Just saw the new TMNT Movie!!!
 

hi everyone. im the new guy. im also the guy who was part of the very first audience to ever see the new TMNT, according to the test screening host. for your reading pleasure, i am posting a review i wrote for the movie, which has been posted to imdb and may appear on aintitcoolnews.com-- enjoy! also, happy to answer any questions!
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i just saw a test screening of TMNT [wednesday, feb. 7 in westlake village] and, although i suspected it would be good, it surpassed my predictions. i should note that i am a pretty big fan of the old movies (1 and 2 anyway) and the old cartoon, and am a collector of TMNT comic art posters-- this may give you a perspective on where i'm coming from before you read my review. Without giving much away, here is what i liked(+)/disliked(-).

+ANIMATION: the biggest thing the movie has going for it is the animation. it is miles ahead of any animated movie I've ever seen. the level of detail is unsurpassed and completely amazing. everything from backgrounds, characters, various surfaces and textures (including skin), lighting and different effects (including a pivotal sequence in the rain) absolutely blew me away.

+DESIGN: along the same lines as the animation, the general look and design of everything was pretty cool. the turtles themselves look different and new, as well as splinter, casey and april. their designs fit in well with the overall look of NY city, which is dark, worn and very impressive. the skyline was very well done. I was also particularly impressed with the design of karai and the foot.

+CHARACTERS & RELATIONSHIPS: especially between the turtles and splinter --and particularly raphael and leonardo-- the relationships are complex, as is traditionally the case for the franchise. in this film they are well drawn and developed and, in the end are fulfilling and cathartic. there are a few surprises to say the least, both within the turtle team and also without. casey also adds to his relationship with raph in this movie.

+SCREENPLAY/STORYLINE: The screenplay is generally okay. the tone is about as perfect a balance you can hope for for a film trying to appeal to the Saturday morning crowd as well as the old school, 20-something fans. it returns to the darker, more emotional tone of the first live action film but doesn't fail to deliver on humor (although some of it is hit and miss-- probably the result of trying to appeal to the younger crowd). Dialogue is decent. the storyline is a bit more on the sci-fi side than most fans of the old movies will be used to, but it seems secondary to the development and relationships of the characters-- a good decision on the part of the filmmakers. the plot is still interesting and fast paced, and the villains are credible.

+ACTION/FIGHT SEQUENCES: generally well done. for me, the centerpiece of the whole movie was a climactic, rooftop fight scene in the rain. other cool sequences include a skateboarding scene, and a huge fight against a bunch of foot ninjas.

-HUMOR: not that is was particularly bad (although michaelangelo was borderline annoying sometimes), but for me, there wasn't enough. i usually associated the turtles with humor, even in their darker pieces like the first live action film.

-SPLINTER'S VOICE: this may be sacrilege, but Mako's voice took some getting used to. I was used to the soft-spoken whisper of past splinters. this one is harsh and grumbly. this isn't to say its bad-- it just took some getting used to.

-CHARACTER SCREEN TIME: michaelangelo and especially donatello were hardly in the movie. there could have been more development about their characters (traditionally leo and raph are the focus, though) although they do bond well as a part of the whole group. Same goes for April. She has usually been a pivotal character in any incarnation of the franchise, but she is minor here. Hopefully there will be future films where these three characters will be explored in more depth.

-APRIL: not only does she have little screen time, but she isn't as "strong" a character as she usually has been, and her fighting skills were kind of out of the blue. besides this, her relationship with casey was kind of flat. hopefully it will be remedied in future films, if there are any.

-CASEY JONES: what happened to the hard-edged casey we all knew? i get that he is supposed to be more "domestic" now, but i didn't even get a hint of the old, violence-crazy vigilante.

-VIOLENCE: i hate for this to be another "there's not enough violence in TMNT" discussion, but although there is a lot of fighting, it seems they've really tried to keep the violence to a minimum, which is understandable considering their broad market (after all, it is PG). depending on if this film is successful, i would like to see them up the darkness and violence a bit more (PG-13 would be cool)-- although even if it is successful, it probably wont happen. wishful thinking i guess.

You will enjoy this film if you are a true old school fan or a fan of the newer cartoon. If you never really liked the turtles, you probably wont like this either. Since this is supposedly based more on the original comics, even the comic fans should enjoy it. Although it is a bit on the dark side, the PG rating is fitting, and isn't too much more violent than the Saturday morning cartoon, id imagine. it is a good action film and a good family film-- adults and non-fans shouldn't be bored. To people who balk at the idea of it being animation ("its a cartoon!") or being PG, i'd say give it a chance-- you might actually like it. like most things, if you walk in hating it, you're gonna leave hating it. but as a longtime fan of the turtles in most incarnations, this film has my seal of approval. it was pretty good, and i expect to see more.

