Thoughts on the new movie!

[LogicDonny]

Since some of the forum users on here have seen this movie, I have decided to make a poll.

this was we can see who liked it and who didn't like it.

So those who saw it, vote and this vote will up for 60 days.

[FearlessLeader]

I personally really enjoyed the film and can't wait to see it again.

[Rooish]

Woah! Dude thought it was the worst film of the year. Care to expand on that?

[Roseangelo]

I rated it an A, as there's always room for improvement.

[Cascadia]

I will wait until it comes out before I vote since I cannot give an accurate impression until I see it.

[TMNT4Ever]

A+

Awesome movie!

[Jester]

Originally Posted by Roseangelo

I rated it an A, as there's always room for improvement.

That's why I voted how I did. I always hate that TMNT movies seem to focus too much on the dynamics of the 2 Turtles who are the biggest opposites and forget the 2 that are kinda in the middle. Leo and Raph, again steal the spotlight from the family, which Monroe did say would be the biggest part of the film. I must admit the TMNT did come together as a family, but the main rift always seems to be Leo/Raph. But on the whole I loved this movie. Mako's Splinter grew on me. I loved his speech to Raph after Leo's capture. Not as strong as the "Master Yoshi's First Rule" speech from TMNT I, but still good.

But...

Spoiler:

Did anyone else hear Karai's sequel bait lines at the end of the movie... Yeah...but what would it be called...*Looks to Angry Nintendo Nerd for guidance*

[Masked Ninja]

Just got back from my local showing.

Overall, on this scale, I'd give it a B. Maybe 7.5/10 overall, but with time and rewatchings it'll probably go up to an 8.

And here's the breakdown:

STORY:
Honestly, the monster story felt tacked on to me... the movie could have functioned quite well without it. That said, they handled it better than I expected... so kudos. I also noticed the error with the 13th monster... it actually would have allowed for an entertaining struggle if they'd had to bring in what I thought was the 13th monster. Ah well.

It was the family story that sealed the deal for me. Once this story kicked off, the pit in my stomach caused by my early impression of the animation (see below) cleared. The arguments especially were well written and acted, I thought... and the two rival Turtles were shown to have both flaws and strengths. Which I loved - Leo was my favorite turtle at one point (before I stopped being able to favor only one ) and I like to see him just at fault for tension as Raph. He's the sort that argues, but in a quieter, more biting way. And when he crossed the line on the rooftop... whoa.

ANIMATION:
Honestly, I spent the first 20-30 minutes of the movie soundly unimpressed. The lipsync was not very well done, a lot of things moved a little too "CGI" and not enough "natural"... I was like "aww, MAN... don't tell me I'm in for a cruddy movie..." But the lipsync improved over the course of the movie. I wonder if it was because the Hong Kong animators had less of a feel for how to sync English? Who knows... but generally the ACTION part of the animation (running, fighting, etc.) was good, while the lipsync and the more subtle ACTING part of the animation (like, choosing what to do with hands/gestures) was good at times but extremely weak, even clunky, in others.

But that fight... hoooooo man. Worth the $5.50 I paid for the ticket by itself.

Spoiler:

One of my friends who came with me to see the movie is a HUGE Raph fan, and after he got Leo on the ground, I leaned over and said "10 points for your boy." I also loved how he was practically sobbing as he took off over the rooftops... nice work there. Emotional. I loved it.

TEXTURES/LIGHTING/CINEMATOGRAPHY:
In a word, fantastic. What was subpar in the animation department was balanced by the sheer look of the film. The textures are amazingly detailed, lighting is great, and cinemetography also quite awesome. This was the part my animation buddies were most impressed with. One specifically pointed out the rain during the fight scene. It was indeed phenominal, and kudos to Imagi for that.

VOICE ACTING:
Also phenominal. ESPECIALLY whenever Leo and Raph were arguing... none of it sounded forced to me. Even Raph's "NOOOOO" wasn't too bad - of course, the fact that he threw down his sai while he did it made him seem distraught enough for it to be plausible. Though I suppose a wordless "AAAAAAUUUURGH" may have been better. I'm used to Mako because of Avatar, so I loved him too. The lipsync would throw off his voice a bit, though. Some of those mouth shapes reminded me of Don Bluth's work. X)

SCRIPT:
At least in terms of the lines said, generally good. I'll mention the Leo/Raph verbal fights again and say that nothing felt out of place there. Mikey had some painful lines, though at least some were obviously supposed to be that way. I think the weakest dialogue in the film were the one-liners. Some hit, some missed, some missed by a mile. I don't mind that they were there, but I would have liked some better ones.

As for the opening narration... yeah. Pretty bad. Though as he got into the backstory, I stopped noticing as much. Not sure whether that was due to me being drawn into the story or him just getting better. Too much drama for a story like this, I think.

