If you could have improved upon this film...

[victory_angel]

If you were given this film and told to make improvements, how you would you do it.

I know a number here would say "Scrap the thing and start over". So that will not be an option. This is the film we have and this is the film we are going to get for the most part.

So I want to know what scenes you guys would have added, which scenes you would have taken out, and what scenes should have played out differently.


Some scenes I'd fix is have the full Weapons Origin where each of the Turtles receive their weapons.

Second have the scene where Splinter has just dropped the gates Turtles are trying to get to Splinter, Mikey and Donnie are hit by those Tranquilizer Darts the foot have with them. They try to defend themselves and are overpowered. Leo and Splinter watch in horror as this happens. Leo tries to force his way through to save his Sensei and brothers, but he gets hit with the tranq darts as well and the last thing he sees is Splinter getting mortally wounded. With Splinter weakly reaching out as he sees his sons getting dragged away.

The Turtles awaken to find themselves in those containment compartments, a little dazed but otherwise okay. Sach's comes in explains his plan to release a toxin into the city (through the water supply.) And forces the Turtles to watch as he injects a fatal dose of the toxin into a hapless foot soldier.

Donnie comments that if the toxin was released into the water supply it would sicken millions of people. Which Sach's confirms, he also says the that those sickened will be the carriers, and in a matter of weeks, the illness will span pandemically across the globe. With no known cure people would begin to die within a matter of months, that is where there Turtles come in. Because the substance that made them who they are was meant to serve as a valuable cure that people would pay countless amounts of money to obtain. And it would make him richer beyond his dreams. So he intends to drain every last ounce of the mutagen from their blood.

This infuriates the Turtles, but Sach's isn't perturbed by it. Instead he releases a tranquiler gas into one of the containments-Maybe Donnie's-and Leo and Mikey watch and cry out their brother's name in horror as he fights a losing battle against it. Before his containment is pushed forward said brother is pulled out strapped to a table and has his blood slowly drained from his body. (I know given the size of the container they used, Donnie would have been bled dry before it was filled so it would instead be a series vials.)
Sach's leaves the room telling Leo and Mikey that he would let them enjoy their brothers final moments.

[Jester]

* Figure a way to work in the Oroku Saki/Hamato Yoshi part of the backstory. This movie is the first time Hamato Yoshi is AWOL.

*Make the Turtles average size and remove some of the gaudy design work. Oh...and the lips. Nostrils aren't too bad, but man those lips.

*No Eric Sachs. If you need a "mad scientist partner" for Shredder, why not use Baxter?

*Ninja Foot not Militia Foot.

These are just the things I dislike from what I've seen from trailers. Once I see it the list might expand.

[Le Glorieux Tortue]

- turtles hanging out in the lair to show day to day "off duty" selves
- final fight at night time
- at least cameo of Casey Jones
- replace Sacks with Stockman
- take away Foot guns, replace with ninja skills
- turtles shorter, smaller, no glasses on Donnie or clothing in general
- shredder not in big metal blade suit, but rather just regular armor with some blades
- hint at krang/utroms/triceratons/other mutants
- a coherent story
- turtles NOT connected to April, Splinter NOT learning ninjitsu from a book
- Yoshi/Saki backstory

[Purse Grabbin Puke]

I would first of all make this 2 hours to 2 and a half hours long.

Since they tried to have Raph be stand offish with Leo, I would expand on that. Have some above ground scenes whether he is in the trench or just on a roof somewhere talking to himself.

I would have more down time with the turtles after their first thwarting of the Foot. Also, I would not use Splinter's reasoning for the Foot's name.

I would have April ask to be given an opportunity to uncover the vigilante(s) instead of making herself look like a lunatic.

I would have had Sacks be more like Max Shreck in Batman Returns. A very rich business man who is secretly a bad man who is working with Shredder.

I wouldn't have established the Foot as being in NYC for years and years. I would have them be a new presence in NYC.

I wouldn't have Shredder wearing all that armor and throwing the knives. I didn't mind it, but I'd rather have the old look back.

Stealing this from someone in another thread, but it would have been more exciting to see Donnie be the one that has to save the 3 brothers.

I wouldn't have had Shredder take out Splinter so quickly, I would have used Karai, and have her defeat Splinter by chance or accident. Like a stray tranquilizer hits him or he lands on one.

I would have had the turtles worried about Splinter when they were in those cages. And have them ask how he was when Raph shows up, but in my version it would be Donnie saving them.

I would have April maybe stay behind and take care of Splinter where he then shares the story of her father in the lab. It could have been more dramatic if you think Splinter might die.

