I don't care that the original 1987 "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" cartoon was toned down drastically from the Mirage comics first published in 1984 by co-creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. As a die-hard Turtle-fan I grew up while Turtlemania was at its peak, so this cartoon was obviously a must. Sure, it's a wanton commercialization of a once-novel idea, the grit and violence now slapstick rather than graphic. The show basically follows the adventures of our four reptilian mutant heroes (Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, Michaelangelo, and their sensei Splinter) as they continue a never-ending battle with the Shredder and his Foot Clan, and finding allies/foes with aliens, travelers from Dimension X, and even other mutants. Mixing old characters (April O'Neill and Casey Jones, for example) with new and original ones (Krang, Bebop and Rocksteady), "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" succeeds in just being fun entertainment, and is still one of the greatest pieces of animation made within the last 25 years. The new animated movie certainly looks promising in returning the characters to their roots in the real nitty-gritty, even though I'm not too hot on CGI turtles.
10/10
10/10