The list of guest stars who will voice characters in the Chris Rock animated comedy, Everybody Still Hates Chris, has been released and to say it is star-studded is an understatement! Check out the names, below.
The upcoming comedy Everybody Still Hates Chris is the most star-studded feature we’ve seen in a while! It is an animated series, so it is easier to accommodate big names compared to a live-action show, and it sure did take advantage of that fact! If you missed the report from Deadline, we’ve got all the details for you here.
The animated comedy from Chris Rock will follow stories inspired by Rock’s experiences growing up in Brooklyn, all narrated by Rock himself. It's a reboot of the animated series. Watch the trailer for it here.
Now, call us biased! But our favorite guest star from the list below is The Bear star Ayo Edebiri.
The upcoming comedy Everybody Still Hates Chris is the most star-studded feature we’ve seen in a while! It is an animated series, so it is easier to accommodate big names compared to a live-action show, and it sure did take advantage of that fact! If you missed the report from Deadline, we’ve got all the details for you here.
The animated comedy from Chris Rock will follow stories inspired by Rock’s experiences growing up in Brooklyn, all narrated by Rock himself. It's a reboot of the animated series. Watch the trailer for it here.
Now, call us biased! But our favorite guest star from the list below is The Bear star Ayo Edebiri.
- 9/24/2024
- by Sandy C.
- ShowSnob
Exclusive: Chris Rock’s animated series Everybody Still Hates Chris is lining up the stars.
The series, which is set to premiere on Comedy Central on September 25, has unveiled a swathe of guest stars including Ayo Edebiri, Sally Jessy Raphael and Busta Rhymes.
The Bear star, talk show host and rapper will be joined by the likes of Tisha Campbell, Sam Richardson and Bell Biv DeVoe members Ricky Bell, Michael L. Bivins, Ronald Boyd DeVoe Jr.
It’s a pretty long list: Jaylen Barron, Todd Bridges, Nicole Byer, Monét X Change, Eugene Cordero, Andy Daly, Loretta Devine, Earthquake, Ron Funches, Jaida Essence Hall, Jackée Harry, Phil Hendrie, Dave Herman, Thirstin’ Howl III, Rob Huebel, Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias, Phil Lamarr, Rack-Lo, Jessica Lowe, Vincent Martella, Laraine Newman, Gabrielle Nevaeh, Kevin Michael Richardson, Natasha Rothwell, Latrice Royale, Lindsey Stoddart, Cree Summer, Vanessa Vanjie and Jenny Yang.
Elsewhere, Paul Ben-Victor, Mike Estime, Antonio Fargas,...
The series, which is set to premiere on Comedy Central on September 25, has unveiled a swathe of guest stars including Ayo Edebiri, Sally Jessy Raphael and Busta Rhymes.
The Bear star, talk show host and rapper will be joined by the likes of Tisha Campbell, Sam Richardson and Bell Biv DeVoe members Ricky Bell, Michael L. Bivins, Ronald Boyd DeVoe Jr.
It’s a pretty long list: Jaylen Barron, Todd Bridges, Nicole Byer, Monét X Change, Eugene Cordero, Andy Daly, Loretta Devine, Earthquake, Ron Funches, Jaida Essence Hall, Jackée Harry, Phil Hendrie, Dave Herman, Thirstin’ Howl III, Rob Huebel, Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias, Phil Lamarr, Rack-Lo, Jessica Lowe, Vincent Martella, Laraine Newman, Gabrielle Nevaeh, Kevin Michael Richardson, Natasha Rothwell, Latrice Royale, Lindsey Stoddart, Cree Summer, Vanessa Vanjie and Jenny Yang.
Elsewhere, Paul Ben-Victor, Mike Estime, Antonio Fargas,...
- 9/23/2024
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
There have been many great shows, and for some of the lucky few, an even better spinoff has emerged.
From shows like NCIS, Better Call Saul, and more recently, House of the Dragon, audiences have truly been spoilt.
But just because the original show was a success, it doesn't always mean the spinoff will be a success.
Heck, in some cases, the spinoff series doesn't even make it to air.