I don't think I would use the spraying of everyone with the poison. I think I would just have the final showdown be at the Sacks estate, and fighting over the mutagen. Then have Sacks get away with some, and tease future mutants by having him like have a secret hideout where he's been trying to replicate the mutagen for years, and he's been using test animals like Rabbits, a Rhino, Boar, Tiger, Coyote, Snapping turtle. Have him talking to someone who's been down there working on the replication, and have it be Baxter. And we see him hand the mutagen over to Baxter and says something like, "Lets try the Rhino first...."

If I think of more I'll edit the post

[Puddinpop]

I would have let them include all of the shots that were cut. I feel like the big shots sacrificed story for length. I would have included the scenes with the Turtles just hanging out in the Lair.. Mikey giving April a tour of the Lair.. Donnie working on his Tech.. Ya know stuff like that.

I would have definitely had more scenes with Shredder " Saki " fighting without the armor on. That scene with him with his hands bound behind his back was one of the best scenes I've ever seen in a TMNT film. I wanted more of it. I loved how he actually spoke Japanese.

I wanted to see Karai fight. She had a really talented Stunt double.

I know this sounds a little insignificant but.. I wanted to see more mutagen. It was so beautiful I wanted to see more of it.

I would have had the last scene at night instead of day like the first film. Shredder and the Turtles on the top of the building at night. And when he falls to the street and dips his fingers into the mutagen.. I would have ended the movie showing him mutating in the shadows or something.. something really scary looking and then abruptly end the movie lol.

I enjoy the after credit scenes. Who says that they should only be a " Marvel" thing.
I would have hinted at Bebop and Rocksteady or even Krang.

That's about it. I want something big in scope. Cant wait for the sequel. This production obviously listens to the fans. I hope they correct the flaws in this film and do even better for TMNT 2.

[ScrewtheMirageTMNT]

-Make it longer
-Have don save the turtles instead of raph
-Show saki more outside of the shredder suit
-Have the foot in action near the end
-Have the foot and karai actually try to fight the turtles
-Not have splinter be an asshole
-Have leo confess something
-Show splinter giving don, raph and michelangelo their weapon

[ctt4lfecw]

Burn the studio down, then fire all who are associated with it.

[sdp]

You know, I think the movie probably already did wonders and fixed the movie however they could based on the outrage the movie was causing. If they hadn't fixed it we might've had the alien turtles and Sachs as Shredder. They already did their best to fix it at least when it was that far into production. Hopefully they can fix those things posted here int he sequel.

[MajorViolence]

There was just no saving this. I know I'm not supposed to say that but whatever. This movie was bad because they chose not to completely scrap the Blue Door script, but instead rewrite the **** out of it. It just needed to be tossed out and written from scratch.

[Warhorse]

I'd first start with getting rid of the SHAKY CAM! I am getting so sick of this crap. It has ruined every single damn movie that it is being used in.

Ok. With that aside, I agree with the OP, I wish they would have expanded on the giving of the weapons (and seeing the Turtles as we know them in this movie, without the masks)

And then, we needed more character development. We needed some down time scenes. I think we should have scenes where we see what it's like for the Turtles to start getting up in the morning. Get a view of their rooms. Something as simple as getting a bedroom shot can build character development all on it's own without speaking a damn word.

What else to fix. Uh, if they have a sequel, I would have liked it if Splinter was just lying to April and the Turtles about learning from a book, because he is trying to protect the real identity of Yoshi. Hey, since it's never been tried before, instead of Yoshi being killed in front of Splinter, or Yoshi turns into Splinter, what if he was abducted by the utroms a long time ago, and in one of the sequels, comes back, and is still alive and kicking, trying to warn everyone about a possible invasion.

Mikey, more of the "snapping turtle" and little less "me for you, and you for me, so happy together!"

As for designs, I'd like if they would make Raph's and Mikey's nose less protruding. Raphs in particular looked like he had a cold throughout the movie.

[Tora]

Added-

-Turtle van chase scene.
-Baxter getting more screen time.
-Karai fighting the Turtles.
-Show some of the Foot soldiers using ninja weapons.
-Sacks getting arrested.
-Hamato Yoshi.


Changed/Dropped-


-I would have made Eric Sacks just a rich A-hole who helps fund the foot and nothing more.
-Redesigned the turtles faces a bit and also dropped some of their gear.
-I would have went with the 87 Splinter look.
-1987 origin story for our heroes.
-No time bomb spider-man gimmick instead Shredder goes after crime families to gain power and uses sacks money to buy the police.
-The Foot are no longer terrorist and are the Shredders muscle.
-Recast and re-shot Burn with Kevin James.

[Warboss74]

Saw the film tonight and I don't think there's any possible way to salvage this film. It's just that bad, and it did the big thing I expected it to do by breaking it's own internal logic at every freakin' turn. It was far and away the worst film I've seen, and I tend to skip tons of films don't expect to be anywhere near as bad as this was. Should have done it with this one, and used my GOTG ticket to GOTG again.