OVERALL: 8/10

Sounds good to me, although the Mikey stuff has me a tad worried...

I LOVED Mikey in the previous 3 film, I thought he was perfect. Funny (but not annoying or childish) and simply adorable.

But the trailer I saw, and now your comments on him for the movie, give me the impression that he's a clone of his 2003 toon counterpart (who I've found more and more irritating as the show goes on).

So, just give it to me straight...is he a clone of his 2003 toon counterpart?

The rest of it sounds great (thank you for not spoiling anything about the movie in your review :) ), I can't wait to see it.

When are the comics that go with it coming out again? I wonder if they'll explain why April is a fighter now...

Nice review. I agree about Mike and Don not getting enough screen time. You can really tell this in the novel.

As for the comics. They'll be out in March. One of them will focus completly on April.

ok, ill give it to you straight: i have mixed feelings about mikey in the film. overall, i liked him better than i disliked him, so thats good. i probably would have "bonded" with this character if he'd had more screentime. but truth be told, by the end of the film i felt i knew him better than i did donnie.

i did feel he was annoying at times, but that was mostly because he was the primary source of humor attempts in the film and, as i said, some of the humor was hit and miss-- and a lot of that is attributed to mikey. HOWEVER, a lot of the funniest moments in the movie are also HIS, so dont lose sleep over it. he has more moments where he is funny than where he is not.

also consider that the things we dont find funny in the movie probably made it in there so that they could get some laughs from the younger kids, since they ARE a large part of the market. i think the hit and miss parts can be attributed more to that than to bad writing or trying to be funny and not succeeding. to me, that is plausible, excusable and allowable.

but like i said, there are some really funny moments where the whole audience laughed out load. so dont worry about it too much. just prepare yourself for a good movie. all of the positives far outweigh the minor negatives.

Hey Mr. Arctic, you saw this movie with a large audience, correct? You you tell me the if you know the general atmosphere of the place when the movie was over? Do you know if the general reaction was positive, very positive, negative, or very negative?

re: audience
 

yes, i saw it with a full theater. the crowd was mostly people in their late teens to twenties, and a few kids and a hand full of people 30+ and 40+. before the film, people were pretty restless, so i was hoping no one was going to be stupid during the movie. as soon as the movie actually stared, everyone cheered and, other than some laughing and a few other cheers, everyone was quietly engrossed the rest of the time.

the the end of the film, i felt it was a pretty positive atmosphere. no one was saying "that was stupid!" or "it sucked!"; rather, i heard lots of people say the liked it and that it was good and better than they thought it would be. one guy sitting behind me (who was probably in his late teens)-- was being really irritating before the movie and kept saying "i hope this doesnt suck!" and afterwards, when his friend asked him how he liked it, he said "it was good. i liked it a lot".

of course, we all had to fill out surveys after the movie. i wish i could have taken a look at those. but everyone seems satisfied and accepting of the movie.

This REALLY has me worried.

how did Leo and Raph come off during the film? Alot of people are nervous Leo is going to come off as an asshole going by what they read in the book. Also how was the Splinter 'lullaby' scene that was supposed to be in the film?

i guess that is kind of an overstatement. they are there and have presence. like other incarnations of the franchise, their characters are simply not as explored as leo and raphs. raph and leos probably have double the amount of screentime.

raph and leo were both very well done. however, i was particularly impressed with leo. he is more serious and thoughtful/reflective now. in the past he has kind of been 2D, as you said, simply a dutiful "by the book" guy and kind of a whiny teacher's pet doing everything for splinter. i think the filmmakers picked up on the past flatness of his character (especially when compared to that of raph) and tried to take him deeper. in the movie, he thinks for himself and has his own feelings, etc. leo was always my least favorite turtle, but because of this movie, he's quickly jumped to my second favorite; right behind raph of course. additionally, their roles are really ironed out amongst themselves and the way to this resolution was really well written and executed.

and im not sure what lullaby scene youre referring to. enlighten me.

oh Munroe said that they recorded an ad lib from Mako in the studio where his character, Splinter ofcourse, is huming an old chinese song to calm the turtles. apparently its something Mako remembered from his childhood and worked into his performance.

thanks for answering questiosn by the way

I had a question: are there any flashbacks in the film? I'm pretty sure someone mentioned that there was a flashback to the previous film(s). Also, I was wondering if you can describe some of the humor that you taught was kind of hit and miss. I just want to know what to expect. Last one: to what extent are each turtle's weapons used (including Nightwatcher's chain) because I know Mikey doesn't really use his. Thanks. I'm glad the reaction was positive--I'm sure people will like it given the chance to watch it.