Below are five examples of some planned spinoff shows that unfortunately never made it onto the small screen, with reasons provided as to why that never happened.
Revenge
When the original four-season run of Revenge ended in 2015, the nature of the final episode instantly led to rumours that the show could return. Could Nolan continue to help those seeking vengeance? Would Charlotte progress further down the dark path the show has hinted at?
A few months after the show ended,...
From shows like NCIS, Better Call Saul, and more recently, House of the Dragon, audiences have truly been spoilt.
But just because the original show was a success, it doesn't always mean the spinoff will be a success.
Heck, in some cases, the spinoff series doesn't even make it to air.
Below are five examples of some planned spinoff shows that unfortunately never made it onto the small screen, with reasons provided as to why that never happened.
Revenge
When the original four-season run of Revenge ended in 2015, the nature of the final episode instantly led to rumours that the show could return. Could Nolan continue to help those seeking vengeance? Would Charlotte progress further down the dark path the show has hinted at?
A few months after the show ended,...
- 3/11/2023
- by Jordan Lyon
- TVfanatic
Entertainment companies like Disney find themselves in a challenging situation. They need to invest in new and growing platforms like Disney+ and Hulu, while continuing to keep the linear lineups of networks like National Geographic and ABC filled.
To help fill that gap, they have increasingly turned to new, in-house documentary studios, meant to help keep lineups fresh, and to funnel original docs to streaming services.
ABC News launched its effort, ABC News Studios, last year. That initial slate included 4 films and 15 docuseries, including a spinoff of Nightline and projects from Good Morning America anchor George Stephanopoulos, among others.
A source close to the division tells The Hollywood Reporter that it is already profitable, feeding a pipeline of feature films and docuseries to ABC, Disney+, Hulu, Nat Geo, and other platforms.
“I am so proud of the extraordinary progress and impact we’ve made in the streaming space in such a short amount of time,...
To help fill that gap, they have increasingly turned to new, in-house documentary studios, meant to help keep lineups fresh, and to funnel original docs to streaming services.
ABC News launched its effort, ABC News Studios, last year. That initial slate included 4 films and 15 docuseries, including a spinoff of Nightline and projects from Good Morning America anchor George Stephanopoulos, among others.
A source close to the division tells The Hollywood Reporter that it is already profitable, feeding a pipeline of feature films and docuseries to ABC, Disney+, Hulu, Nat Geo, and other platforms.
“I am so proud of the extraordinary progress and impact we’ve made in the streaming space in such a short amount of time,...
- 2/6/2023
- by Alex Weprin
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
MSNBC Films unveiled its upcoming series “Model America” on Tuesday.
According to the program’s log-line, the four-part documentary “dissects America’s complicated relationship with race through the lens of the people of Teaneck, New Jersey, a ‘racial utopia’ turned unlikely ground zero for the modern Black Lives Matter Movement. “
“Model America” details the fallout events that took place after 16-year-old Phillip Pannell was fatally shot by Gary Spath, a White police officer, on April 10, 1990. As the tragic death shakes up the city, rumors and misinformation begins to spread begging those in Teaneck to question if the city is really a home without racial tensions.
While the city questions whether Pannell was surrendering or attempting to pull out a when Spath fired his weapon, Civil Rights leaders descend upon the city during the investigation and trial –– adding fuel to an already building fire.
30 years later the Teaneck community still struggles with how to move forward.
According to the program’s log-line, the four-part documentary “dissects America’s complicated relationship with race through the lens of the people of Teaneck, New Jersey, a ‘racial utopia’ turned unlikely ground zero for the modern Black Lives Matter Movement. “
“Model America” details the fallout events that took place after 16-year-old Phillip Pannell was fatally shot by Gary Spath, a White police officer, on April 10, 1990. As the tragic death shakes up the city, rumors and misinformation begins to spread begging those in Teaneck to question if the city is really a home without racial tensions.
While the city questions whether Pannell was surrendering or attempting to pull out a when Spath fired his weapon, Civil Rights leaders descend upon the city during the investigation and trial –– adding fuel to an already building fire.
