First of all to say I am a huge TMNT -fan, or at least I was back when I was a kid. I guess that still hasn't changed even now when I'm 20 years old, as I was more than thrilled to hear about a new Ninja Turtles movie. It was kind of a disappointment to hear it was only going to be an animation, but I didn't let myself down and decided to see the movie anyways. It was, after all, a brand new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. The story itself wasn't quite what I expected, it was pretty corny and didn't actually include any twists, it was pretty predictable. The main plot is about, quoting one of the plot outlines, a tech-industrialist tycoon Max Winters who revives four ancient stone warriors and enlists the help of the foot clan to help capture ancient monsters.
Yeah, the main plot is indeed corny, but I was surprised how good the background story was and I was more interested of it rather than the main one. The movie is based on the time after the Turtles have defeated their old arch nemesis, The Shredder, and how they are after that grown apart as a family. The whole building up of the four brothers uniting together once again is also surprisingly dramatic, though it also does has its cheesy moments. I wasn't honestly so worried about the main plot, as I wanted to see the Ninja Turtles after all and the way I saw them was positively entertaining.
As I mentioned earlier I was kind of disappointed about the movie being an animation but to my surprise the CGI used in the film was superb and there really were some parts which could not have been done in live action. The CGI made the action scenes really spectacular and how the cinematography complimented those scenes the CGI wasn't a bad choice after all, not at all. You didn't even really think that you're watching an animation, as in some parts the CGI was simply magnificent and overall the whole animation department deserves a big plus on bringing the Turtles back on the big screen, though the Turtles themselves look more like the newer Turtles and not the old ones. There were even a main theme in the music for the Turtles and to me that was very fitting and compelling, by having Klaus Badelt (who we know for example from the first "Pirates of the Caribbean") as the composer the compositions changed from dramatic to explosive and followed the whole main theme in an astonishing way. The music played an important role in the movie and that was also one of the more enjoyable things I liked. There were also these cheesy punk/rock -songs playing out throughout the film, but they weren't so annoying, as they also belong to one of the things what we remember the Turtles of.
To me the voice acting was brilliant in this film, especially the voices of the Turtles as they pretty much represented the voices of the old turtles and definitely gave the old voices so much credit. To me it was kind of a surprise that Sarah Michelle Gellar did the voice acting of April O'Neil, but she wasn't as annoying I'd imagined her to be. I'd still have wanted someone else to be the voice of April, but Sarah Michelle Gellar was a pretty decent choice after all. Chris Evans did a good job as Casey Jones, Master Splinter's voice actor Mako was everything you could ask for Splinter's voice and Max Winters's voice actor Patrick Stewart is always brilliant no matter if it was a live action or an animated movie. We even heard Laurence Fishburne as the narrator and as his voice is so known especially from "The Matrix" he was a spot on pick as the narrator, though he narrated just a short period of time. Anyway, the voice actors of the Turtles; James Arnold Taylor, Nolan North, Mitchell Whitfield and Mikey Kelley were undeniably the best thing the voice acting department had to offer. Not only representing the old voices of the Turtles, but also representing the different personalities and actions of the Turtles. The humor is still there, but thank god it's not as over the top as you could imagine. Despite the fact of you hearing the word "dude" a lot it still brings a smile on your face and there are just a few corny jokes which really don't matter in the end.
By saying all this I am more than glad to say that "TMNT" didn't suck, it's a good film. As an animation it's also surprisingly violent, so it's not a movie for the youngest audience and it's not a movie for the adults either, it is something between and especially for the old school Turtle -fans. I myself am still waiting for a new fresh live action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles -film with a darker edge in it, so hopefully that'll change from a dream to reality some day. I personally would love to see a new TMNT live action movie and I think all the fans agree with me in that. Not a movie like those made in the 90's, as they were pretty much just an example of how wrong can you go with such superior characters, but a movie directed towards us old school fans and plus having that darker side. All in all, I am happy to say that the Turtles are back and after years of waiting the comeback is surprisingly satisfying. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ruled back then and they rule now. "Cowabungaaaa!"
Yeah, the main plot is indeed corny, but I was surprised how good the background story was and I was more interested of it rather than the main one. The movie is based on the time after the Turtles have defeated their old arch nemesis, The Shredder, and how they are after that grown apart as a family. The whole building up of the four brothers uniting together once again is also surprisingly dramatic, though it also does has its cheesy moments. I wasn't honestly so worried about the main plot, as I wanted to see the Ninja Turtles after all and the way I saw them was positively entertaining.
As I mentioned earlier I was kind of disappointed about the movie being an animation but to my surprise the CGI used in the film was superb and there really were some parts which could not have been done in live action. The CGI made the action scenes really spectacular and how the cinematography complimented those scenes the CGI wasn't a bad choice after all, not at all. You didn't even really think that you're watching an animation, as in some parts the CGI was simply magnificent and overall the whole animation department deserves a big plus on bringing the Turtles back on the big screen, though the Turtles themselves look more like the newer Turtles and not the old ones. There were even a main theme in the music for the Turtles and to me that was very fitting and compelling, by having Klaus Badelt (who we know for example from the first "Pirates of the Caribbean") as the composer the compositions changed from dramatic to explosive and followed the whole main theme in an astonishing way. The music played an important role in the movie and that was also one of the more enjoyable things I liked. There were also these cheesy punk/rock -songs playing out throughout the film, but they weren't so annoying, as they also belong to one of the things what we remember the Turtles of.
To me the voice acting was brilliant in this film, especially the voices of the Turtles as they pretty much represented the voices of the old turtles and definitely gave the old voices so much credit. To me it was kind of a surprise that Sarah Michelle Gellar did the voice acting of April O'Neil, but she wasn't as annoying I'd imagined her to be. I'd still have wanted someone else to be the voice of April, but Sarah Michelle Gellar was a pretty decent choice after all. Chris Evans did a good job as Casey Jones, Master Splinter's voice actor Mako was everything you could ask for Splinter's voice and Max Winters's voice actor Patrick Stewart is always brilliant no matter if it was a live action or an animated movie. We even heard Laurence Fishburne as the narrator and as his voice is so known especially from "The Matrix" he was a spot on pick as the narrator, though he narrated just a short period of time. Anyway, the voice actors of the Turtles; James Arnold Taylor, Nolan North, Mitchell Whitfield and Mikey Kelley were undeniably the best thing the voice acting department had to offer. Not only representing the old voices of the Turtles, but also representing the different personalities and actions of the Turtles. The humor is still there, but thank god it's not as over the top as you could imagine. Despite the fact of you hearing the word "dude" a lot it still brings a smile on your face and there are just a few corny jokes which really don't matter in the end.
By saying all this I am more than glad to say that "TMNT" didn't suck, it's a good film. As an animation it's also surprisingly violent, so it's not a movie for the youngest audience and it's not a movie for the adults either, it is something between and especially for the old school Turtle -fans. I myself am still waiting for a new fresh live action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles -film with a darker edge in it, so hopefully that'll change from a dream to reality some day. I personally would love to see a new TMNT live action movie and I think all the fans agree with me in that. Not a movie like those made in the 90's, as they were pretty much just an example of how wrong can you go with such superior characters, but a movie directed towards us old school fans and plus having that darker side. All in all, I am happy to say that the Turtles are back and after years of waiting the comeback is surprisingly satisfying. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ruled back then and they rule now. "Cowabungaaaa!"