Forbes: OOTS is the best TMNT movie in 26 years

[Shark_Blade]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmen.../#4337179e3dcf

The Review:

I cannot think of a time when a franchise starter as terrible as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles produced a sequel as good as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows. But the second time is truly the charm, as director David Green’s lively, colorful, and enjoyable sequel is everything the first film should have been. The film is truly turtle-focused, with a story that offers understandable conflict and entertaining interactions for our heroes in a half-shell. Kids will love it, and adult fans of the property will get the TMNT movie they always wanted. Look, this isn’t The Dark Knight, but it’s easily (by default?) the second best Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie ever made.

The film starts out with the opposite of a bang: There is a full 15 minutes before a major action sequence. Instead, we get to watch our title heroes interacting with each other as they try their best to enjoy life’s pleasures hidden from public view. By the time some Foot Clan members try to bust Shredder out of a prison truck (in a well-staged and coherently edited highway chase), we have been reinvested in the turtles’ desire to be a part of the outside world. André Nemec and Josh Appelbaum’s screenplay is pleasantly A-to-B-to-C, with Dr. Baxter Stockman (Tyler Perry) teaming up with Shredder (Brian Tee) to create a dimension X, which will allow Krang to take over the Earth.

Yes, this sequel (which also includes Bebop and Rocksteady) does offer most of the fan favorites from the franchise, including Stephen Amell as Casey Jones. The humans are fine (I hope Laura Linney got ridiculously overpaid), even if too much time is offered to Will Arnett’s glory-hog Vern, but this is really about our title characters. And they are full-blown characters this time out, with a slightly redesigned look and more gee-whiz interaction with each other. And the action sequences are pretty terrific, with an emphasis on jumping and flying about as opposed to beat downs.

The big set pieces are varied in content and imaginatively staged, and the finale offers a “something horrible is coming through a portal” bit without overdosing on the whole cities collapsing thing. The finale goes on a bit too long (Casey and April get separate “missions” while the turtles are dealing with the primary threat), and Shredder is somewhat of a nonentity throughout. But on the whole, the picture works as big-budget, kid-friendly entertainment that walks the line between “very serious comic book cinema” and “It’s a comic book movie for kids!”

Look, I don’t want to oversell this thing. At the end of the day, it’s a pretty straight-forward Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. While it’s not quite as good as that 1990 Steve Barton classic (which was basically a character comedy with as much action as the $13.5 million picture could afford), it comes a lot closer than I thought possible. The key is that the heroes themselves are the primary focus, and they are fun to be around this time. Their prankster personalities shine through, Bebop and Rocksteady are entirely convincing and amusing creations, and even Splinter gets a laugh or two. The characters are fun, their interactions are fun, and thus the movie is a lot of fun, too.

The sheer amount of “taken for granted” special effects wizardry on display in what amounts to an action movie where most of the protagonists were CGI and motion capture should, well, should not be taken for granted. Other than that opening car chase, where Casey Jones swears a lot and a handful of civilian automobiles apparently get blown up along the way (and an eye-rolling salacious April O’Neil moment that seems to exist solely for the trailers), the film is a pretty soft PG-13 and indeed succeeds as a kid-friendly spectacle. Yes, my son loved it.

There are plenty of times when the filmmakers behind a sequel retroactively apologize for the prior installment. But this is a rare occasion where the producers seemed to learn all the right lessons and apply them the second go-around. I talk a lot about the Tomb Raider Trap, whereby an improved sequel to an inferior original underperforms because audiences were once bitten and twice shy. We’ll see if Out of the Shadows ends up being another example, but it certainly has the first part of the equation locked up.

The first film was a cowabummer. This second time out is such an 180-degree turnaround, the likes of which I don’t think I’ve ever seen for a franchise like this, that it gives me renewed hope for Justice League.

[IndigoErth]

But this is a rare occasion where the producers seemed to learn all the right lessons and apply them the second go-around.

Some things, yes. There's a few new lessons to be noted though if they carry on with this further, in which case I hope they are willing to acknowledge and apply those do's and dont's. I can respect a willingness to try to adapt. (Any that want to dig their heels in however should maybe go take on other projects.)



Side note: I'm surprised that the writers actually did pretty well in terms of the interaction and connection between characters, be it the Turtles as brothers, or Bebop and Rocksteady with each other... IMO, maybe they should handle that part and bring in someone else who is awesome at writing the action stuff and the big plot line.

[chrisdude]

Ahh. How nice to hear words from before he box office numbers.

[Venom]

Take those Forbes articles with a grain of salt, they're written by freelance individual contributors and essentially amount to blog with "street cred".

[RETTEB SNATAS]

Originally Posted by Shark_Blade

http://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmen.../#4337179e3dcf

The Review:

Awesome post! Thoroughly enjoyed reading this! I agree 100%

[LeotheLateBloomer]

Man, the movie thread is literally closed. It's amazing what this forum does (not really)

Anyway I saw the movie.....I'll post what I thought about it overall.

[TrickOrTreater]

Originally Posted by Venom

Take those Forbes articles with a grain of salt, they're written by freelance individual contributors and essentially amount to blog with "street cred".

Originally Posted by RETTEB SNATAS

Awesome post! Thoroughly enjoyed reading this! I agree 100%

http://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/thumbsup.gif

Haha, I love the juxtaposition of these posts.

[Andrew NDB]

This "Forbes" article reminds me of my favorite comic book character:

[graphic_content]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

This "Forbes" article reminds me of my favorite comic book character:

http://phantombunburyist.freedomforc...f_plantman.jpg

we hardly, if ever, see eye to eye, but this is freakin' funny, and made laugh really loudly in a quiet office.

[TurtleTitan97]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

This "Forbes" article reminds me of my favorite comic book character:

http://phantombunburyist.freedomforc...f_plantman.jpg