30 years later the Teaneck community still struggles with how to move forward.
- 9/6/2022
- by BreAnna Bell
- Variety Film + TV
“David Makes Man” is a drama television series that takes an intriguing look into race, brotherhood, and identity issues. This coming-of-age drama first appeared on screens on August 14, 2019, on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN). The storyline is about David, a teenage prodigy whose life revolves around two different worlds.
South Florida is the setting for this lyrical story created by Tarell Alvin McCraney (co-writer of “Moonlight”). The executive producers of the Peabody Award-winning show include Oprah Winfrey, Mike Kelley, Michael B. Jordan, Dee Harris-Lawrence (showrunner), and Melissa Loy. Warner Bros. produced it.
This television series got a warm reception from viewers for season 1, with an average rating of 4.1 out of 5 on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s currently in the second season comprising 10 episodes that premiered June 22, 2021, and ended August 24, 2021.
This quintessential guide covers the show’s synopsis, season two cast, whether season three will come out, what happened in season two,...
South Florida is the setting for this lyrical story created by Tarell Alvin McCraney (co-writer of “Moonlight”). The executive producers of the Peabody Award-winning show include Oprah Winfrey, Mike Kelley, Michael B. Jordan, Dee Harris-Lawrence (showrunner), and Melissa Loy. Warner Bros. produced it.
This television series got a warm reception from viewers for season 1, with an average rating of 4.1 out of 5 on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s currently in the second season comprising 10 episodes that premiered June 22, 2021, and ended August 24, 2021.
This quintessential guide covers the show’s synopsis, season two cast, whether season three will come out, what happened in season two,...
- 6/16/2022
- by Buddy TV
- buddytv.com
The Brady organization against gun violence is calling on Hollywood writers, directors and producers to examine onscreen gun violence and depictions of gun safety, asking the creative community to sign a pledge that’s already garnered more than 200 signatures of such names as Judd Apatow, Shonda Rhimes, Damon Lindelof and Jimmy Kimmel and the writers of Jimmy Kimmel Live!
The pledge, while noting that the “responsibility lies with lax gun laws supported by those politicians more afraid of losing power than saving lives,” acknowledges that “America’s storytellers” have the power to “effect change.”
“Cultural attitudes toward smoking, drunk driving, seatbelts and marriage equality have all evolved due in large part to movies’ and TV’s influence. It’s time to take on gun safety,” the Brady pledge states, and goes on to ask writers, directors and producers to, whenever possible, to:
Use creativity “to model responsible gun ownership and...
The pledge, while noting that the “responsibility lies with lax gun laws supported by those politicians more afraid of losing power than saving lives,” acknowledges that “America’s storytellers” have the power to “effect change.”
“Cultural attitudes toward smoking, drunk driving, seatbelts and marriage equality have all evolved due in large part to movies’ and TV’s influence. It’s time to take on gun safety,” the Brady pledge states, and goes on to ask writers, directors and producers to, whenever possible, to:
Use creativity “to model responsible gun ownership and...
- 6/13/2022
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Imagine the world's most prominent superheroes gathering together to face an alliance of the world's most cantankerous villains. Well, The Super Hero Squad Show Volume 1: Quest For The Infinity Sword! isn't quite what I'd imagine for that scenario, but I believe that was the intention of Marvel Animation. In Super Hero City where the Shs (Super Hero Squad) reside, the Hulk (Travis Willingham), Iron Man (Tom Kenny), Falcon (Alimi Ballard), Silver Surfer (Mikey Kelley), Thor (David Boat) and Wolverine (Steve Blum) are the supreme alliance of heroes, along with a little help from some other well known characters. Together, they guard the city from mayhem, all while trying to stop Dr. Doom (Charles Adler), and his own alliance of villains, from gathering infinity stones, which when pieced together hold the power to rule the universe.
This over-the-top, wacky series, which airs on Cartoon Network, is anything but a traditional comic spin-off.
This over-the-top, wacky series, which airs on Cartoon Network, is anything but a traditional comic spin-off.
