Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Chad'z rating: *** (out of 4 = good) 1990, PG, 95 minutes [1 hour, 35 minutes] [adventure] starring: Judith Hoag (April O'Neil), Elias Koteas (Casey Jones), Josh Pais (voice of Raphael), Corey Feldman (voice of Donatello), Robbie Rist (voice of Michelanglo), Brain Tochi (voice of Leonardo), produced by Kim Dawson, Simon Fields, David Chan, written by Todd W. Langen, Bobby Herbeck, directed by Steve Barron, based on the comic book and characters created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird.
Now this is a first. For once, Hollywood was able to make a movie based on a popular [children's] trend that is not total stupidity. In fact, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" is really quite original as it combines some of the gritty elements from the comic book with storylines from the animated series to tell a lighthearted, campy story.
The setting takes place in New York City where some kind of invisible crime wave going on. As we hear the voice of journalist April O'Neil (Hoag) describe the situation, we see for ourselves just how masterminded the criminals are. Surprisingly, they are teenagers with the stealth and other abilities of ninjas. As April leaves she is mugged by some of the thieves, but they become victims themselves when someone puts out the lights and disarms them. Of course we know it's the turtles and we then proceed to follow them home and learn a bit about them.
The TMNTs are four, huge, mutated turtles who wear masks and are obviously ninjas. They live in the sewers with their mentor, a mutated rat named Splinter. The only problem is the story tries to counter the turtles' hyperness with the serious, metaphoric words of their sensi. One minute Splinter is giving an important analogy or proverb (a la Yoda in "The Empire Strikes Back"), and the next minute the guys are partying... but then again, they are teenagers.
Through some good cop-out devices, April finds herself warned by the Foot Clan (the perpetrators of the crime wave) to "shut it." She then meets the turtles after Raphael comes to her rescue. We also learn about the Foot's secret headquarters through a character with ties to April. There isn't much here in terms of explaining the genius of the criminal organization or why they are committing so much theft, just the fact they are ninjas, and therefore invisible, seems to be reason enough.
The Foot learns about the turtles, and kidnaps their master, and thus fight scenes ensue and a plot of sorts begins to form. We get good characterization of the turtles though, they are quite human in their personalities and actually likable because they don't seem like big cartoons. In fact, the general attitude of the film works like this as a whole. Yes, sometimes the script provides for fight scenes but there is actually a story and a fun spirit to it all.
If the film succeeds in any way, it would have to be the cleverly scripted and well choreographed fight scenes. They are hilarious because of the way the turtles fight, using household objects and all the while exclaiming wisecracks and one-liners. The violence isn't even graphic, but portrayed in such a way that we know who's winning.
I don't have to tell you how the film ends, it's typical but somewhat suspenseful. Considering all the elements that make up and surround the film, this is really quite an accomplishment.
Even if "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" is just an exploitative children's film, the fact remains it has a decent story to tie it all together. Its lightheartedness gives it the charm those other adventure flicks miss.
Please visit Chad'z Movie Page @ http://members.aol.com/ChadPolenz - over 140 films reviewed in depth, not just blind ratings or quick capsules. E-mail: ChadPolenz@aol.com (C)1997 Chad Polenz
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