What began as a comic book from an indie duo quickly became a franchising phenomenon. The first theatrical adaptation of this series began in 1990 with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. That quickly became a trilogy and then the next movie, TMNT, was an animated one in 2007. There was another long break in-between movies before Michael Bay stepped in to produce another live-action adaptation in 2014, also called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
There were two of those and now, seven years later, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is here to stir up nostalgia. It has some big shoes to fill and fans may be wondering if it did the series justice or not. In many ways, it excelled beyond what any other TMNT movie did before this.
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
8 The Animation Style
There has only been one animated TMNT movie released in theaters and that was simply titled TMNT, which came out in 2007. What might have looked impressive back then looks dated now as CG has come a long way. Even giant studios like Pixar have some dated movies in their catalog like the first Toy Story. So, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is a huge step up from the 2007 movie. There’s nothing quite like it out there except for maybe Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse which presumably the artistry was inspired by. It remains distinct thanks to its grotesque depiction of humans and heavy comic book aesthetics.
7 Setting Up The Backstory
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem reveals a lot more than the other movies and even the cartoon show. Splinter gets some time to shine as an ordinary rat before coming across his turtle children. Various ages are also depicted in the five animal mutants in this backstory montage. It’s a different take while still relying on the ooze to carry the heavy lifting. It’s also a great montage because “Push It To The Limit” by Paul Engemann starts to play when they start to train in their ninja arts. No TMNT movie has had that epic of a song play during a training montage.
6 The Turtles Look Different From Each Other
Most movies, from the one theatrical cartoon to the five live-action films, don’t make the Turtles look different from one another. They have different colored masks, weapons, and gear, but their bodies are ultimately the same. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem tries to make each turtle look more distinct.
Michelangelo, for example, has an oblong head that looks like a football. His brothers even comment that he looks like a combination of Arnold from Hey Arnold and Stewie from Family Guy. Raphael, as another example, is a big hulking turtle compared to his brothers.
5 Typical Villains With A Twist
Even though this wasn’t true in the comics, Shredder became the main villain in the 80s cartoon for the Turtles. This is mostly true for the animated and live-action films as well. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem thankfully doesn’t rely on Shredder. He is teased at the end but the main villain is instead Superfly who is accompanied by a ton of deep cuts from TMNT’s rogues gallery. There is Mondo Gecko, Ghenghis Frog, Wingnut, and so many others. It’s great to see a film in this franchise celebrate its weird history. Also, the villains have a good side to them which is a huge difference from everything else.
4 Genuinely Heartfelt And Funny
This movie has all of the emotions built into one tight little package. It’s going to make the audience laugh with all of its oddball humor from discussing being milked to the Turtles rambling on about bacon egg and cheese biscuits. It’s also going to make people cry, but in a good way which will not be spoiled. Between these two emotions is some gross-out scenes as well like a truly too-long animation of April puking. No other TMNT movie has attempted that, 100% guaranteed.
3 Breaking The Fourth Wall
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is not afraid to poke holes in its own logic. How Splinter and the Turtles get transformed is one example. Donatello basically wielding a stick is another great fourth wall-breaking joke.
Besides itself, the movie also gets to reference things from reality like Guy Fieri, Forza Motorsport, and Family Guy. Even the Chris debate gets in this movie between Chris Pine, Chris Evans, and Chris Pratt. Including Chris Evans is especially funny because he voiced Casey Jones in the 2007 movie.
2 The Fight Scenes
The fight scenes are generally some of the best things in all of the TMNT movies. The first CG movie and the Michael Bay movies are more straight action while the original trilogy had a lot of improv in them. They were kind of like Jackie Chan films but with mutated turtles instead. That’s the category that most action scenes fall into with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, but the choreography in two scenes in particular one-ups everything that came before it. There is a montage set to the song “No Diggity” by Blackstreet that is rad along with one involving Splinter kicking butt.
1 A Kaiju Finale
Who could have guessed that this movie was going to end in a Kaiju battle? It’s kind of foreshadowed earlier in the movie when Donatello is geeking out over Attack on Titan. This knowledge helps stop the gigantic version of Superfly who just so happens to have a weakness at the nape of his neck like the titular Titans. It’s something that has never been seen on film before with the Turtles and it’s a great set piece to end things on. Plus this scene contains some of those aforementioned heartfelt moments wherein humans start to trust the other mutants.