| Product: |
TMNT (DVD) |
| Date: |
13.03.08 (111 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Enjoyable fun with great animation
Disadvantages: Terrible ending
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (or Heroes as they were called in the cartoon series) were absolutely massive 15-20 years ago. First appearing, and pretty much starting, the Black and white independent comic explosion in the eighties and then moving on to take over the whole world, briefly, with toys, cartoons, other rip off comic characters (Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters for example) and, of course, three live action films.
Now they have returned to the big screen and our DVD players once more, bigger and badder than ever and animated this time around. No hand drawn animation this time around though, this movie is all computer created, Shrek style. This is visually impressive and makes their attempts to save the world from an evil, immortal general and his thirteen monsters that are stalking New York.
Time has passed since we last saw the Turtles and times have not been good for them. Leonardo has gone to South America to learn how to be a leader, and hasn't been seen for two years. In that time the other three turtles have lost focus and interest. Donatello is a 24 hour computer helpline operator, using his brains for a more mundane task, Michelangelo is 'Cowabunga Carl'(a great use of the Turtles old catch phrase) a party organiser who 'dresses up' as a turtle to entertain children while Raphael spends all day sleeping because, unknown to the others, he spends all night as an urban vigilante, patrolling the streets.
When their friend April, who has somehow become a Lara Croft style treasure hunter, is in America looking for an item she also tracks down Leonardo, known to the locals as 'The Ghost in the Jungle' and talks to him about returning to his brothers.
Will he return and will he be able to sort out his differences in philosophy with Raphael? Will Splinter, their rat Sensei, be able to get the four turtles to form a cohesive team again? The fate of New York, and maybe even the world, could depend on it!
The animation of TMNT is impressive indeed. It is very Shrek like but set in a much darker world. There are no fairy tale bright colours in this world. The New York of TMNT is a very dark and grim place, but then when you live in a sewer you wouldn't expect bright lights would you?
There are some very imaginative 'camera' viewpoints in the film, in particular a shot through a neon sign down onto a rooftop during a fight and with a very Lone Wolf and Cub/Shogun Assassin sword through water rip off.
TMNT is very much a young boys film, it is fast and furious with very little extraneous stuff to get in the way of the story. It has a very short running time of around 70 minutes, which certainly could have done with expanding.
The Turtles has to deal with 13 monsters individually and this is extremely rushed, in fact most get caught off screen something that gets a bit confusing. There is also no explanation at all about The Foot (evil ninjas), who play very little part in the proceedings but would be lost on anyone who doesn't know the background of the Turtles and who the Foot are. You feel as if the makers decided that as they are the Turtles main enemies they better get them in, even if they have nothing at all to do with the main plot of the film. People with no prior knowledge could wonder what they are doing as well as who they are.
The biggest problem with the film though is the diabolical ending, made all the worse by a nice twist just beforehand. The ending is so bad it actually ruins a quite enjoyable film, from an adult point of view at least. Other than that last 5 minutes or so TMNT is an enjoyable animated adventure that is sure to please young boys everywhere, and they will not be bothered about the terrible ending either I bet!
Summary: The Turtles are back.
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