Tmnt Secret of the Ooze: Overrated or Underated?

[FredWolfLeonardo]

I am a big fan of the Original Trilogy of live action tmnt films, and I love to see people review them from many different angles. However, while reviews of Tmnt 1 and 3 seem to be pretty straightforward, I always found Secret of the Ooze to be a little murkier.

One the one hand, there's the crowd which likes this movie and has a ton of fun with it, even saying that it surprassed the original 90s film in parts when it came to the costumes etc. and that it was a welcome sequel in the franchise. On the other hand, there's the people who say it was very painful to watch and even worse than Tmnt 3 (which they really don't like in the first place).

So, which side of the spectrum would you lean on? Do you think this movie is an under-appreciated gem in tmnt that gets undeservedly bashed, or do you think this movie is severely overrated and has very little quality to offer?

[d_osborn]

It's an awful kid's movie with a ton of charm and heart that I have loads of nostalgic love for.

It's not the ideal sequel to Barron's 1990 film, but it's far from the being the worst media produced out of the franchise-- even during it's era. Henson Group's work was fantastic, David Warner is a treasure of the human race, and although we lost Hoag, I didn't know a dude at the time that wasn't completely smitten by Paige Turco.

The indie dance soundtrack is WAY more fun that it deserves to be with some serious hitters from the early 90s. Cathy Dennis is a damn legend in pop music.

SOTO isn't a good movie by any means, but I love the hell out of it.

1990 was a fluke that made it through pre-production without anyone realizing (and thus subverting control) the success of the source material. SOTO was more along the lines of what a committee-designed 90's TMNT movie was always going to be.

[Andrew NDB]

Highly overrated. Nonsense plot and characters around a very thin and quickly abandoned arc about "What is our purpose? Are we just freak accidents?" They could have done a lot but chose to make a movie for PTA groups instead.

TMNT 3 is better, costumes aside. It's not good, but it at least has some heart.

[TurtleWA]

Can’t say anything critical about the film. I just like it way to much.

[MikeandRaph87]

I believe this poll will go down as do you like Secret of The Ooze opposed to underrated and overrated. That being said it is my favorite of all the films. It has The Shredder and evil mutants. That gives it a leg up on TMNT III: Back In Time and TMNT because those were made for movie villains. Tokka and Razhar had potential beyond just the film. Norinaga was whimpy and Walker has rather limited potential and the same can be said for Max Winters. Not much to work with him besides he was blinded and could see the error of his ways in the end.

It also had a good tone. It was fun yet serious. I would have liked more weapons usage. It just got caught up in an unnecessary backlash thanks to the same villain that struck TMNT (1987) the censors. *signal ominous music* Why else would Super Shredder just be a mindless steriod monster inspiring Batman and Robin(1997)'s Bane? Also, why else would Super Shredder do nothing more than drop a pier on himself. When I think of Secret of The Ooze as an adult is what script it could have been. No only the above mentioned, but yes the utrom who I would have assumed was Krang. Unless there were other utroms Perry was seen contacting or referencing and his utrom birthname was Jordan Perry.

There was also potential for more characterization when it was learned that the TMNT were just accidents. I would have liked that explored, but the lesson of poor origins and present richness was a solid one for young people.

[pferreira]

I think it's a pretty good sequel. Yeah it's not quite the sequel we should have got but it could have been far worse. The mutants, the origin questioning, Freddy as a spy, Warner's character, all great stuff and make the film a delight. I just wish they could have done more with the whole questioning the origin and opened in up. Far better than the third movie but let down with the toning down of the fight scenes.

[Autbot_Benz]

I love this movie. I rented it a ton as a kid. Ya its not as good as the first one but its a guilty pleasure.

[d_osborn]

It's overrated as being a hated bad installment of the franchise. Not a good movie by any stretch, but not nearly as bad as other bits of TMNT media from the era.

It's a watered-down, corporatized version of one of the most well-done entries from the franchise-- the Barron film.