I expect Casey and April to have less screentime, I mean, this should be centered around the Turtles. And they're trying to showcase a more mellowed Casey, so that would explain the lack of crazy.

I hope, if there is a sequel, Don and Mikey get they're times to shine, we should bring this up to Kevin Munroe, lucky he's on our side :D

I just really can't wait to see this movie now. It sounds like I'm gonna love it.

oh yeah! i do remember that! it was actually a pretty funny scene. that did make it in then.

and youre welcome for answering questions. i dont mind at all.

to my recollection, there were no flashbacks to the old film. there are minor references though. there is a "prologue" sequence at the beginning of the film (which is narrated by morpheus himself) that desribes the origin of the turtles briefly and then gives some backstory for the movie's plot.

id rather not get specific since i dont want to give anything away. but like i said, most of the humorous parts are mikeys, although donnie has a few laughs as well as splinter, surprisingly.

they all use their weapons throughout the film (including nightwatcher and his chain). mikey and donnies use of their weapons is scaled back, as most have assumed would happen. however you can see them with weapons in-hand during fights; just like in past films/cartoons, although they fight with their weapons, it is rare that they end up making too much contact with them, putting a cap on any bloody violence. and as i said at the end of my review, i hope that they push that a bit more in future releases, but thats probably wishful thinking.

i think everyone will like it. its about as perfect a film we can hope for considering the broad market. i hope that it does well enough so that more films will get made. that is why ive been trying to spread the good word. feel free to repost my answers and review on other websites (i know i have). now that it has my seal of approval, i want to do my part to make sure its a success.

rightfully so. im used to april being with the turtles all the time (as in the cartoon and old movies), so i kinda missed her. the thing is, she is such a good, likable character and ally that there seems to be a small void without her by their side all the time.

same goes with shredder: the reason people are upset that he's not in the movie is because he is such a good villain. people love him. however, i agree with the filmmaker's decision to move the franchise along and develop relationships and storylines. they can only beat the shredder so many times; i mean, they already brought him back from the dead for god's sake.

casey has significantly more screentime than april though, which was good. i just thought that his character wasn't in snyc with what my notions of him are.

true. like i said, spread the word!

i cant wait to see it again! i cant wait to own it!

Thanks for all your answers. But I just had a comment about this answer. Is the use of Donny's weapon really censored? The past films had him make contact. I think he had the most contact out of all the turtles. I understand (not really) the concern on Mikey, Leo and Raph (again, they don't get censored as much) but Donny has always been a hard hitter literally. Thanks again. Nice to see an intro with Larry Fishburne that ties the films together. Overall, I have a strong feeling that once marketing picks up, this film will do great.

its kind of weird. i thought of that too. donnie knocks a lot of heads with his bo in the old movies. not so much on this film. and i think the whole nunchuck censorship is absurd, really. i guess we have the UK to thank for that. then again, places outside the US dont understand out hangup with sex in the media, so maybe were even.

and i do hope the marketing kicks in. theyd better do the movie justice. this is the kind of film that aggressive marketing will benefit.

Mr. Arctic,

Thanks for taking the time to share your info. A buddy of mine almost went the screening himself but had other obilgations (he was rather upset).

Question: Is this movie a worthy sequel to the first film? I ask this because the second and third movies are garbage. I adore the first film as a well done comic book movie and I'm eagerly hoping that this new film will continue that tradition of excellence.

Also can you give us a little more info on the "Intro" (without spoilers naturally).

Thanks so much. :thyper:

I have a question--fight wise do the turtles get as good as they give? is there a sense of danger when they are in a fight?

wow, i would have been pissed if i missed it. as it is there were tons of people there. i think they must have had to turn away at least 15-20% of them.

i would say it is. although i like the 2nd film a lot, it doesnt hold a candle to the first. however, this new movie continues more of what the first film started. it is very similar in tone and heavy on character, and thats what i believe made the 1st film the better one.

yeah. there is a brief intro narrated by larry fishburne that talks generalities about the turtles for people who may not have seen the former films or are not familiar with the franchise: who they are, where they came from, and it mentions past battles (ie, other films). this segues into a prologue to the film (also narrated) that gives needed backstory for the rest of the movie; it basically sets up the villains and their story and doesnt talk about the turtles.

thats all im going to say about the intro/prologue.

it really depended on who they were up against. there were certainly times that they "got" much more than they "gave".

This is what I needed to hear. It's good that you feel that the tone is back to the first fim. Thanks again.

Can you tell me, what is this big fight between Raph and Leo in the movie that I've been hearing about..?