action movie that
at least manages to entertain with some fairly good action sequences and
visuals. Also when compared to Bay’s other 80’s franchise, this at least feels
like they’re staying true to what made TMNT as popular as it was in the first
place.
The city of New York has been facing an increase in crime recently
due to the rise of the criminal organization known as the Foot Clan, led by the
mysterious Shredder. Hoping to investigate further into the matter, as well as
trying to get away from doing nothing but puff pieces, Channel 6 reporter April
O’Neil (Megan Fox) discovers that there is apparently a vigilante in the city
that is fighting off the Foot Clan. She soon discovers, however, that this
‘vigilante’ isn’t alone; instead there are four ‘vigilantes’, more specifically
four genetically-mutated talking turtles; Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello,
and Raphael (portrayed via motion capture by Pete Ploszek, Noel Fisher, Jeremy
Howard, and Alan Ritchson, respectively (Leonardo is voiced by Johnny
Knoxville)). These ‘Mutant Ninja Turtle Teenagers’, who used to be experiments in a lab where April's father used to work, live underground in the
sewers with their master/‘father’ Splinter (portrayed via motion capture by
Danny Woodburn and voiced by Tony Shalhoub), who trains them in the art of ninjutsu.
April ends up befriending them as they look to stop the Shredder before he ends
up taking over the city of New York.
Like I said, you really can’t take a film centered on a
group of walking, talking, pizza-loving Ninja Turtles that seriously. The plot
is pretty stupid and it even copies the ‘bad guy releasing a toxin into the
city’ plot-line from ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’. Heck, this film even tries to
attempt to connect April O’Neil to the Turtles more than ever before by having
them be experiments in the laboratory April’s father worked at (in other words,
they were once her ‘pets’) and having her be the one who saves them when a fire
destroys the lab and releasing them into the sewers. But really I went into
this knowing that it was going to be stupid and ultimately I thought it was
pretty fun. The best parts in this movie are when the Turtles are on-screen
because it really feels like this is staying true to the essence of the
franchise; they’re wisecracking heroes in a half-shell and they do maintain the
proper character traits that define each of them. However, that does mean that
any of the scenes where they are not on screen are fairly weak by comparison.
That does include the opening which kind of goes on a bit too long. Now for
those who are really worried about Michael Bay’s involvement with this film, this
actually doesn’t feel too much like a Bay film; if anything, it’s not like
there are hundreds of explosions going off every minute. Plus, compared to Bay’s
‘Transformers’ films, I’d say that this film is actually fairly harmless
towards kids even with a PG-13 rating because it’s less intense than those
films.
I know I’m going to be in the minority on this, but I really
don’t mind the new CGI designs of the Turtles. I mean I will admit that it did
take me a little bit to get used to them but overall the CGI is actually pretty
good, especially during the action sequences. I also have to give credit to the four guys who portrayed them through motion capture (and that also includes having Johnny Knoxville be the voice of Leonardo) as they did
have really good camaraderie together. The biggest standout amongst them is easily Noel
Fisher as Michelangelo as he gets the funniest lines in the movie. But what
about Megan Fox as April O’Neil, the casting choice that has faced nothing but
scrutiny ever since she was cast? Look… the role of April O’Neil hasn't always been the most
‘well-written’ in the world. The April from the 80's was known more as a 'damsel in distress' who always got kidnapped by Shredder and had to be saved all of the time by the Turtles and for the most part that was sort of the same scenario with the previous 3 live-action movies. With this film, I do have to give the writers a lot credit for having her be more involved in the action, more so than any of the live-action TMNT movies from the 90's. As for Fox herself... yes there clearly were much better choices to play
the part but at the end of the day, she’s not THAT terrible. You can’t fault
her for at least trying. As for some of the other members of the cast, Will
Arnett gets a few funny lines here and there as April’s camera-man Vern and
William Fichtner does a pretty solid job as well in the role of Eric Sacks, a
scientist who used to work with April’s dad years ago. And for the record, he’s
not playing the Shredder as it was reportedly supposed to be during
pre-production; he’s actually Shredder’s ‘protégé’.
I’m not saying that the new ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’
is a masterpiece… in fact, it doesn’t really stand out compared to some of the
other films we’ve gotten this summer. But if anything, it’s still a fun little
action movie. Yes, it’s stupid and silly but really that has always been the
case with this franchise from the very beginning. I would be incredibly
surprised if someone actually went into this film and tried to take it
seriously because you really can’t. How can you with a franchise with a title
like ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’? Still, the action sequences in this movie
are pretty good as are the visuals (e.g. the Turtles themselves). The best scenes
in the film are when the Turtles themselves are on screen. In the end, this
film, compared to Michael Bay’s ‘Transformers’ films, actually does feel like a
TMNT movie and is also less intense so it’s more family-friendly even with a PG-13
rating. Some people will say that this is a ‘severe mishandling’ of the
franchise; in fact, I’m pretty sure some people already thought that before
they even saw the damn film. Well, I can assure you folks that it really isn’t.
It does stay true to what makes this franchise so memorable in the first place.
Again, I’m not saying that’s a great film, but I at least managed to have fun
with it.
Rating: 3.5/5
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