Series Link 10.07.09: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Posted by Arnold Furious on 10.07.2009
Turtle Power!
Series Link #18: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Turtle Power!
SERIES LINK
Frequently when reviewing movies I notice I'm missing sequels here and there from classic series. In line with one of my key film watching beliefs I'll be making a point of tidying up some of my sequel history. The belief in question being that as long as I enjoyed the original I'll watch any sequel made of it. I don't know where this belief came from but it's one that seems to work out for me quite frequently and there are many film series where I have enjoyed multiple sequels based on my love and respect for the initial instalment (Alien, Lethal Weapon, Die Hard, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Rocky etc).
Don't forget if you're on Twitter you can get regular tweets from 411. I'm on there too as "ArnoldFurious" although I've not quite gotten the hang of updating it. After all, who really cares what I'm doing on a Friday afternoon?
For this eighteenth edition of Series Link I thought I'd take advantage of the current nostalgia wave for 80's cartoons. TNMT hit kinda late in the 80's with the series debuting in 1987. With Turtle-mania reaching it's height around 1990 the technology was there to knock up a few suits and unlike the more expensive Transformers and GI Joe who had to settle for animated movies the Turtles found their way into legitimate live-action cinema. Interestingly enough it wasn't until the release of the 1990 movie that I even knew the Turtles were ninjas as the UK cartoon had "Heroes" dubbed over ninjas in the titles. Quite how the word "ninja" could be considered offensive and dangerous I don't know. Maybe a bunch of little English kids were attacking each other with katana's and throwing stars.
Series Link #18
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
How many films?
Four. Three in the wave of early 90's Turtle-Mania and a 4th CGI film later.
Starring?
Josh Pais, Michelan Sisti, Leif Tilden, David Forman, Robbie Rist, Corey Feldman, Brian Tochi, Elias Koteas (3 times), Judith Hoag, Kevin Clash, James Saito, Paige Turco, David Warner, Francois Chau, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Laurence Fishburne, Chris Evans.
Directed by?
Steve Barron, Michael Pressman, Stuart Gillard, Kevin Munroe
Series Span:
17 years from original Turtles movie to 2007 CGI re-launch.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)
Back in 1990 the old "comic book debut movie" wasn't quite as common. Here we're introduced to all the major players in the Turtles universe; the four Turtles themselves, Splinter, Shredder, The Foot, April O'Neil (Judith Hoag) and movie character Casey Jones (Elias Koteas). I presume the addition of another human character was to give the viewers something to look at if the Turtle costumes didn't look too sharp. As it turns out for 1990 the Turtle costumes are pretty decent. They even show little differences from one character to another. Raphael in particular has a different look, which is handy because the first movie is all about him. He's the character who first battles with the Foot on his own, meets Casey and saves April. The others kinda blend together as they share a lot of common character traits. Leonardo starts to distinguish himself as the compassionate leader as the film progresses but both Donatello & Michelangelo have little to do. Mikey is perhaps the most likeable of the four from the cartoons but he takes a backseat to the moody Raphael and the wisecrackin' Casey Jones. Which is probably for the best because they're more interesting characters with more room for development. Perhaps that's overanalysing the situation as the Turtles are your basic kids characters in that they have very clear set out personality traits and they're all good at different things so that kids can distinguish between them. In particular I remember Donatello "does machines", which would make him the team's MacGuyver.
Behind the camera for the Ninja Turtles movie was Steve Barron. The music video director opted for a darker look and feel than the cartoon and even had Master Tatsu (Toshiro Obata) beat a teenage student to death in one scene but it was cut for content. It would have established him as a total badass though! Barron's darker Turtles vision helped the film a huge $135M gross but the associated toy lines were not produced because "Playmates" Toy Company didn't want to associate their products to such a violent film. Which seems strange nowadays where anything successful gets a toy line because it generates cash! The tone of the sequels was less unpleasant and the accompanying toy lines made a small fortune. Of course the original film generated a tonne of revenue in box office alone so a franchise was inevitable. The budget was a modest $13.5M so it got back ten times that.
