The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are perhaps one of the most unique pop cultural phenomena ever created. Since appearing in their first gritty comic-book series in 1984, the turtles took the world by storm, constantly evolving and finding creative ways to appeal to each new generation of fans. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, they adapted to the Saturday morning cartoon aesthetic of the time. In the early 2000s and 2010s, they reverted back to a darker tone that still aired a hint of goofiness which couldn’t be further exemplified in the two Michael Bay-produced films in 2014 and 2016.
Since neither of those projects garnered any acclaim from critics or fans, a reboot of sorts has been well-warranted. There is perhaps no one better than “permanent teenager” (as the film’s marketing has put it) Seth Rogen to bring a new inventive adaptation to life and take the turtles back to their more exuberant roots.
Like he’s done with other properties that he’s produced to massive success, like The Boys and Invincible, Rogen has demonstrated that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a franchise that he is passionate about. With Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, Rogen has taken his love of the franchise and helped deliver an animated adaptation that takes some of the best elements of the Ninja Turtles lore and revitalizes them in ways that both excite and surprise.
The aptly titled Mutant Mayhem sees the four turtle brothers Leonardo (Nicolas Cantu), Donatello (Micah Abbey), Raphael (Brady Noon), and Michelangelo (Shamon Brown Jr.) get into exactly that as they investigate a slew of robberies of radioactive materials organized by a powerful mutant criminal known as Superfly (Ice Cube).
While it often felt like the teens were relegated to the back seat in their last two feature films, they are undoubtedly the stars of this entry. Their brotherly bond is the beating heart of the story, which sees them looking for acceptance from a world that has only demonstrated hate and fear toward their family in the past. Raised by Splinter (Jackie Chan), a rat who taught the turtles martial arts as a form of protection, the teens were told to never leave the New York City sewers and interact with the outside world.
Splinter is perhaps more empathetic here than he has been in any previous adaptation. In an emotionally effective scene, he takes the young turtles into the city to give them an opportunity to explore the world that they’ve admired from below. When he’s met with prejudice and hatred, he barely escapes with the boys alive. His actions to try to keep the teens safe makes him come off more as a concerned parent in Mutant Mayhem rather than a strict and uncaring master, as he has in previous films. Their family dynamic is more fleshed out here than it perhaps ever has been and serves as the film’s emotional core.
However, the greatest part about Mutant Mayhem is the refreshingly youthful bond shared between the four turtles. Cantu, Abbey, Noon, and Brown Jr. each bring a childlike charm to their character that lends to the turtles actually feeling like teenagers. The four actors have such delightful chemistry with one another thanks to the production’s unconventional but highly successful practice of having the cast record their dialogue together instead of separately. By performing together, the actors are able to improvise and riff off of each other to hilarious effect. Thanks to its energetically funny performances and clever screenplay co-written by Rogen, producing partner Evan Goldberg, director Jeff Rowe, Dan Hernandez, and Benji Samit, Mutant Mayhem plants itself as one of the year’s funniest films yet.
Much of the humor comes from the endless stream of pop cultural references that are laden throughout the film. There are jokes about everything and everyone here, including Drake, Shrek, K-pop, Marvel, and much more. Characters even make references to move the plot forward, like how in the climactic third-act action sequence, Leonardo mentions Attack on Titan and the improvisational skills of Mark Ruffalo to rally the rest of the turtles together to brave the imposing battle.
The sheer amount of references at times comes across as obnoxious and as a cheap way to get the audience to engage with any particular joke. However, more often than not, they are genuinely funny and make sense with how actual young adults talk. Making references has become a language of itself for today’s youth, thanks in part to social media, and the turtles exhibit these forms of colloquial interactions accurately. Whether they hold up in a matter of years, though, is an entirely different story.
Just like the film borders on obscenity when it comes to referential humor, the same can be said about bits of regular humor and running gags. One gross-out gag involving April O’Neil (Ayo Edebiri) is so obnoxious that it becomes funny in the first instance that it is used. However, once it returns later during a particularly powerful moment in April’s arc, the humor partially reduces the moment to a joke, taking away some of the sense of triumph that the character is meant to feel in the scene.
April plays an amazing role in the story and is brought to life spectacularly by Edebiri, who adds a charm to the character that feels like an empowering evolution. She makes the teens feel seen for the very first time by offering them her friendship and helping them become recognized as heroes. It’s a shame that the film couldn’t give her the same amount of respect in her big moment as many of the other characters are given in moments of their own, especially since her arc largely mirrors that of the turtles.
Similar to how one-note some of the jokes can be, the supporting mutant characters at times feel like an afterthought as far as characterization is concerned. Iconic characters like Bebop (Rogen) and Rocksteady (John Cena) might as well be background characters as their sole purpose seems to spout a line every now and then without contributing anything meaningful to the plot. The greatest highlight of the bunch is Mondo Gecko (Paul Rudd), who is given the most time to shine and hilariously stand out.
While some time is dedicated to fleshing out Superfly, his backstory doesn’t end up feeling as devastating as it could have. More time could have been dedicated to this effort, but instead, several scenes are spent with Cynthia Utrom (Maya Rudolph), a villain whose sole purpose is to set up a potential sequel, which she does during an extended mid-credits scene.
Rudolph’s character often makes the story feel bloated, especially as she dips in and out of it with little to no fanfare. If her scenes were simply cut, perhaps the film would have felt better paced. Although the film only clocks in at a bit over 90 minutes, it sometimes feels like it stretches a little over two hours.
Thankfully, much of the runtime feels decently paced, thanks to Rowe’s lively direction. Creatively frenetic action set pieces have so much personality sprinkled in. A memorable montage set to “No Diggity” by Blackstreet that sees the turtles taking on multiple organized crime units throughout New York is one of the most memorable scenes of the film and is packed with so much visual comedy and style.
The animation itself is gorgeously stylish. Much like the comic-book-like animation that defines the Spider-Verse films, the design of Mutant Mayhem primarily resembles the original grungy Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles designs by creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, along with a resemblance to the designs of the modern comics published by IDW.
Lending to the punk design is the excellent score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, which injects a healthy dosage of 80s techno and videogame-like beats into a musical throughline that ties together the film’s action and emotion. One of the only things that could have made the score better is if it had more time to breathe. It all too often felt like the score would be drowned out by the action.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is a remarkable step in the right direction for the franchise. It successfully pushes the property forward to potentially regain some of its past cultural significance with a new generation while at the same time providing older fans with a fresh take on some of their favorite characters with plenty of adult humor to spare. Story and pacing issues aside, it is likely the best theatrical Turtles film yet. The fun that the characters have is as infectious as its touching story of family and acceptance, which sees each character experience growth that is earned by its conclusion.
Review Courtesy of Evan Miller
Feature Image Credit to Paramount Pictures via Variety
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