The title Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is quite a tongue-twister. The seventh theatrical iteration featuring the crime-fighting team is a reboot of the series. I saw the first release back in 1990, but I had not seen any since…until now. *
The chronicle is another origin story that recounts how these four turtle brothers (Donatello, Michelangelo, Leonardo, and Raphael) came to be and were raised by their adoptive rat father, Splinter (Jackie Chan). I’ll start with the good. I love the animation. This is directed by Jeff Rowe, one of the minds behind The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021). The style utilizes computer graphics, but it looks like hand-drawn designs that resemble sketches in a school notebook. The approach is visually appealing.
The voice work is fun. The titular turtles are articulated by actual teenagers (Micah Abbey, Shamon Brown Jr., Nicolas Cantu, Brady Noon). They struggle with typical adolescent issues like wanting to be accepted. In this case, they yearn for the approval of society at large. The main villain here is Superfly, a literal fly creature transformed by an experiment gone wrong. He’s memorably voiced by Ice Cube, and I got a kick out of his humorous performance.
I was less enthused by the screenplay (co-written by Seth Rogen), which frequently relies on pop culture references. The dudes listen to singers like Adele, Drake, and Beyoncé and regret they couldn’t see BTS in concert. The group also watches the 1980s live-action classic Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. They reference the characters Shrek, Gru, and Megamind when discussing the villains they face. Their father throws them a party with cardboard cutouts of Chris Evans, Chris Pratt, and Chris Pine there. A little of that stuff goes a long way. The constant name-dropping kept taking me out of the movie.
Your mileage may vary. The critical consensus is that this surpasses most — if not all — of the previous films. What does that say about the earlier efforts? I liked the technique. The look reminded me of this year’s Across the Spider-Verse, a picture I enjoyed. Storywise, however, Mutant Mayhem comes up short.
* It was correctly pointed out that I did see the 2014 picture Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I apparently blocked that film from my memory.
08-03-23
One Response
The animation was ok and I too liked Ice Cube as Superfly, but the rest was pretty junky. At times, it felt like it was written by children. It made no sense to me that the turtles had access to cell phones, internet and movies but one of them is head over heels over a chubby, nerdy unattractive girl. 🙄 2 ⭐️