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Movie Review - TMNT (2007)
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(What this rating means)
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| Director: |
Kevin Munroe |
| Starring: |
The voices of Chris Evans, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Mako, Patrick Stewart, Laurence
Fishburne, Mitchell Whitfield, James Arnold Taylor, Mikey Kelley, and Nolan North |
| Rated: |
PG (for animated action violence, some scary cartoon images and mild language) |
| Length: |
90 minutes |
| Genre: |
Animation/Comic Book/Action |
| Tagline: |
Raising Shell In 2007 |
| Studio: |
Warner Bros. |
| Website: |
TMNT |
| Release: |
March 23, 2007 |
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PLOT
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Following the events of the franchise's previous three live-action, costumed movies (events which included
the defeat of arch nemesis, The Shredder); the Turtles have grown apart as a family. Struggling to keep
them together, their rat sensei, Splinter (Mako), becomes worried when strange things are AFOOT (the Foot
soldiers, get it??) in New York City.
Tech-industrialist Maximillian J. Winters (Stewart) is raising an army of ancient monsters, and it's up
to the Turtles to rejoin forces and stop them. Turtle ensues.
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JOHNNY'S TAKE
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"This is supposed to be a darker side of the Turtles! A real throwback to the comic book!"
That's a paraphrase of what I was hearing months ago when TMNT was first announced. I'm not exactly
a Turtle fanboy, but I likes me some dark comic book movies, so I had my hopes up, especially since
Corey Feldman's name didn't appear anywhere in the IMDb credits.
But then I saw a commercial for the movie, and well, I wasn't exactly pickin' up the ol'
laptop to email home to mama about how excited I was. It looked like they took every cheesy line from the
movie, crammed them all into a 2 minute trailer, and said, "Go ahead; parents, I dare you not to bring your
kids."
My review was practically writing itself. "More like the Teenage Mutant Ninja TURDles," I smugly wrote
down in my notes, realizing that was a gem I didn't dare risk forgetting. My excitement was high. Not
for the movie. Oh no. But for the scathingly hilarious review I was going to craft.
But you know what?
"You saw the movie and it was even worse than you imagined?"
No. It actually wasn't too shabby! Sure, there are some corny lines, but the cheese factor is nowhere
near the level I expected. The fact that much of it is self-aware makes it even more tolerable and actually
"shake your head because you're embarrassed to be laughing at this" funny at times.
The CGI is great, the action and accompanying up-tempo music beats are frenetically enjoyable, and the story
is solid, especially considering this is, essentially, a kid's movie. I still have no idea why a
human-sized rat would have a Japanese accent, but sometimes it's best just to let our curiosities
go.
Surprisingly, the movie does fall a little on the darker side of things. It's nothing your
12-year-old can't handle, but there are a few animated deaths, so the wee ones may get scared during some
of the film's more ominous, violent moments.
I haven't started any preliminary space cleaning on my shelves for the DVD, but TMNT is a fine
re-start on the series. Rather than remake any of the originals, the filmmakers decided to go with a fresh
storyline in a completely CGI world, and have thus laid good groundwork in moving forward.
Hands down, this is a much better universe for the Turtles to live, fight, and prosper. The silly turtle
suits were cute when I was a pre-teen, but come on, they had to go. There are only so many cool fight
scenes you can showcase in those lumbering monstrosities.
Now sing along with me everybody - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles ... heroesinahalfshell ... TURTLE POWER!
Enjoy having that stuck in your head for the rest of the day. You're welcome.
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ODDS & ENDS
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- The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were created in 1984 by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman. TMNT
writer-director Kevin Munroe reveals, "They did it to spoof the world of superhero characters. The
original comic book was published in black-and-white and only 3,000 copies were printed, which, much to
everyone's surprise, sold out right away."
- Johnny and two of his friends were dubbed "the turtles" by their high school baseball teammates.
Johnny played for the Spartans and their school colors were green and gray. One day, Johnny and his
friends were in a group preparing for batting practice. All three were wearing green batting
helmets, and one teammate said they looked like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Since the core
group only consisted of three players, it became a long-running joke to constantly rotate in an
honorary fourth member.
- "We designed full-on muscle systems for the Turtles because they're essentially wearing nothing but a
sash and a half-shell," Munroe explains. "We also gave them unique characteristics. For example, on
Raphael, he actually has veins that pop out whenever he flexes, and Michelangelo has freckles."
- Working closely with Munroe, animation director Kim Ooi was responsible for overseeing the execution of
anything that moves on screen. Ooi offers, "The Turtles' fighting style is derived from Chinese and
Japanese-style martial arts. Many of the fight sequences were inspired by Hong Kong action films, but
because we're doing CGI, we can push and stylize beyond the limits of live action."
- Movement for each of the Turtles was also scrutinized to enhance their individual characteristics. Ooi
explains, "For Leonardo, he's very confident because he's the oldest and the leader, so he walks very tall
and has good posture. Raphael's the rebel, so he's got a bit of a swagger. Michelangelo is the more
childlike one, so he's jumpy and restless. And Donatello's movements are more subdued because he's the
intellectual one and characterized by more polite gestures."
- Munroe concludes, "We've done everything possible in this film to fill it with wall-to-wall action and
classic TMNT humor. At the end of the day, this is a story about a typical American family," smiles the
director, "that is, if your family lives underground and saves the world battling countless ninjas and big
bad monsters!"
- Click here to read my exhilarating story on how I
was first introduced to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
- Patrick Stewart was in Star Trek: Insurrection with Anthony Zerbe who was in The Young
Riders with Josh Brolin who was in Hollow Man with Kevin Bacon.
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MAMA'S APPROVAL
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There is some animated violence and a few dark images that might frighten your five-year-old, but overall
this is safe for the entire family.
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TRAILER COMPARISON
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The trailer lowered my expectations because it focused on the movie's camp factor and avoided its darker
elements. I was pleasantly surprised.
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THE GIST
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If you're a Turtle fan and you actually think the live action films stand the test of time then you should
really love this! Thankfully, the filmmakers didn't neglect adult sensitivities, therefore parents and children
alike should have a good time.
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