The first film focuses most of its efforts into establishing characters on the good' side of things and making Shredder a mysterious badass whose very size would intimidate most people. Thus setting up a concluding good vs evil battle where the Turtles would have to fight Shredder. The eventual battle is a bit of a let down though and we are dealing with a kids film at the end of the day. Despite the efforts of Barron to provide a darker approach to the subject. Some aspects still bother me about the Turtles series in general. Firstly; we're to believe that a rat learned ninjitsu? I know that in a movie where four teenage turtles have mutated into man-size ninjas anything can be a bit of a reach but I've always struggled with that one. Secondly; where did all the stuff come from that the Turtles decorate the sewer with? Maybe from a junkyard or similar but how come they have money for pizza? And Raphael has money for the movies? And did no one in the cinema notice that Raphael is a 6 foot tall turtle? This is all picky stuff but it bothered me enough for it to be noticeable. The first Ninja Turtles movie is good enough for what it is; a kids movie based on a cartoon. They do a decent enough job of converting the characters into a live action setting.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (1991)
The first thing to note about the Turtles sequel is that the mood is significantly lighter. There is less brooding and more martial arts. Raphael isn't such a loner nor is Leonardo concerned about his role as the group's leader. Also the emphasis is taken away from the Turtles ninja weapons. In particular the use of the nunchaku, which caused the film to be edited in the UK. The change in mood from relatively serious to outright goofy does make it feel somewhat unconnected to the first film. This is helped along by a change of directors and the change of some of the cast. Most noticeably is the loss of Judith Hoag as April O'Neill. She's replaced by Paige Turco. Also Casey Jones doesn't feature in this film so there's no Elias Koteas. And Corey Feldman was having "issues" and doesn't do any voice work.
The plot for the second film follows on from the first. The Foot Clan is still at large despite most of them going to jail and Shredder remains at large after being dumped into a garbage truck at the end of the first film. It is noted by the Turtles that they didn't, in fact, beat Shredder in the first film so there's unfinished business there. The title refers to the "Ooze" that transformed the Turtles from pets into human-sized warriors. Shredder gets the idea of using said Ooze for his own benefit. Hopefully this time without wearing a sparkly red chiffon blouse. He's out for revenge after the garbage truck left him horribly disfigured. Presumably because they changed actors with Shredder too. This time played by Francois Chau. He discovers that TGRI created the Ooze that transformed the Turtles but Splinter makes the discovery at the same time and both go after Professor Perry (David Warner) to find out how the Ooze works.
Contrary to other reviewers I actually dig the lightening of mood from the first film into this one. The darker original film struggled to keep in touch with the demographic it was aiming for. It didn't work too well as a kid's movie. The lighter second film is more in touch with its target audience. It's a great deal more fun. Shredder and, in particular his henchmen, are more cartoony and the result is quite enjoyable. Some of the supporting cast isn't so great. Casey Jones gets replaced with Asian teenage martial arts guy Keno (Ernie Reyes Jr the boy prince in Red Sonja). Shredder then creates a couple of Ooze based attack creatures in Tokka (Kurt Bryant) and Rahzar (Mark Ginther). Originally the characters the studio wanted were the cartoon characters of Bebop and Rocksteady but creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird didn't agree so these Ooze created alternatives came about. They're very silly looking. The snapping turtle looks a bit like a Skeksis (due to them both being created by Jim Henson, one would presume) and the wolf just looks terrible.
However that's not as bad as Turtles II gets. As the Turtles prepare to battle the two mutated freaks they fall through into an adjoining nightclub. And then there's Vanilla Ice.
"Go Ninja, Go Ninja, Go!" And then there's Super Shredder (Kevin Nash). The mutated version of Shredder is supposedly the ultimate opponent for the Turtles to compensate for the failings of the battle that ended the first film. But sadly the finale of the Secret of the Ooze is even more disappointing than the first film. Shredder knocks over a pier and the Turtles escape because they're turtles and they can swim while Shredder gets crushed. I could buy it as an ending if a) they'd already had a fight, which they hadn't or b) Shredder had drowned because he was too heavy as Super Shredder to float. But no. There's no fight and a few bits of wood crush Shredder to death after he survived being crushed at the end of the first film. It's lame and brings the whole film, like the pier, crashing down around us.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993)
Normally when a series has run out of ideas it takes the familiar characters and moves them to an unfamiliar setting. Other series have sent their characters into space as a last resort. The Turtles instead visited Japan...in the past! However two notable returns feature in Turtles III; Elias Koteas is back as Casey Jones, albeit in an extended cameo, and Corey Feldman returns as the voice of Donatello. He missed the second film because of personal demons (aka drugs) but was back here after recovering. Stuart Gillard took over behind the camera. If you thought the last movie saw a drop off in directorial talent you ain't seen nothing yet! Gillard also shot Rocketman a few years later and then went back into TV. Turtles III marked the point at which they took Turtlemania for granted and just churned out any old shit. The failings of the second film seemed glaringly obvious to critics but the producers knew they had a goldmine so just kept on going regardless of whether a decent script was in place. In Hollywood if you have a goldmine, you mine that sonofabitch dry ASAP. If not sooner.
