Genre:

Animation, Action, Adventure

Release Date:

November 17, 2023

Streaming:

Netflix

Cast:

Michael Cera, Chris Evans, Brandon Routh, Brie Larson, Aubry Plaza, Mary Elizabeth Winstead

Plot Summary:

Genre:

Anime, Martial Arts

Release Date:

2024

Creator:

Bruce Lee Entertainment

Cast:

N/A

Plot Summary:

“Anime is an amazing medium for telling a truly creative story where Bruce Lee can be Bruce Lee, she said. “I’m so excited for the possibilities for action, fantasy, history, culture, and creativity within this medium.” — Shannon Lee

This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labour of the writers and actors currently on strike, TMNT: Mutant Mayhem being covered here wouldn’t exist.  

Cowabunga! Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is an awesome addition to the franchise becoming the definitive Introduction for a New Generation! Throughout, the film features irresistibly crowd-pleasing moments that OOZE with charm, charisma, & Turtle Power! Further showcasing that this epic film was dreamt up and created by fans. Seth Rogan, Evan Goldberg, Dan Hernandez, Benji Samit, Brendan O’Brien and director Jeff Rowe bring love to this 40-year-old universe and characters which shows and shines through in every scene that’s enhanced with stunningly distinctive sketchy animation from Mikros Animation in Montreal and Paris, and Cinesite in Vancouver. It’s a stylistic spectacle reminiscent of oil paintings and stop-motion backed by some incredible vocal talent and a killer soundtrack from Reznor and Ross. Themes that feature are heartwarming messages about belonging, acceptance, fatherhood, brotherhood, and learning to come out of your shell a little each is impactful and central to the story of these teenage Pizza-loving Heroes in a half-shell.

Synopsis

In “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem”, After years of being sheltered from the human world, the Turtle brothers set out to win the hearts of New Yorkers and be accepted as normal teenagers. Their new friend, April O’Neil, helps them take on a mysterious crime syndicate, but they soon get in over their heads when an army of mutants is unleashed upon them.

History In A Half-Shell

Since its inception, the 40-year-old franchise has repeatedly reinvented itself with new iterations such as live-action features, after-school cartoons, video games, and graphic novels. Now it’s back on the big screen better than ever with a new feature-length animated film titled “Mutant Mayhem”

TMNT was created in 1983 by comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” were imagined as a postmodern, semi-ironic sendup of the popular superhero comics of the era, particularly from Marvel’s Daredevil. With their punky, slang-heavy bite and easygoing demeanour, they embodied a certain brand of savvy Gen X cool that peaked with the arrival of the 1990s. They were sarcastic and streetwise, borrowing elements from surf culture and hip-hop trends!

The four superpowered, wisecracking heroes in a half-shell at its centre are Raphael, Donatello, Michelangelo and Leonardo, aptly named after Renaissance artists. Throughout the 1980s they became cartoon superstars adored by children across the globe. And like “G.I. Joe” and “Transformers” before it, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” was created mainly to promote the various tie-in toys produced by Playmates, which are still going on today with their “Mutant Mayhem” line. The Turtle’s merchandise was enormously successful and continued throughout the 90s The animated “Turtles” series, in which the characters trained under their sensei, a rat called Splinter, ran for 10 seasons. Then came a trilogy of live-action films “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” (1990), “The Secret of the Ooze” (1991) and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III” (1993) which became box office sensations. In the video game world Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time, on the Super Nintendo, became a best-seller.

The Turtles became a versatile brand across ranges of multimedia which in turn helped amplify their popularity, as throughout the 2000s further adaptations to reboot the franchise kept these Ninjas fresh and current which started with a 2003 animated series on Fox and a 2012 digitally animated series on Nickelodeon, both ran for multiple seasons. A 2007 animated movie, and then came two big-budget blockbusters produced by Michael Bay in 2014 and 2016. The animated reboot “Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” (2018), brings back the basic premise and has introduced younger viewers to the franchise whilst bringing children now adults back to their nostalgia which has effectively fueled the continuing relevance of the TMNT franchise.