- 7/30/2010
- by Simone Grant
- JustPressPlay.net
Imagine the world's most prominent superheroes gathering together to face an alliance of the world's most cantankerous villains. Well, The Super Hero Squad Show Volume 1: Quest For The Infinity Sword! isn't quite what I'd imagine for that scenario, but I believe that was the intention of Marvel Animation. In Super Hero City where the Shs (Super Hero Squad) reside, the Hulk (Travis Willingham), Iron Man (Tom Kenny), Falcon (Alimi Ballard), Silver Surfer (Mikey Kelley), Thor (David Boat) and Wolverine (Steve Blum) are the supreme alliance of heroes, along with a little help from some other well known characters. Together, they guard the city from mayhem, all while trying to stop Dr. Doom (Charles Adler), and his own alliance of villains, from gathering infinity stones, which when pieced together hold the power to rule the universe.
This over-the-top, wacky series, which airs on Cartoon Network, is anything but a traditional comic spin-off.
This over-the-top, wacky series, which airs on Cartoon Network, is anything but a traditional comic spin-off.
- 7/30/2010
- by Simone Grant
- JustPressPlay.net
TMNT
This review was written for the theatrical release of "TMNT".While "TMNT" is the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles project to take advantage of CGI animation, the movie stakes out no new ground for the highly profitable franchise. A certified phenomenon in publishing, toy manufacturing and TV cartoons -- along with three live-action features in the early '90s -- the green fighting machines' return to movies is a tad too conservative and calculated.
CGI delivers best on moody sets and a noirish atmosphere achieved by lighting, backgrounds and visual effects. But the characters look like plastic dolls, and the story is recycled sci-fi. The film will satisfy youngsters and newcomers but might divide older fans. Those fans certainly will turn out, though, so Warners and the Weinsteins should see respectable boxoffice figures for the first two weeks.
Other than a few sequences in Latin America, "TMNT" sticks close to home -- meaning the rooftops, sewers and back alleys of nighttime Manhattan. Its crime fighters are arrayed against the usual forces seeking the destruction of civilization, but writer-director Kevin Munroe, a CGI vet making his feature debut, focuses his main conflict within the Turtles' family.
The rift comes when the Turtles' rat sensei, Splinter (voiced by the late Mako), sends team leader Leonardo James Arnold Taylor) away for training. When he returns, younger brother Raphael (Nolan North) is miffed at his prolonged absence. Since Leo was obeying their sensei, much of this conflict over Ninja Turtle Family Values feels contrived.
While Leo is away, the family falls into a kind of languor. Michelangelo (Mikey Kelley) entertains at children's birthday parties as "Cowabunga Carl". Bored Donatello (Mitchell Whitfield) provides computer tech support by telephone. Only Raphael has continued crime fighting, secretly masquerading as a one-man vigilante known as "The Nightwatcher".
Leo's return leads to a showdown between the two brothers, Leo and Raphael, while the other Turtles all but disappear from the screen. Two other crime fighters might as well disappear because the movie finds little use for them. These are April Sarah Michelle Gellar), an archaeologist/martial artist, and baseball-wielding Casey Jones (Chris Evans), a ghost of his former crazed self. Curiously, his face is drawn so narrowly as to resemble Adrien Brody.
The villainy here is vague, almost as if it were an afterthought. At first, the enemy appears to be tech-industrialist Maximillian J. Winters (Patrick Stewart), who is assembling an army of ancient stone warriors. Then it becomes 13 monsters that slipped through a portal from another dimension 3,000 years ago. Then it's the Turtles' old nemesis, Karai (Ziyi Zhang) and her mercenaries for hire, the Foot Clan.
Younger children might be baffled by the switching alliances between bad and good guys, but when the world gets saved, you don't ask too many questions.
The Turtles were created in 1984, so the real threat to its Family Values might be tired blood. Even CGI doesn't pump much life into these kung fu critters. The new film's calculations show the most in the mix of tame violence to maintain a PG rating and youthful humor and a skateboarding sequence to keep the appeal broad. Ultimately, the movie seems driven more by the need to keep a toy line and franchise alive than any creative inspiration.
