McDaniel
“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” is like finding a good slice of sewer pizza. About time, ya know?
TMNT movies haven’t set the bar very high over the years, but this installment brings a strong balance of humor with awesome visuals.
Written and directed by Jeff Rowe, who co-wrote my personal favorite animated feature of the last few years in “The Mitchells vs. the Machines,” the turtles have never looked fresher. The sketchy presentation looks like a cross between The Mitchells and the Spider-verse films — with pacing to match.
The story does a nice job quickly bringing a new generation of viewers up to speed on the origin of these reptilian heroes. There are plenty of pop culture jokes, and it moves fast for an audience that requires a quick tempo.
Fifteen years after mysterious ooze transformed them into mutant turtles, Donatello, Michelangelo, Leonardo and Raphael have been raised by a rat mutant named Splinter, who despises humans and wants to protect the turtles from them. But teens are gonna teen — even of the mutant turtle variety.
After embracing their ninja training (from hilariously bad martial arts videos) and helping human April O’Neil (Ayo Edebiri from “The Bear”) recover her stolen scooter, they’re surprised to learn that she actually accepts them. This spawns a plan: a mutated housefly is causing chaos across New York. If they stop him, the humans will have no choice but to love the turtles.
There’s a deeper theme of acceptance here, giving a TMNT story a little more weight than expected, but it never gets too heartfelt before being drowned out by the breakneck pacing of its fight sequences. Ninjas will be ninjas.
It’s thrilling to look at, and is pushed along with a killer soundtrack — kicking butt to “No Diggity” will always be cool. But over time the side-scrolling action starts to lose its magic, and moving so quickly, I couldn’t help feeling that I was missing out on some of the treats.
The balance is off. The best parts of the movie are when it slows down and the likable cast can get a word in, including: Ice Cube as the villainous Superfly (you can sense every curse word he suppresses), Seth Rogen (who is also a writer and producer on the project), Paul Rudd, Post Malone, John Cena and Maya Rudolph.
The movie is funny for kids, but charming enough to also elicit snickers from grownups, especially scenes with Splinter, voiced by Jackie Chan, whose sober rants as the out-of-touch parental figure are golden.
It’s nice to see that turtle power is back, even if the energy that carries it above its predecessors also manages to keep it from being great.
3.5/5
Scott McDaniel is an assistant professor of journalism at Franklin College. He lives in Bargersville with his wife and three kids.