Sewer Home

“Mutant Mayhem” once again retells the characters’ origin story. In this film, the teens are still raised by the older mutated rat Splinter (Jackie Chan), but these five animals are of a much larger contamination that occurred in the city 15 years ago, creating an entire host of some familiar and unfamiliar mutants who have previously appeared in various TMNT cartoons and comic books but have never been seen on the big screen until now. Splinter now a helicopter parent raises the Turtles in a New York City sewer, teaches them self-defence and forbids them — with good reason — from interacting with the human world. But these are teenagers, and what they want more than anything is to be embraced by humankind. They dream of high school as they sneak into outdoor movie screenings and otherwise gaze wistfully at humans as they go about their lives.

To be embraced and accept each other’s differences is the overarching theme of this film as The four boys yearn to be part of the world outside the sewer. The film uses teenage elements to create this coming-of-age story as Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo and Raphael seek to be recognized as heroes. One of the most brilliant decisions that the filmmakers made early on is the casting of actual teenagers as the Turtles. Nicolas Cantu (Leonardo), Micah Abbey (Donatello), Shamon Brown Jr (Michelangelo), and Brady Noon (Raphael) already feel like a massive improvement as their vocal performances alongside the writing as the comedy is derived from their turns of phrases, their constant talking over each other and general silliness. All these elements make these characters come to life as each embodies their respective character making them feel authentically young. These aren’t the fully formed versions that we’ve seen in the past, and they’re still developing some of those traits that would grow to become staples of each character.

The Turtles’ sewer-bound existence is upended when they encounter an anxious high-schooler named April O’Neil voiced brilliantly by breakout star of FX’s The Bear, Ayo Edebiri. whom they unwittingly distract as a thief steals her moped. So they give chase, wind up in a lair full of criminals, use a whole bunch of those martial arts skills and, ultimately, out themselves to April. They also wake up to the possibility of humanity’s embrace: They could become superheroes, and possibly even save New York City from the pesky supervillain who’s been stealing parts to build a massive bioweapon.

Meet The Mutants

That supervillain would be Superfly (Ice Cube), a giant mutant housefly. An original character created for the movie that’s heavily influenced by Baxter Stockman, the Scientist voiced by Giancarlo Esposito. Ice Cube brings a certain intimidating flair to the character. This highly intelligent humanoid fly is willing to welcome the half-shelled heroes as “cousins” if they help him and all the other mutants wipe out humanity…. alongside him are his family, an army of all sorts of mutated animals with such creative and crazy designs. You have the staples of the franchise such as Rocksteady (a Rhino voiced by John Cena) and Bebop (a Warthog voiced by Writer/producer Seth Rogan) alongside lesser-known characters that truly made a lasting impression on me. Paul Rudd’s Mondo Gecko is a mutated gecko with a passion for skateboarding. Mondo Gecko and Michelangelo form a very fast friendship in the movie and are obsessed with using the word Bro. He also has a roller skate tied to his tail, as did the toy released by Playmates based on the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon which was a cool easter egg. Natasia Demetriou’s Wingnut is another standout with an incredible character design based on the character created by Peter Laird. 

Another voice I didn’t recognise at first was Maya Rudolph’s Cynthia Utrom and unlike most major characters in “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem,” Cynthia Utrom is an entirely original character. She is an executive working at the Techno Cosmic Research Institute (TCRI), which does experiments with new technology. However, there’s more to her than meets the eye as die-hard TMNT fans like myself will recognise Cynthia’s surname that’s tied to the iconic and classic TMNT villain that is Krang’s alien race. Rudolph is ruthless yet absurd as she brings such a whimsical but intimidating performance.