TMNT
Warner Bros. Pictures
Warner Bros. Pictures and the Weinstein Co. presents an Imagi Animation Studios production
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Kevin Munroe
Based on characters created by: Peter Laird, Kevin Eastman
Producers: Thomas K. Gray, H. Galen Walker, Paul Wang
Executive producers: Francis Kao, Peter Laird, Gary Richardson, Frederick U. Fierst
Director of photography: Steve Lumley
Production designer: Simon Murton
Music: Klaus Badelt
Visual effects supervisor: Kith Ng
Supervising animator: Kim Ooi
Co-producer: Felix Ip
Editor: John Damien Ryan
Voices:
Leonardo: James Arnold Taylor
Raphael: Nolan North
Donatello: Mitchell Whitfield
Michelangelo: Mikey Kelley
Casey: Chris Evans
April: Sarah Michelle Gellar
Splinter: Mako
Karai: Ziyi Zhang
Narrator: Laurence Fishburne
Diner Cook: Kevin Smith
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
CGI delivers best on moody sets and a noirish atmosphere achieved by lighting, backgrounds and visual effects. But the characters look like plastic dolls, and the story is recycled sci-fi. The film will satisfy youngsters and newcomers but might divide older fans. Those fans certainly will turn out, though, so Warners and the Weinsteins should see respectable boxoffice figures for the first two weeks.
Other than a few sequences in Latin America, "TMNT" sticks close to home -- meaning the rooftops, sewers and back alleys of nighttime Manhattan. Its crime fighters are arrayed against the usual forces seeking the destruction of civilization, but writer-director Kevin Munroe, a CGI vet making his feature debut, focuses his main conflict within the Turtles' family.
The rift comes when the Turtles' rat sensei, Splinter (voiced by the late Mako), sends team leader Leonardo James Arnold Taylor) away for training. When he returns, younger brother Raphael (Nolan North) is miffed at his prolonged absence. Since Leo was obeying their sensei, much of this conflict over Ninja Turtle Family Values feels contrived.
While Leo is away, the family falls into a kind of languor. Michelangelo (Mikey Kelley) entertains at children's birthday parties as "Cowabunga Carl". Bored Donatello (Mitchell Whitfield) provides computer tech support by telephone. Only Raphael has continued crime fighting, secretly masquerading as a one-man vigilante known as "The Nightwatcher".
Leo's return leads to a showdown between the two brothers, Leo and Raphael, while the other Turtles all but disappear from the screen. Two other crime fighters might as well disappear because the movie finds little use for them. These are April Sarah Michelle Gellar), an archaeologist/martial artist, and baseball-wielding Casey Jones (Chris Evans), a ghost of his former crazed self. Curiously, his face is drawn so narrowly as to resemble Adrien Brody.
The villainy here is vague, almost as if it were an afterthought. At first, the enemy appears to be tech-industrialist Maximillian J. Winters (Patrick Stewart), who is assembling an army of ancient stone warriors. Then it becomes 13 monsters that slipped through a portal from another dimension 3,000 years ago. Then it's the Turtles' old nemesis, Karai (Ziyi Zhang) and her mercenaries for hire, the Foot Clan.
Younger children might be baffled by the switching alliances between bad and good guys, but when the world gets saved, you don't ask too many questions.
The Turtles were created in 1984, so the real threat to its Family Values might be tired blood. Even CGI doesn't pump much life into these kung fu critters. The new film's calculations show the most in the mix of tame violence to maintain a PG rating and youthful humor and a skateboarding sequence to keep the appeal broad. Ultimately, the movie seems driven more by the need to keep a toy line and franchise alive than any creative inspiration.
