Brad Fuller talks about the TMNT Movie

[TigerClaw]

Just noticed this new interview with Brad Fully talking about the TMNT movie, Here's what he had to say about it.
http://moviepilot.com/posts/2014/11/...,manual,manual

I don’t know a single kid who did not like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

That’s nice. That’s awesome, because that’s who we made it for and I’m glad. I keep hearing that it’s more gratifying than saying we scared the crap out of people with Jason Voorhees.

I imagine you are not used to little kids coming up to you talking about Platinum Dune’s films.

[Laughs] Yeah. That wasn’t happening. But also, we really wanted to try and start to do things that were a little bit outside our comfort zone. Obviously Turtles was way outside our comfort zone. So it’s nice that it worked out well.

We talked right before you made Turtles, actually. A lot of the discussion was about how, at Platinum Dunes, you guys hadn’t taken those big swings yet, the ones that end you up in jail or make huge money. What did you glean from the experience?

I would tell you this. You don’t know if you are going to end up in jail until the day the movie opens. If you had talked to me the day before, I was a wreck. There’s no way that you can ever predict the success of any movie. Especially on Turtles, I don’t know that we knew when we went into it how many people felt so….I guess we knew how many people felt passionately about it. But what was hard was as we got in the process of making the movie, so many people had different foundations of the Turtle knowledge. I was a guy who watched the movies. So that was what I used as my basis of understanding for the Turtles. But Drew read the comic books, so he had different things that he saw as Turtle lure. And then there were plenty of people who watched the cartoon. I’m too old for that. Drew and I are too old, so we didn’t watch the cartoon. So what we learned and what was hard to manage is forget the kid, because the kids didn’t really have the background. But the adults, the people who loved this property for so many years, they come to it with so much different knowledge. There’s not a unifying place that they came from. That was challenging.

The film was made directly for the Kids, Which I have no problem with, The previous films were also kids movies as well.

[IndigoErth]

I would tell you this. You don’t know if you are going to end up in jail until the day the movie opens.

Hmmm... I didn't know jail was an option.



Joking aside, yeah, I have no issue if they make a film in a way that includes kids in mind as part of the intended audience. Part. With a property like this, don't forget the adult fans however. Seriously. Because deciding to trap TMNT in the binds of "just a kid's thing" mentality yet again (which they deserve to be free of) and ignore adult fans who have a much longer, deeper love for the franchise... Well that's like taking all the people who were at Woodstock, telling them there will be another Woodstock - oh, but it's only going to feature Justin Beibier and what ever singing Disney tv kids they can fill it with. Don't be surprised if you crush a few hearts in the process who let it be known.

[Candy Kappa]

By kids, I assume Fuller meant the adult viewer who remembered saying Cowabunga as a kid, and could finally say again with the Turtles, and had a crush on April.

"Shell's tightening, I call dibs on her"

[Commenter 42]

I'm beginning to hate Brad Fuller.

They all belong in jail.

And screw that interviewer as well. Ass kissing is the benchmark of citizen journalism. Somebody grow some balls and ask the real questions. They never say outright what needs to be said.

Kids will watch almost anything. They could have dug a little deeper. Kids watched Barney. Kids are not the yardstick to measure success for a 30 year old property. If they'd pleased the adults, the kids would still love it. Massive cop out.

This whole interview makes me angry. Arrest the fools already.

[Powder]

Sexual harassment, terrorism, horrifically ugly heroes who are "drained of all their blood", yeah, sounds like a kids movie!

[CyberCubed]

so he had different things that he saw as Turtle lure.

LOL, you know this guy is a real scumbag when he spelled "lore" as "lure."

[Shark_Blade]

Too old for cartoon? Lazy explanation for like 20 minutes of effortless research imo...

[TurtleTitan97]

Originally Posted by TigerClaw

Just noticed this new interview with Brad Fully talking about the TMNT movie, Here's what he had to say about it.
http://moviepilot.com/posts/2014/11/...,manual,manual

Oh brother.

[MrTMNT2012]

Originally Posted by Powder

Sexual harassment, terrorism, horrifically ugly heroes who are "drained of all their blood", yeah, sounds like a kids movie!

That is QUITE the over-exaggeration...

[IndigoErth]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

LOL, you know this guy is a real scumbag when he spelled "lore" as "lure."

Looking at it again, now I'm not sure if it's a spelling error like you mention, and very well may be, or if they really do mean Turtles lure as in things used for audience bait.

[TurtleTitan97]

Originally Posted by MrTMNT2012

That is QUITE the over-exaggeration...

