TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES
A film review by David M. Jones
Copyright 1990 David M. Jones
This is a somewhat rambling review of the TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES movie. Be warned that though there are no particularly grievous spoilers in this article, there may be enough to remove a little of the joy of seeing the movie from an unspoiled perspective. The most important thing to learn from this article is that the movie is well worth seeing, at least if you like the comic book. Now that you know that, maybe you want to hit 'n' now.
Last night I was privileged to attend the world premiere of TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES, hosted by MIT's Lecture Series Committee. I was tempted, upon getting out of the movie at about 2:45 AM, to rush directly to my terminal and send a review off, but luckily the call of my bed was too great, so I went home to sleep instead, I say "luckily" because this extra time has allowed me to give the movie the consideration it deserves. Here, then, are some of my impressions of the movie. I've tried to keep spoilers to a minimum, and to warn you when they are coming. However, I haven't felt the need to be too diligent in this regard, since anyone familiar with the comic books won't find the plot too surprising.
Overall, I was quite impressed with the movie. I found it to be a reasonably faithful adaptation of the comic book. In particular, they left the characters largely intact. Raphael's uncontrolled rage and loner tendencies, Leonardo's leadership (particularly his concern for the team as a team, as well as individuals), and Casey's sometimes warped quixotism are all apparent in the movie. There are differences, of course. April is reworked into a gutsy and intelligent investigative reporter, but I can't help but think the changes are for the better. Then, too, I didn't get much of a sense of Micheangelo and Donatello as individuals. In fact, now that I think of it, I'd say their main function was as comic relief to offset the heavier interaction between the Raphael-Leonardo and April-Casey pairs. For example, with one questionable exception, there is no indication of Donatello's considerable technical prowess.
Unfortunately, one character doesn't come off very well at all, namely Splinter. The movie industry has made yet another attempt to portray "inscrutable oriental wisdom," and they've failed yet again. In fact, I'm tempted to say that Splinter comes across as a bit of a buffoon. Part of this was due to technical failings. For example, the only parts of the movie I can remember cringing at were the flashback scenes describing Splinter's life with his Master and his discovery of the turtles. The stop-action animation (if that's the term I want) was ill-suited to the ostensibly serious tone of Splinter's narrative. In particular, the scenes showing him learning the martial arts by mimicking his master from his cage were absurd. All in all, the movie would be improved if these scenes were replaced by straight narrative without the visual aides. However, a bigger part of the problem was the approach they took to the character. Two symptoms of the problem come to mind: (1) Splinter had a goatee, and (2) he spoke with a stereotypical Japanese accent. Given the inherent problems in making a believable character out of a giant talking rat who is also a martial arts master, I think that including these particular cliches was a lamentable mistake. Among other things, this approach made his character far too rigid and inflexible. But enough of that. Let's move to a more positive note.
The turtle costumes were quite satisfactory (even if the faces, particularly the mouths, did remind me a little too strongly of Kermit the Frog occasionally :-)). The costumes weren't so unwieldy as to interfere with the movement of the actors. (In fact, the only thing I can remember being distracted by is that the shell on their stomachs seemed too flexible. I distinctly saw it bend once or twice.) Nor were they so garish as to distract the eye from the movie. In short, if you can suspend your disbelief enough to accept the presence of the turtles in the comic books, you shouldn't have any trouble accepting them in the movie.
I was quite impressed with the screenplay. They managed to rearrange the plot without doing gratuitous damage to the the comic book. In fact, if anything, I'd say the movie is more tightly plotted than the comic book. Also noteworthy is the fact that many scenes are lifted from the book with practically no change. However, there were major changes in the arrangements of the scenes. If anyone is interested in knowing what some of them are, drop me a line.
One thing that might bother purists is that it is apparent that the violence of the book has been toned down considerably, probably in order to appeal to younger viewers. For example, Splinter's master does not kill his rival in love; instead, he and his lover flee to America, where they are hunted down and killed by the rival himself. (Thus, Shredder is the rival himself, not the rival's younger brother.) Similarly, Splinter does not send the Turtles to kill Shredder, as he does in the book. I suspect that both of these changes were made to avoid sticky questions about the morality of Splinter, the Turtles, and Splinter's master, and to keep the overall tone of the movie light. Similarly, the fight scenes lacked the intensity of the book. There was no blood dripping off sais in this movie. (Incidentally, I'll let someone else comment on the authenticity of the fight scenes. I'm not qualified to judge.)
Purists might also be concerned about the portrayal of the Turtles. Yes, there is one scene where one of the Turtles is riding a skateboard. And yes, they are obsessed with pizza. However, neither of these things is obnoxiously handled. A more serious flaw is the attitude they take toward Splinter and the art of the ninja in general. I can't speak for the TMNT cartoon or for the "Adventures of the TMNT," but I feel confident in stating that the Turtles I am familiar with would not wander off to order a pizza while Splinter was attempting to teach them. I'm also not entirely satisfied with their behavior during the fights. They're too cocky, too showy, not grim enough. I suspect this was also intended to keep the mood of the movie from getting too heavy. However, on the whole these are the same wise-cracking adolescents, stewed in the popular culture of the day, that I know from the books. I must admit that their voices were a little higher that I had expected, but then again, they are supposed to be 15 years old. (I'm going to gloss over the difficulties involved in such analogies between the TMNT and human adolescents.)
So, in summary, I was impressed by the movie. The failings I've noted occupy a relatively small amount of screen time and should do little to interfere with your enjoyment of the movie. This is a faithful adaptation of TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES, a well-done movie, and all-in-all a great way to spend a couple of hours. Most importantly, this is *not* a movie aimed only at 5-year-olds. If you enjoyed the comic book, you should enjoy the movie.
--- David M. Jones ARPANET: dmjones@theory.lcs.mit.edu UUCP: ...!mit-eddie!mit-athena!dmjones USmail: 10 Chandler St., #2; Somerville, MA 02144
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