[Joey Kamikaze]

I'd throw everything out and start from scratch. If you gave me $150 million and the TMNT license, the movie I'd make would look something like this:

-A charismatic, down on his luck scientist named Baxter Stockman (Will Smith would kill his role) has recently made bank thanks to his new invention, Mousers, which are cutting down on NYC's rat problem. This is driving the rats in the sewers mad, though Splinter senses there's something more behind it and has felt a presence clawing at his own mind as of late.

-The turtles are at the beginning of their arc, still living in the sewers without contacting the human world, only very rarely going above ground. Splinter sends them into the sewers, fearing they're not alone anymore. We get a little detail on their origins, but not the whole spiel--that's saved for the sequels when the whole TCRI/maybe even Utroms plot could be used.

-April (hell I dunno... Emma Stone maybe) is Baxter's assistant and discovers that he's been using the Mousers to rob banks and is planning future terrorist attacks. He tries to kill her and she winds up in the sewers. This leads to the turtles fighting the Mousers and rescuing April in the sewers. (This all sound familiar?) Later, the turtles and April go back to Baxter's lab, where they discover it's too late to stop him, though maybe they run into a squad of ninja send over by Baxter's unnamed sponsor, who's looking to get paid (and sets up the Foot for the sequel).

-Meanwhile, Splinter does his own poking around the sewers and runs into the person recently interfering with his meditations: the Rat King (Anthony Hopkins?), an older vet with PTSD and the ability to telepathically control rats, somewhat based on his "I, Monster" appearance. He's pissed about the Mousers and looking to lead his "children" in taking over NYC from the humans. Eventually the Rat King takes over Splinter's mind, forcing him to lead the army of rats against humanity.

-It all ends with a huge Baxter Stockman and his army of Mousers vs. the Rat King and his army of rats led by mind-controlled Splinter battle in the streets of New York, with April and the turtles trying to shut down the Mousers remotely and snap Splinter back to his senses while the two villains go at each other.

-The teaser at the end shows Shredder (mostly off-screen) watching footage of the turtles and Splinter fighting. He, the Foot and Casey Jones don't show up properly until the sequel.

That's the TMNT movie I want in my lifetime. Or something like it.

[Oisterboy]

I'd have replaced sacks with Stockman for sure. I spent the entire movie wondering wtf they were thinking.

I'd replace Megan Fox with someone else. Emma stone maybe? They made April less helpless so there's a variety of strong female leads to choose from.

I'd have the turtles escape the fire in the lab more organically. It seemed ridiculously stupid to have April save them only to dump them down a sewer. Who would do that with their pets!? I know splinter addressed it and was thankful for not being in a cage but its still stupid.

I'd have drawn out April meeting the turtles and learning about them a little more. It was too quick from "what?! Turtles??" to "oh ok I'm responsible for all this and my trusted family friend is a liar".

That said I really liked the movie. Not loved. But really like.

[Don77]

First of all I would made it longer, like 2,5-3 hours. The film was so rushed... And the most problems for me are because of that. It would let to add many things that this film is missing. For example make normal, long ninja fights with foot soldiers/ninjas. For example the scene where way running from foot. In that scene they can made a big fight, and turtles beating them all.
Also change the shaking cameras...
Change Shredders plans. His plan is to wait 15 years, and hope he can someday find a mutagen? They couldn't think anything else, really?

[Mr._Mutant_Man]

Like the rest of the longtime Turtles fans, I'd replace Sacks with Baxter Stockman. Maybe I'd hint at a little alien assistance with the mutagen formula.

I'd keep April as the focus of the story. I actually like that she was connected to the turtles' origin. I'd cast someone else, and I'd try to explain why she didn't keep the Turtles and Splinter. Heck, they could have even had her slip and fall like the boy in the cartoon, and it would have been more plausible than, "hey, I love you guys and want to protect you, but I'll just leave you here. Okay, bye."

I'd tone down the "hey, isn't April hot?" references. Maybe keep Michelangelo's "I talked to a girl" line, and Michelangelo singing to her. The joke was repeated too many times.

Have some of the mutagen fall onto something or someone. Put a sequel hook in there somewhere.

[fridaynightdestination]

Make the turtles more of a focus. My biggest gripe with this movie is the turtles didn't really feel like the main characters of this until the end.

[iceberg325]

Although i'm not opposed to change, Id give the turtle their original origin back. If it must be changed, I'd keep Splinter as a human who was mutated and he already has been tied to Shredder. This gives Shredder a bigger reason to hate the turtles and splinter. I feel like this movie should have opened the door to Krang or the Utrom somehow. It just gives the universe freedom for bigger story lines and add more mutants from the tent canon.

[mikey22]

why does he only tell leo the part abuot katana blades why not explain why raph mike and don got their weapons too

[Machias Banshee]

I would actually love to get a copy of the script, and do a lil screenwriting modification..