You sure? Because it seemed as though the majority of time Mikey was on screen, he just wanted to get in April's pants.

[Candy Kappa]

Originally Posted by MrTMNT2012

That is QUITE the over-exaggeration...

The way Mikey acts with April, The Foot activity is terrorism, the turtle where designed to not be pretty or cute, Sacks orderd his underlings to drain them empty even if it meant death.

Doesn't sound too over-exaggerating.

[Galactus]

I think there's more than a little revisionist history here. Certainly the impression they were giving throughout the making of the movie is that this was not purely a kids movie hence why they were promising that it would be respectful to the source that "we" grew up, it would take things more seriously and that it would have action scenes like The Raid movies and so on.

Certainly it doesn't come off as purely as a children's movie with it's PG 13 rating and it's use of sexual humor and the action while lacking teeth was stylistically intense for young children. If I had children I don't think I'd mind them watching it but I can understand why some parents would and did think it was inappropriate.

Like many "kid" movies what they were surely trying for is more of a "family" movie which I think would be the sweet spot for TMNT. Something that is aimed at children but keeps in mind adults will want to watch. Disney/Pixar know how to do emotional character stories that have just the amount of edge to appeal to all ages or even some of the Marvel movies...heck the 1990 movie did brilliantly in the context of what you could do back then. That certainly kept the idea it had to keep parents interested

They definitely shot for that but played the "adult" aspects so wrong that I don't think any adult fan who wasn't going to be satisfied with TMNT just being back would walk away happy now they are seemingly trying to pass off it was always 100% meant for children.

Also while I know a lot of kids did like the movie I've heard a few reports of kids really not taking to the designs.

Also I think that no one really thought that the movie would outright flop. Especially when you had three people connected to it saying that even people who hated the changes they made would come anyway because we love these characters. That right there should signal that they were banking on adult fans seeing it.

[Xiewin]

Ughh..

Every-time I read or hear an interview with him and his loser-trio, the angrier I get. I'm tired of this "It's just a kids movie" mentality; Just because it's aimed for a younger audience doesn't necessarily mean it can't be a smartly written film. Seriously, kids deserve better than this.

[Commenter 42]

No comments on the actual article.

Paid media advert is paid.

Hate this.

[Leo656]

That is so not a movie aimed at kids. Guy's totally covering his ass because that's the overwhelming majority of people who liked it. Nothing about the movie except the fact that it's incredibly juvenile and poorly thought-out makes it seem as though it was aimed at kids, as others mentioned.

Even if they had made a movie "just for kids", that's insulting and alienating to the other 2/3s of the fanbase.

Not one person who had anything to do with this pile should be allowed anywhere near a TMNT project again. They don't Get It.

[Davetello]

The guy is clueless.

[Commenter 42]

Funny how the Avengers never gets this kind of treatment, or Batman v Superman, or The Dark Knight.

Why are we the ones who get boned?

I have had enough!

[Davetello]

Originally Posted by Commenter 42

Funny how the Avengers never gets this kind of treatment, or Batman v Superman, or The Dark Knight.

Why are we the ones who get boned?

I have had enough!

To be fair, the Avengers is a pretty overrated film. It really has no plot at all. I expect big things from the Infinity War saga though.

[TrickOrTreater]

So they made the movie for kids.

What does that make the actually good current cartoon?

I'm confused here, see. How low of an opinion does this guy and the people involved in this movie have of kids to say "here! we made this for you you little morons!"

When you say "we made this for kids" instead of "we made this for kid fans and adult fans alike" you're saying "our opinions of kids are so low that we know they will shovel damn near anything into their mouths as long as it's bright and flashy and loud and has a fart joke in it. So we're just gonna sh*t something out to turn a profit."

A recent example of something made both for kid fans and adult fans is season 3 of the cartoon. Most kids today probably won't recognize a Jason Voorhees tribute, or The Thing tribute. That stuff was made by and for adult fans of the show. The kids will get enjoyment anyway because it's Ninja Turtles fighting monsters the way Ninja Turtles do(and kids enjoy being scared on an unconscious level).

That's the f*cking key here. The kids WILL ENJOY IT ANYWAY. Pretty much no matter what, as evidenced by the crap they shoveled into the kids mouths with this movie.

Another example. Avatar The Last Airbender. Great show. From beginning to end. Original property that garnered adult and kid fans alike. They made it for EVERYBODY and had the talent to do it.

PIXAR are movies made for kids and adults. The first half hour of Wall-E doesn't even have any goddamn dialogue in it.

These shows and movies don't feel the need to talk down to kids and leave adults wanting to like it in the dust.