The worst offence of Turtles III is the penny-pinching budget that results in an assortment of lamewad creature effects. The worst being Splinter who looks like a pile of furballs but the Turtles are almost as bad. In Turtles III April O'Neil (Paige Turco) accidentally changes places with 17th Century Japanese prince Kenshin (Henry Hayashi). The Turtles mount a rescue but lose Michelangelo who falls in a band of rebels led by Mitsu (Vivian Wu). Meanwhile the rebels are set to contest British arms dealer Walker (Stuart Wilson) who's trying to sell his guns to local leader Lord Norinaga (Sab Shimono). The Turtles find themselves in the middle of this feudal battle along with Whit (Elias Koteas), which gives the actor a chance to play two roles having already got Casey Jones nailed down. I complained earlier in this paragraph about the penny-pinching studio limiting the budget but the budget was a stately $21M and yet the appearance of the characters is so much worse than before. It would seem all the cash went on the Japanese sets.
What's incredibly frustrating about the third Turtles movie is that it really ignores everything that was successful about the first film. The Turtles don't really have much to distinguish themselves apart from Donatello getting a bigger role than in the last two and being specifically "good with machines", which is something the previous two films overlooked. Mainly because Donatello's skills weren't needed. So the Turtles all blend together. Even Raphael's individualism is toned down as he joins in the Turtles weird dancing at the start and end of the film. Casey Jones is limited to a handful of funny scenes with the four Japanese men sent to New York in place of the Turtles. Some of this stuff was gold and Elias Koteas is great in these scenes but they're just cutaways to kill time while the main story progresses. And Splinter looks so lame, usually standing behind something because they couldn't afford to make him legs, so that scenes with him in are cringeworthy. What's even more frustrating is that, now experienced fighters, the Turtles still lack the ability to beat even the most mediocre of enemies and Walker is beaten by someone else.
It all adds up to a really desperate money-grabbing vibe that fails to engage the fanbase. It's no shock that after the release of Turtles III that the live-action franchise died on its ass. The law of diminishing returns kicked in REALLY quickly with Turtles movies. Which is unfortunate because the first one had a tonne of promise and if they'd fixed the problems (anticlimactic ending being the main one) they could have had a good franchise. Typical Hollywood failings kicked in shortly afterwards and the less said about the sequels the better. Still Hollywood smelt money when 80's cartoons started getting popular again. The retro vibe extended into Turtles-era and it was once more back to the well!
TMNT (2007)
What is true about pop culture is that retro' will always be in. So you get this little 20 year space where stuff that was cool 20 years ago will eventually come back around. Mainly because the people in charge are re-living their childhood memories. Hence the current fad for re-launching 1980's toy lines and TV shows as multi-million dollar movie franchises. Someone jumped the gun on the Turtles in 2007 though as the heroes in a half-shell returned to the big screen in a new computer generated adventure. Kevin Munroe was the driving force behind the Turtles return. The director of animated video game Freaky Flyers he yearned to get into the movies. He came in with plenty of ideas and secured a substantial budget (at $34M, more than the other films). When you think about it, the surprise isn't that there was now an animated Turtles movie but rather it was unusual that they choose to do live action in the first place. After all the big 80s cartoons (Transformers, Thundercats, GI Joe) had opted to go animated with their features. Maybe the Turtles producers felt they needed to go one better because of the nature of their sensational ratings. Anyhow it seems strange that the Turtles went live-action in their features and then went back to the drawing board with this animated movie.
Keep in mind that animation has come on leaps and bounds since the Turtles were on TV and the Japanese animation styles had helped America realise how crappy their mainstream animation was. Along came Pixar and the rest is history. The animation in TMNT is pretty decent. More like a low-rent Shrek than a low-rent Toy Story though. It looks great until something moves then the actual animation is a bit jerky. But for $34M I don't expect to be blown away and I'm not. It's disappointing that the actual characters seem to have had the least amount of work done on them. The backgrounds are far superior. It could have used some motion capturing to make the movements of the characters look more realistic. Not that anyone knows how mutated turtles move. Also when Pixar has voice actors they fit the roles. Here famous people have been selected to play certain roles with no real thought going into why. Patrick Stewart, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ziyi Zhang, Kevin Smith and Chris Evans all have roles but their characters don't have any real aspect of their personalities. Just their voices. For example the template for Casey Jones is still Elias Koteas. Here we have Chris Evans' voice in Elias Koteas' character. It doesn't fit.
As TMNT begins Leonardo has moved down to South America to learn how to be a better leader and in his absence Raphael has become a crimefighter called the Nightwatcher while the other two Turtles have gotten jobs. Donny in tech support and Mikey as a children's entertainer. The gang is slowly separating. Meanwhile the sinister Winters (Patrick Stewart) is an immortal who's been waiting 3000 years for the stars to re-align so he can free his brethren, who've been trapped in stone the whole time. With the brotherhood ready to be unleashed the disjointed Turtles crew faces their biggest challenge. Also there are 13 mythical beasts running around that were also released 3000 years ago. Another of Winters attempts at putting stuff right. But the 13 beasts all appear to be running around in New York. What are the odds? You'd think they'd be spread out across the world. Or maybe they happen to hunt in packs. I dunno.
