Zombies Ruin Everything

Stars: Pete Ploszek, Jeremy Howard, Noel Fisher, Alan Ritchson, Danny Woodburn, Megan Fox, Will Arnett, William FIchtner, Tohoru Mosamune, and voices by Johnny Knoxville, Tony Shaloub

Rated PG-13 for sci-fi action violence , Running time 101 minutes, Action/Sci-fi/Comedy

Compare to: Hellboy (2004) The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)

For a movie that’s garnering as much hype (and hate) as this new Ninja Turtles movie is, expectations were still right there in the middle for me. Could be good, could be a waste of time.

And for all the backlash its received  by way of critics, I’m having a hard time understanding it. Has the story been done before? Sure. But is it enjoyable to see the turtles flipping around with martial arts that rubber suits previously prevented? Definitely.

In modern day New York City, a slow but steady stranglehold is rising over everyone and everything. The ominous Foot Clan, a heavily armed group of ninjas, are doing as they please with seemingly no one to stop them. But soon, a small group of vigilantes appear to thwart the evil forces. Created from a lab experiment gone awry (or maybe too well), four mutated turtles use their abilities to stop the city from being taken over by the Clan’s leader, The Shredder.

For the kids looking forward to seeing their favorite turtle bros brought to life should do the same for old fans looking for nostalgia. Unless the bandwagon you’re riding on permits otherwise, TMNT is fast and funny yet doesn’t spend so much time on semantics that we wouldn’t care about should they have presented themselves.

Chances are, you’re not going to enjoy this as much as you did last week’s Guardians of the Galaxy, but it’s also too short to really take issue with any of the problems the movie does have. The plot and the villain’s aim is one you can understand before it’s even explained and everything and everyone being connected before they even realize how seems so overdone you’ll feel like you could have written this.

Turtle van!

Yet for any issues one may have with the film, the dynamics of the brothers feel like they take precedence over the negatives. Humorous interactions and mouths as fast as their feet, all four turtles feels entertaining and lively; the CGI it takes to bring them to life takes a sideline as the turtles really are characters in the film as opposed to say, the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park, who act more as spectacles. The turtles are spectacles as well, but more closely related to the Hulk in film; impressive, yet emotive.

It’s funny to think that a movie Michael Bay produced should serve as inspiration to his own film franchise, Transformers- More of the title characters, Bay! Less of the humans! Do you think he heard that from my tiny corner of the internet?

Teaching the kids the Way of the Bay

Positives: The turtles are as funny and entertaining as they’ve ever been, the movie is too short to take its few issues too seriously. Kids and adults alike could enjoy this.

Negatives: Been there, done that-type plot. Kid-friendly feel may turn away an adult audience.

Grade: B-

Side note: Nope, nothing at the end.

This entry was posted on 08/08/2014 at 12:14 am and is filed under Reviews! with tags 2014, action, movie review, sci fi, teenage mutant ninja turtles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.