TMNT (2007) Holding it's own against the original

We've come a long way since the first Ninja Turtles, I remember as a kid not being able to wait to see the movie. When I saw the poster I freaked out, and still to this day whenever I randomly see it, I can't help but smile. Originally when I heard about the new movie I got that same kind of excitement... until I saw that it was CG. The Turtles need a break, they've been franchised out too many times since the height of their popularity and every installment since has been worse and worse. This movie might be a slight improvement though. The CG was actually very very good and rivals that of Pixar and other CG studios.

The story on the other hand was not very good. It was short and bit off more than it could chew. It did stand on it's own which is rare in a sequel. Essentially the store picks up after the first Live Action movie, Leo has been sent to the jungle to train and become a better leader. He hasn't returned after being away for a year so the other Turtles have taken up other activities to fill their days. They'll show you in the first 20 minutes of the movie so I'm not going to bother stealing the fun of the scene. The movie centers around Raphael and Leonardo, as the butt heads over leadership and everything else brothers fight about. My problem with the characters, is that while Raphael learns and grows, Leo doesn't and actually comes off pretty pompous. Michelangelo has a decent presence in the movie but Donatello is lacking from the film, I could count how many scenes he was in. It's fine if the Director and most of the other fans don't think Donatello is a strong character, but when the movie is about the bonds of brotherhood then you should probably include ALL of the brothers. The ending was convenient and quick, with the last of the 13 monsters running in and taking down the General's for the Turtles. I'll never understand why they didn't just turn off the General's electronic activators that allowed them to move and talk, but hey that's just me.

I have to fall back on the story and how rushed it felt, when I got to the ending I had the overwhelming sensation of being incomplete. In typical Turtle Movie fashion it was left wide open for another sequel, and ended with a rap song about the Turtles. Unfortunately there's not a lot of action/fighting scenes to speak of, and the jokes were pretty far and in-between as well. I did laugh at the end when Michelangelo wanted to retire his over sized turtle head costume, but other than that the most I crack was a smile. The voice acting was actually really good, with of course one exception... Splinter. His dialog was so weird and acted poorly. With Cartoons and CG movies it's all about timing and Mato, who was the voice of Splinter, just didn't have the timing to make it work. Everything sounded like a line being read, rather than acted. The movie did earn my trust enough to watch a second outing if it was made, and guessing by the $93 million it made world wide I'd say another is already in the works.



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