TMNT
Warner Bros. Pictures
Warner Bros. Pictures and the Weinstein Co. presents an Imagi Animation Studios production
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Kevin Munroe
Based on characters created by: Peter Laird, Kevin Eastman
Producers: Thomas K. Gray, H. Galen Walker, Paul Wang
Executive producers: Francis Kao, Peter Laird, Gary Richardson, Frederick U. Fierst
Director of photography: Steve Lumley
Production designer: Simon Murton
Music: Klaus Badelt
Visual effects supervisor: Kith Ng
Supervising animator: Kim Ooi
Co-producer: Felix Ip
Editor: John Damien Ryan
Voices:
Leonardo: James Arnold Taylor
Raphael: Nolan North
Donatello: Mitchell Whitfield
Michelangelo: Mikey Kelley
Casey: Chris Evans
April: Sarah Michelle Gellar
Splinter: Mako
Karai: Ziyi Zhang
Narrator: Laurence Fishburne
Diner Cook: Kevin Smith
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
- 3/19/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
TMNT
While TMNT is the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles project to take advantage of CGI animation, the movie stakes out no new ground for the highly profitable franchise. A certified phenomenon in publishing, toy manufacturing and TV cartoons -- along with three live-action features in the early '90s -- the green fighting machines' return to movies is a tad too conservative and calculated.
CGI delivers best on moody sets and a noirish atmosphere achieved by lighting, backgrounds and visual effects. But the characters look like plastic dolls, and the story is recycled sci-fi. The film will satisfy youngsters and newcomers but might divide older fans. Those fans certainly will turn out, though, so Warners and the Weinsteins should see respectable boxoffice figures for the first two weeks.
Other than a few sequences in Latin America, TMNT sticks close to home -- meaning the rooftops, sewers and back alleys of nighttime Manhattan. Its crime fighters are arrayed against the usual forces seeking the destruction of civilization, but writer-director Kevin Munroe, a CGI vet making his feature debut, focuses his main conflict within the Turtles' family.
The rift comes when the Turtles' rat sensei, Splinter (voiced by the late Mako), sends team leader Leonardo James Arnold Taylor) away for training. When he returns, younger brother Raphael (Nolan North) is miffed at his prolonged absence. Since Leo was obeying their sensei, much of this conflict over Ninja Turtle Family Values feels contrived.
While Leo is away, the family falls into a kind of languor. Michelangelo (Mikey Kelley) entertains at children's birthday parties as Cowabunga Carl. Bored Donatello (Mitchell Whitfield) provides computer tech support by telephone. Only Raphael has continued crime fighting, secretly masquerading as a one-man vigilante known as The Nightwatcher.
Leo's return leads to a showdown between the two brothers, Leo and Raphael, while the other Turtles all but disappear from the screen. Two other crime fighters might as well disappear because the movie finds little use for them. These are April Sarah Michelle Gellar), an archaeologist/martial artist, and baseball-wielding Casey Jones (Chris Evans), a ghost of his former crazed self. Curiously, his face is drawn so narrowly as to resemble Adrien Brody.
The villainy here is vague, almost as if it were an afterthought. At first, the enemy appears to be tech-industrialist Maximillian J. Winters (Patrick Stewart), who is assembling an army of ancient stone warriors. Then it becomes 13 monsters that slipped through a portal from another dimension 3,000 years ago. Then it's the Turtles' old nemesis, Karai (Ziyi Zhang) and her mercenaries for hire, the Foot Clan.
Younger children might be baffled by the switching alliances between bad and good guys, but when the world gets saved, you don't ask too many questions.
The Turtles were created in 1984, so the real threat to its Family Values might be tired blood. Even CGI doesn't pump much life into these kung fu critters. The new film's calculations show the most in the mix of tame violence to maintain a PG rating and youthful humor and a skateboarding sequence to keep the appeal broad. Ultimately, the movie seems driven more by the need to keep a toy line and franchise alive than any creative inspiration.