And the "name" actors did pretty well.

Spoiler:

Even April's pausy "explain the legend of Yaotl" lines at least made a little sense in context.

MUSIC:
I'll be brief here and just say I liked it. The score, at least. My main complaint is I just wanted to hear a few more themes. Good thing the Nightwatcher theme is a good one that I didn't get tired of.

THEATER EXPERIENCE:
Positive. It warmed my heart to hear the audience cheer and applaud as that green flame appeared on the screen when the movie started. There was also scattered applause for each Turtle's introduction, and more applause when the end credits hit. Didn't notice too much audience reaction throughout the movie (though some one-liners got some decent laughs) but the beginning and ending... aaah. Good time to be a Turtle fan. I wore my shirt that I made last night (may have to post a photo) and my animation guys commented on it.

FINAL WORDS:
Maybe Peter Laird likes monster/alien stories, but I honestly prefer the Turtles in their home city, fighting ninjas or street gangs. Yet, this film did OK for what it was. Perhaps aiming for "all ages" was a mistake, as I heard several people commenting about the film "not knowing who it was directed at" as we all left. Though I thought it really did feel aimed for the old-school in-their-twenties-fans, especially with the family tension.

There's talk of a possible sequel. And of course, Karai's parting words left plenty of room for one... and, dare I say, one that could adapt a certain well-loved story from the comics. With the practice they had on this film, I'd love to see what Imagi could do with a second Turtles movie. This one just has to do well enough at the box office and maybe they'll consider it. Though I for one would definitely want them to push the boundary and make any sequel PG13. Then maybe we can see some sweet nunchuck action from Michelangelo.

[Draconic]

***he following may contain spoilers for TMNT 1 & 2***

Originally Posted by Jester

But...

Spoiler:

Did anyone else hear Karai's sequel bait lines at the end of the movie... Yeah...but what would it be called...*Looks to Angry Nintendo Nerd for guidance*

Yeah,
Karai: We will have business soon, involving faces from the past
turtle: She doesn't mean...



By the way, how long will it take to find out how well the turtles faired on opening weekend? The theater were packed at the 9:55 over here on opening night, and earlier shows had sold out completely. When I went back on Sunday to watch Reign Over Me, people were still buying tickets so I'm kind of excited to hear the numbers.

[Ryzar]

Originally Posted by Roseangelo

I rated it an A, as there's always room for improvement.

First post I saw when I came in here ... And oddly enough, exactly the same type of response I would say.

So, agreed there.

I thought the movie was great. Storyline was deep enough not to be too cheesy. Even though it's a stretch of reality but hey, nothing we can't overcome.

And I don't know if this was noted before... But did anyone notice the connections to the animated movie Hercules and this one? The part about waiting for the planets to line up in order to release the monsters trapped in the earth below... Very similar to how it happened in Hercules where Hades got the Titans released.

But that's alright. Still overall the movie was cool. Some funny moments, come cool actions moments and very nicely animated.

Grade A goodness.

[Shark_Blade]

This movie kick ass! I enjoy it even more than 300

[LogicDonny]

Originally Posted by Rooish

Woah! Dude thought it was the worst film of the year. Care to expand on that?

You did not place a vote. Are you joking?

Anyways, about the person placing a vote in the E option. I spoke to him nicely about it wondering why and see his opinion and he was playing with us. Just having a small laugh.

So yes just explaining it to you all here. So don't get mad at him.

[Jester]

I'ma gonna see it friday with my Best Girl and my Best Friend and his girl. I'll be sure to post my thoughts.

[Rooish]

Originally Posted by LogicDonny

You did not place a vote. Are you joking?

Anyways, about the person placing a vote in the E option. I spoke to him nicely about it wondering why and see his opinion and he was playing with us. Just having a small laugh.

So yes just explaining it to you all here. So don't get mad at him.

I didn't place a vote because I haven't seen it yet. And I wasn't mad at him. I asked him to expand on it. It seems odd to say it's the worst movie of the year when the year hasn't even passed yet.

[LogicDonny]

Someone sticky this to the top so people can see this when they come in this discussion area.

[Kaz]

they gave Donattello hardly any screen time, and they did what i thaught the would do the based it on raph and leo, but they opened the ending up for a 5th movie. but yeah the next one better be ****ing about donnie an mikey!!!

[blueoakleyz]

two things need to change for the 5th movie

1) Corey Feldman as Donatello

2) Elias Koteas as Casey

[Rooish]

Originally Posted by blueoakleyz

two things need to change for the 5th movie

1) Corey Feldman as Donatello

2) Elias Koteas as Casey

Grow up, dude.

[johnnyblaze]

just ignore him, he pretty much made up his mind about the film the minute he voted in that poll without even seeing it

[kerfootw]

No kidding!