Movie Review: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

Step into the tubular world of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, where these shell-shocking heroes embrace their teenage vibes with a side of humor and authenticity. Writer's Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg and Director's Jeff Rowe and Kyler Spears' version dives deep into the Turtle's desire for acceptance but wrapped in a compelling storyline with radical action, humor and a pure peperoni-powered-pulsatingly-pounding-powerful perfection. The animation style is a visual treat that stands out, painting the Turtles in a fresh light.  

We get a back-origin story involving Baxter Stockman and of course, how the ooze ended up in the sewers before we fast forward 15 years where our favorite, very teenage mutant Turtles are living a life in the shadows, keeping far away from menacing humans. As expected, the plot is quite similar to previous iterations - the Turtles meetup with April, they fight a bunch of bad guys, a bunch of bad mutants, eat pizza and deal with all that teenage angst that befits our half-shell heroes.

Visually, the movie takes a huge page out of the recent Spiderverse movies with very similar animation styles. It's bold, gutsy and works amazingly well. It might not be the first feature-length animated Turtles movie but it is most certainly the most colorful and vibrant with top-notch animation and clever editing. Throwing Ferris Bueller into the cinema scene was, for my retro 80s soul, pure genius. With a soundtrack dripping with style and the musical genius of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, the music amplifies the movie's essence and, strangely, makes me crave pizza even more.

Leading character, voice and depth to their ninja counterparts are Nicolas Cantu, Shamon Brown Jr., Micah Abbey, and Brady Noon and boy, do they nail it. Each of their voices has a uniqueness, each of their characters are given enough screen time to shine and each does so with excellent voice-acting chops. Their instant chemistry fuels an unceasing stream of banter, balancing lightheartedness and depth.

Jackie Chan's Splinter is a stroke of brilliance, exuding genuine emotions as a protective yet benevolent father figure, scarred by humanity's dark side. I absolutely loved the Master Splinter fight scenes and how the animation managed to capture Jackie Chan's uniquely improv fighting styles. If you've seen any of Jackie Chan's early movies (Armor of God, Meals on Wheels, Drunken Master), then this will immediately resonate with you.

Ice Cube's villainous Superfly along with his family of mutants (and some fan favorites like Bebop and Rocksteady) all add to the mutant mayhem and give the film a very vibrant energy.

Conclusion:

I have to admit, I had my reservations about another Ninja Turtles movie but this version is as close to the OG as is animatedly possible with perhaps a few very minor exceptions. The animation can be a little jumpy at times (same with Into the Spiderverse) which can be jarring for some people. But, like I said, minor.
The movie just ticked all the boxes for me. I had that same goosebump giddy kid feeling of the later 80s and early 90s turtle craze. The underlying message of acceptance and heroes stepping up really hits the feels. Overall, a solid movie and what is setting out to be the start of a really exciting franchise. Cowabunga dude, Turtle power is back!

Title: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
Director: Jeff Rowe
Producers: Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, James Weaver
Distributed by: Paramount Pictures
Based on Characters by: Peter Laird; Kevin Eastman
Genre: Animation, Action
Running Time: Approximately 1h39 minutes
Music: Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%
Life of uZ Score: 8/10