Trapped Like A Rat

Throughout many TMNT adaptations, Splinter is central as a master/father, In the 90s Golden Harvest produced films he’s Yoshi’s pet rat who learned the teachings of his owner from his cage. When Hamato Yoshi was killed by Oroku Saki, Splinter breaks out of his cage and claws at the murderer’s face, causing an enraged Saki to slice the rat’s right ear off. In some iterations like “Rise of the TMNT” he’s Hamato Yoshi, a warrior from Japan who got mutated. So when it came to Bay’s live-action production, Splinter (voiced by Tony Shalhoub) is instead a lab rat who was experimented on with the Turtles. April’s father and the villain, Eric Sacks, did that to find a cure for illness, but April released them, which saw them grow up in the sewers. Splinter found a book on martial arts, using it to teach himself and his boys the way of the ninja.

Those past iterations truly settle on having him be the wise old man who occasionally cracks the odd quip. But here in “Mutant Mayhem” the filmmakers put him in an interesting place showcasing a more personal approach to the character which also explains why he is so fearful of humans. The new backstory for Splinter allows the movie to craft a completely unique version of him while still staying true to the core values that make Splinter who he is and ultimately allows him to grow as a character.

Splinter is an abused rat who found the Turtles and ooze in the sewers of N.Y.C. 15 years ago. He’s a lot more fatherly, interspersed by his paranoia of the outside world. Scenes featuring him bathing and nurturing the Turtle Tots are some of the film’s most heartwarming moments. He’s an overprotective parent that doesn’t want violence in his home and wants the kids to grow up in a place of love and Pizza. He’d eventually learn the art of karate from TV shows and movies, training the kids as their sensei. Voiced by Jackie Chan, Chan digs into his comedic and emotional side as his vocal performance brings such a fatherly caring warmth. His character design and action sequences are some of the best featured.

Attack On A Titan

“Mutant Mayhem” is another example of mainstream animation that is moving away from hyper-realistic, ultra-clean which showcases the power and ability that CGI can achieve, towards an art form that celebrates the medium’s beginnings. The eye-popping vibrant visuals are passionately imperfect as the textures, scribbles and concept art style feel distinctly human. the animation and backdrops are sketchy and misshapen which to me is reminiscent of the way anyone would draw/doodle as a child or teenager. What’s special about this project is that the film incorporates 2D traditional hand-drawn animation. Mikros Animation FX lead, KÉVIN SIMORRE talks about drawing each frame manually, at around 12 frames per second. A large proportion of the FX was created in 2D, with the remainder in 3D, this created a stylistic blend that reminded me of oil paintings and the movements of classic stop-motion animation. The film also features a technique, where every pose is held for an extra frame, giving scenes a more frantic, frenzied energy with a more gritty and edgy look.

The cinematography also does a phenomenal job of emphasising the teenage aspect of the film. Kent Seki, showcases the youthfulness of our main four by keeping the camera close, handheld, and alive. In contrast with the camerawork when the Turtles are being scolded by Splinter, it’s much steadier. New York City is sketchy, scribbly just like what any kid/teen might draw in the margins of their notebook. The toys and their colour pallet were heavily influential in this film.

Megamind, Gru-type SH*T

“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” truly boasts a killer soundtrack and techno-punk score from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.
Among the 30 tracks released, many feature some pretty wild titles, including names like “Murder The Shreks!,” “What’s The Worst That Could Happen? ” “(The Worst That Could Happen),” “Grand Theft Ice Cream Truck,” “I Just Met You And You Almost Killed Me,” “Puke Girl,” ” “Better Than Mark Ruffalo,” and more.

Final Thoughts

“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” is one of the funniest, most enduring, and visually captivating renditions of the TMNT. It’s incredibly entertaining, especially after multiple viewings and one in 3D as the film immerses you into its neon-oozed world of sketchy colourful chaos. Congratultions to all the artists who’ve created such nostagic joy-filled ride through an incredibly stylistic world!