[Powder]

I was surprised to see how much hate this movie got online, so I went with underrated. It has its faults, but it's a lot of fun.

[Candy Kappa]

I'd say underrated as in, most times I've seen people talk about it's usually about Vanilla Ice and that Rahzar & Tokka is no Bebop & Rocksteady, rarely it's about story or the animatronics

[Spike Spiegel]

I feel both SOTO and III are underrated, III probably more so.

[CyberCubed]

It's almost impossible for me to say without the nostalgia I have for it as a kid. Had I never seen it as a kid a million times, I don't know what I'd think about it now. I still enjoy many of its scenes and jokes as an adult.

David Warner is a great actor though, he probably had the best scenes as Jordan Perry in the whole movie. I just love the way he speaks, it's like he has some kind of prestige about him. Almost forgot he was also in Titanic 1997 too.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

It's almost impossible for me to say without the nostalgia I have for it as a kid. Had I never seen it as a kid a million times, I don't know what I'd think about it now. I still enjoy many of its scenes and jokes as an adult.

David Warner is a great actor though, he probably had the best scenes as Jordan Perry in the whole movie. I just love the way he speaks, it's like he has some kind of prestige about him. Almost forgot he was also in Titanic 1997 too.

He was everywhere at the time. Even in my videogames (Privateer 2). And TNG.

[CyberCubed]

My mind blew when I found out David Warner voiced Ra's Al Ghul in Batman: TAS and Batman Beyond. I watched the Batman cartoons millions of times as a kid and never realized that was his voice.

[oldmanwinters]

It's a definite departure from the tone of the first movie, but looking back on it, I can really appreciate how much "creature work" went into the film. Tokka and Rahzar look amazing. And while the Turtles' faces are more obviously "animated," the somewhat exaggerated expressions are quite endearing.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

With some Utroms and extraterrestrial origin of the mutagen, I would appreciate it.

[pferreira]

Originally Posted by Candy Kappa

I'd say underrated as in, most times I've seen people talk about it's usually about Vanilla Ice and that Rahzar & Tokka is no Bebop & Rocksteady, rarely it's about story or the animatronics

Yeah there's other great stuff in the movie in terms of performances and the characters.

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

David Warner is a great actor though, he probably had the best scenes as Jordan Perry in the whole movie. I just love the way he speaks, it's like he has some kind of prestige about him. Almost forgot he was also in Titanic 1997 too.

I think it's obvious even to haters that he had more to do in TMNT II than Titanic where he was just the silent butler who stood in the background till the climax of the movie. Out of both roles clearly TMNT II was the better one, by far.

Originally Posted by oldmanwinters

It's a definite departure from the tone of the first movie,

It's a definite departure although people seem to forget in their criticism it follows on from the first film really well. It at least bothers to do that, they didn't have to have the sequel follow on directly but they did.

[FredWolfLeonardo]

One thing I really liked about the movie, was how it dealt with the turtles' origins.

Normally, you'd expect them to be the product of a race of aliens beyond themselves or something great like that but here, they were completely random accidents. Seeing them question their lives as a whole and feel sad about their origins being unremarkable was touching to say the least.

People give the edge to Tmnt 3 over this film in terms of heart, but I think Secret of Ooze had a lot of heart to it as well.

[pferreira]

Originally Posted by FredWolfLeonardo

One thing I really liked about the movie, was how it dealt with the turtles' origins.

Normally, you'd expect them to be the product of a race of aliens beyond themselves or something great like that but here, they were completely random accidents. Seeing them question their lives as a whole and feel sad about their origins being unremarkable was touching to say the least.

People give the edge to Tmnt 3 over this film in terms of heart, but I think Secret of Ooze had a lot of heart to it as well.

I think as much as people were disappointed with the sequel not following the comics the 'lower budget' alternative was still very good.

[triplexxx]

I underrated all the live-action ones at first, guess I didn't care much for the idea of it when they had just come out, but they grew on me, I can honestly say I enjoy them very much.