TMNT
Warner Bros. Pictures
Warner Bros. Pictures and the Weinstein Co. presents an Imagi Animation Studios production
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Kevin Munroe
Based on characters created by: Peter Laird, Kevin Eastman
Producers: Thomas K. Gray, H. Galen Walker, Paul Wang
Executive producers: Francis Kao, Peter Laird, Gary Richardson, Frederick U. Fierst
Director of photography: Steve Lumley
Production designer: Simon Murton
Music: Klaus Badelt
Visual effects supervisor: Kith Ng
Supervising animator: Kim Ooi
Co-producer: Felix Ip
Editor: John Damien Ryan
Voices:
Leonardo: James Arnold Taylor
Raphael: Nolan North
Donatello: Mitchell Whitfield
Michelangelo: Mikey Kelley
Casey: Chris Evans
April: Sarah Michelle Gellar
Splinter: Mako
Karai: Ziyi Zhang
Narrator: Laurence Fishburne
Diner Cook: Kevin Smith
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
CGI delivers best on moody sets and a noirish atmosphere achieved by lighting, backgrounds and visual effects. But the characters look like plastic dolls, and the story is recycled sci-fi. The film will satisfy youngsters and newcomers but might divide older fans. Those fans certainly will turn out, though, so Warners and the Weinsteins should see respectable boxoffice figures for the first two weeks.
Other than a few sequences in Latin America, TMNT sticks close to home -- meaning the rooftops, sewers and back alleys of nighttime Manhattan. Its crime fighters are arrayed against the usual forces seeking the destruction of civilization, but writer-director Kevin Munroe, a CGI vet making his feature debut, focuses his main conflict within the Turtles' family.
The rift comes when the Turtles' rat sensei, Splinter (voiced by the late Mako), sends team leader Leonardo James Arnold Taylor) away for training. When he returns, younger brother Raphael (Nolan North) is miffed at his prolonged absence. Since Leo was obeying their sensei, much of this conflict over Ninja Turtle Family Values feels contrived.
While Leo is away, the family falls into a kind of languor. Michelangelo (Mikey Kelley) entertains at children's birthday parties as Cowabunga Carl. Bored Donatello (Mitchell Whitfield) provides computer tech support by telephone. Only Raphael has continued crime fighting, secretly masquerading as a one-man vigilante known as The Nightwatcher.
Leo's return leads to a showdown between the two brothers, Leo and Raphael, while the other Turtles all but disappear from the screen. Two other crime fighters might as well disappear because the movie finds little use for them. These are April Sarah Michelle Gellar), an archaeologist/martial artist, and baseball-wielding Casey Jones (Chris Evans), a ghost of his former crazed self. Curiously, his face is drawn so narrowly as to resemble Adrien Brody.
The villainy here is vague, almost as if it were an afterthought. At first, the enemy appears to be tech-industrialist Maximillian J. Winters (Patrick Stewart), who is assembling an army of ancient stone warriors. Then it becomes 13 monsters that slipped through a portal from another dimension 3,000 years ago. Then it's the Turtles' old nemesis, Karai (Ziyi Zhang) and her mercenaries for hire, the Foot Clan.
Younger children might be baffled by the switching alliances between bad and good guys, but when the world gets saved, you don't ask too many questions.
The Turtles were created in 1984, so the real threat to its Family Values might be tired blood. Even CGI doesn't pump much life into these kung fu critters. The new film's calculations show the most in the mix of tame violence to maintain a PG rating and youthful humor and a skateboarding sequence to keep the appeal broad. Ultimately, the movie seems driven more by the need to keep a toy line and franchise alive than any creative inspiration.
TMNT
Warner Bros. Pictures
Warner Bros. Pictures and the Weinstein Co. presents an Imagi Animation Studios production
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Kevin Munroe
Based on characters created by: Peter Laird, Kevin Eastman
Producers: Thomas K. Gray, H. Galen Walker, Paul Wang
Executive producers: Francis Kao, Peter Laird, Gary Richardson, Frederick U. Fierst
Director of photography: Steve Lumley
Production designer: Simon Murton
Music: Klaus Badelt
Visual effects supervisor: Kith Ng
Supervising animator: Kim Ooi
Co-producer: Felix Ip
Editor: John Damien Ryan
Voices:
Leonardo: James Arnold Taylor
Raphael: Nolan North
Donatello: Mitchell Whitfield
Michelangelo: Mikey Kelley
Casey: Chris Evans
April: Sarah Michelle Gellar
Splinter: Mako
Karai: Ziyi Zhang
Narrator: Laurence Fishburne
Diner Cook: Kevin Smith
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
- 3/19/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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