You may be right but I just don't buy it.
Celebrity cameos in movies are rarely organic to the plot particularly in cases where the celebs are playing themselves.
If the scriptwriters had a great idea for a scene set at an NBA game and decided to reach out to some real basketball players and a high profile audience member to appear then that's fine but the more likely scenario is that Platinum Dunes struck a deal with an agency that represents one or more of these celebrities to appear in one of their movies and wrote a scene specifically for them. And what's the likelihood of this being the case of it being the former rather than the latter. If you think all the likely scenarios that would make a TMNT story would a basketball game come to mind?
It's a similar thing with Judith Hoag's involvement. It's clear from some of her interviews she did mentioning the last movie she was subtly vying for a role and I don't begrudge her that or the makers of the movie hiring her specifically to appeal to fans of the classic movie but it doesn't seem her role is important to the plot. I imagine if Elias Koteas started making waves he'd be willing to appear they'd quickly write any kind of scene to fit him in regardless of how well it would fit.
So what's the big deal? It's only one scene, right? Well baring in mind that Ambrosio, Carmello and Hoag aren't small cameos but have multiple scenes which are equally as likely specifically written to include them I can't help but think that when the common explanation for why the title characters and story not getting ample attention in the first movie is that the particular form of motion capture they chose was too expensive that they can't be onscreen for too long then it's annoying that money is being used on needless stuff that could be used to give the characters we want to see decent story time.
Even putting that aside for the moment; this movie has set itself up to do a lot more with introducing many new major characters and concepts. When you think all the last movie had to do was set up the main characters and their origin (a streamlined one at that) and that took a backseat to April and Sacks then what the odds that TMNT, Splinter, Shredder and not Baxter, Bebop and Rocksteady will be equally shortchanged.
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he only major humans we have to deal with are April and Casey for most of the movie.
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The only major human character we had to deal with in last years movie was April and she still took up most of the time with a story literally no one liked.
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What if Baxter is the main villain for this movie, and shredder is more of a 'boss on the video screen giving orders/Dr. Claw role back in the shadows, with Stockman front and center?
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I don't think anyone is begrudging Baxter being in this regardless of what people think of the casting choice. He's a major character that deserves screen time.
That being said I don't care for him being the main villain. Even though I'd like other villains to take center stage and Baxter has long been one of the better candidates I'd want Shredder to have a decent go around first rather than resign him to the crappy role he had in the first except without any action. More importantly Platinum Dunes' circle jerking of the Fred Wolf show makes it unlikely Shredder wouldn't have at least a boss fight in this.
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Also, Rocksteady and Bebop are henchmen, they are probably going to get as much screen time/development in human form before mutation as most villain lackeys do in these kinds of movies.
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Despite the last movie's attempt to rip off several recent comic book movies it just copied their superficial aspects rather than understanding why they are doing so well..hence why TMNT didn't do as well in comparison. In the Blue Door script which they are still pulling Bebop and Rocksteady come out of nowhere with no origin or setup. I'd be willing to bet it's the same here.
