“[…] the film really finds its emotional side a lot of the time and sticks a beautifully wholesome landing […]”
Jeff Rowe’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
© 2023 Paramount Pictures
I’m glad I decided to go and see this in the cinema today because this was genuinely entertaining and right when those beautiful synthesizer sounds of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross started playing the film had me hooked already. Contrary to what I expected, the film didn’t actually start out with the Turtles’ origin story but shows them as teenagers already, spicing up their grocery run to make it look cooler and more tactical than it really is and along with that scene the film cleverly introduces the main desire of these guys: They want to venture out into the human world, experience some adventures, go to school, maybe get girlfriends and, most importantly, just be accepted for who they are.
© 2023 Paramount Pictures
“[…] the film really finds its emotional side a lot of the time and sticks a beautifully wholesome landing […]”
That last part ultimately becomes the emotional core of this film and it is incredibly well done. These four are teenagers and it shows in their behavior and their decision-making but they still feel compelled to do good in the human world to be embraced by them despite looking considerably different. Their rat father’s past experience in the human world brings him to shield these four from human contact, however, and makes him want to shelter them at all costs so they don’t get hurt like he almost did. That rat father figure is voiced by none other than Jackie Chan and I absolutely loved this voice casting. He really shines in the role of Splinter.
The humor of the film was incredibly funny to me and the crassness of the whole milking joke as well as all the rap music needle drops really make Seth Rogen’s writing presence felt and seem right up his alley, which is why I assume they’re his contributions to the film. Apart from the humor however, the film really finds its emotional side a lot of the time and sticks a beautifully wholesome landing that involves a whole city of people changing their minds for the better and that really got to me in the finale of the film because it feels sincere and is really an earnest form of positivity and belief that humans can ultimately be good if they are trusting in the right information and aren’t misled into hatred by falsities.