The core of TMNT is the differences between Raphael and Leonardo. These two once again come to the forefront. Leo may question his abilities but his biggest problem is convincing Raphael to be part of the team and control his temper. This leads to a slick rooftop battle between the two with Leo unaware that Raphael is the Nightwatcher. Once again the ending is somewhat of a let-down although this one is far more conclusive than either of the first two movies. I like Karai (Ziyi Zhang) hinting at Shredder's return in a future movie. Overall TMNT isn't a bad film compared to the rest of the series but it isn't great compared to other animated films of recent years. Pixar was doing Ratatouille the same year, which is way ahead of this. Both in terms of animation, storyline and characters. Much like Secret of the Ooze, it's not bad but tonally it can't match up to the first one. Although I did really enjoy the dynamic between Leo and Raphael that runs through the core of this movie.
RATINGS
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ***1/2
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze **1/2
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III *1/2
TMNT **1/2
BOX OFFICE
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles $135M
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze $78M
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III $42M
TNMT $54M
The 411
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, like any children's TV programming, found the leap from television to cinema to be a big step. Despite this the first film does very well for itself establishing a darker set of characters and themes to the TV show. The sequels tend to return more to the ideas at play in the TV show and it's interesting to note that as a result they were less successful. My own personal preference would have been for the movies to explore the Turtles in a little more depth. To allow their characters to grow beyond the teenagers of the cartoons. But sadly they keep getting roped back into that teenage mentality. Part of the reason why characters like Peter Parker are so good is that they grow and age and learn. How can the Turtles ever do that if they're permanently saddled with teenage mentalities? Another version of the Turtles is set to appear in 2011. Hopefully they'll learn from past mistakes made by this very uneven franchise.
Uh Casey Jones wasn't just a movie character...or why you make it as if this was supposed to be a "comic book movie".....yes it was a comic book first, but come on...it was all about the cartoon back in the late 80s
Posted By: Erik (Guest) on October 07, 2009 at 01:13 AM
L's favorite list in order of love...
1. Turtles II
2. TMNT
3. Turtles I
I have nothing but hate for Turtles III
Posted By: xLx (Guest) on October 07, 2009 at 10:32 AM
To be fair, the CGI TMNT is more based on the rebooted cartoon than it is the original movies. In fact, its canon is somewhere between the two, as the rebooted animated series was based almost entirely off of the original comics (only the violence being downplayed, of course), and the CGI TMNT exists somewhere between the live-action movies and the rebooted animated series.
Also, the Raphael/Leonardo fight in TMNT is one of my favorite fights in the history of cinema. Very, VERY intense for a kid's animated movie.
Posted By: AndrewCrow (Guest) on October 07, 2009 at 12:45 PM
TMNT Rocked!!!!
Posted By: DMc11 (Guest) on October 07, 2009 at 09:20 PM
The first movie is fucking sick, and TMNT is better than most people will give it credit for.
Posted By: Talon (Guest) on October 07, 2009 at 09:35 PM
The original is terrific. It was a super hero movie with a "dark" tone before EVERY super hero movie had to have a dark tone
Posted By: M:-X (Guest) on October 08, 2009 at 06:16 AM
The first TMNT live action movie is actually quite a bit more based on the comics than I think anyone realizes. Splinter's and the turtles' origin is almost verbatim from TMNT #1, The Casey/Raphael fight in the park, April's family's antique shop and farmhouse, and some of the dynamic between the turtles themselves are pretty closely based on the original black and white TMNT comics from the mid 80s.
There were some concessions to the animated show, (April was a lab assistant and not a reporter) and probably to budget constraints and general Joe Public confusion as well(the book took a hard right turn at over the top science fiction very early on), but it's a pretty faithful adaptation, all things considered. It's actually pretty cool to look at the movie now, knowing what to look for.
Posted By: BJC (Guest) on October 08, 2009 at 02:38 PM
It's hard to compare TMNT to a Pixar movie in terms of animation quality, Pixar movies tend to cost over 100 mil and are in production for over four years, for a movie produce for less then 40 mil and under 2 years by a studio that had never produced a feature length animated movie, TMNT was better then it had any right to be.
Monroe was proud of the fact that they used motion capture and instead used key framing for every scene, some people like Monroe think motion capture is form a "cheating", it's a animator thing.
And Koteas/Evans were supposed to sound like an established character, Casey Jones, not like themselves, this is one reason why Monroe didn't want to have named actors voicing the roles in TMNT.
Despite it's over the top and under developed monster plot, TMNT perhaps does the best job at maintaining a serious tone throughout the movie, even the first movie couldn't get by without goofy sound effects, slapstick fighting, and dancing turtles. People tend over rate the darkness and seriousness of the first movie.
Posted By: Monty (Guest) on October 10, 2009 at 11:25 AM
