TMNT

TMNT ***

Directed by Kevin Munroe
Written by Kevin Munroe, based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic book & characters created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird

Starring:
Chris Evans as Casey Jones (voice)
Sarah Michelle Gellar as April O'Neil (voice)
Mako as Master Splinter (voice)
Kevin Smith as Chef (voice)
Patrick Stewart as Max Winters (voice)
Laurence Fishburne as Narrator (voice)
Ziyi Zhang as Karai (voice)
Mitchell Whitfield as Donatello (voice)
James Arnold Taylor as Leonardo (voice)
Mikey Kelley as Michelangelo (voice)
Nolan North as Raphael/Nightwatcher (voice)
John Di Maggio as Colonel Santino (voice)
Paula Mattioli as General Serpiente (voice)
Kevin Michael Richardson as General Aquila (voice)
Fred Tatasciore as General Gato (voice)

85 Minutes(Rated PG for animated action violence, some scary cartoon images and mild language)
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To be honest, "TMNT" is great fun, and will please the long time fans of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as well as create new ones in the present day youth. Because let's face it-if you were a young boy at some point in your life, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were a cartoon group that appealed to you. For some reason the action adventures of a group of turtle ninjas was simply cool. I've been told that I wasn't the biggest fan in the world, but I still recall having a t-shirt, and a video tape, and even a few action figures. So now, about a decade later, I have the chance to revisit this portion of my childhood, and I am happy to report that this is actually a decent picture. Kevin Munroe did the Turtles right, bringing a nice amount of darkness to the film, as well as not going the easy way out and dumbing it down with lame jokes and situations. This is dark, intense, and briefly gritty stuff considering its supposed to be for kids, but then again isn't the idea of a bunch of giant turtles living in the sewer systems with a giant rat as their mentor just a little dark?

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are named after the four Renaissance masters-Leonardo is the leader, then Raphael, Michelangelo, and Donatello. They are four brothers who all answer to the rule of Master Splinter, a giant rat that lives in the sewer pipes with them. Their only real constant with the outside world is through two humans-April O'Neil and her live-in boyfriend Casey Jones. The Turtles are going through a hard time when they should be happy. They have recently destroyed their most evil villain, Shredder, but Leonardo has been sent away by Splinter to complete his training as a leader. This does not fly over well with Raphael who claims that crime doesn't take a break, and why should Leonardo. April goes off to find Leonardo. Meanwhile, since they aren't fighting crime, the other turtles have kept themselves busy. Donatello works as a phone operator, and Michelangelo works for kids birthday parties, putting on a giant turtle mask to disguise himself. Raphael sleeps all day, but at night he becomes the Night watcher, a lone crime fighter. The trouble comes when April is hired by Max Winters to go around the world collecting various artifacts. Little does she know that Winters was a general back in the day, and his one desire was to rule the rule. However his quest turned him immortal, turned his soldiers into stone statues, and brought out thirteen horrible creatures into the world. Winters plans on bringing those monsters together again and become mortal again. At the same time the Turtles try to band together and fight, but the feud between the brothers rages on and it only gets in the way.

I could really see people(mainly males) of all ages enjoying "TMNT." Because not only would the older generation be interested to see how the Turtles have changed, but they would obviously bring the younger generation along to introduce them to the Turtles. This movie will bring people together, and father son bonding should go up. (Ha. . .ha. . .) And rightly so. There is some fun to be had watching this. It isn't perfect, and it doesn't exactly make you feel like a child again, but it is entertaining. It is a little bit intense, and this was a welcome surprise. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were never a colorful and bright and happy bunch-they were much darker. After all they lived in the sewer, came out only in the night, and fought crime. Munroe, in his script, has created a dark story, as well as rather intense battle scenes and even strife between the brothers that just made the story much more dense as opposed to the group getting together to fight the bad guys, and then the end. I also enjoyed how he spared us any introduction. In fact, the beginning of "TMNT" may seem like it was the second part of something. We have no idea how the Turtles came to be, and Leonardo is even gone already. It's like that old theory about how the middle half always has the most action because the middle half of a trilogy doesn't need to introduce and it doesn't need to conclude. "TMNT" works in that way to a point, as it doesn't introduce and it sucks you in the middle of the action from the first frame. And when there isn't hundreds of bad guys for the Turtles to destroy, they just end up fighting with each other to create constant conflict and constantly interesting scenes.

Lastly I will admire the decision to make this all in CGI. I am so grateful that they didn't go the new approach, and create a live action world but make the Turtles in 3-D, like they did in "Scooby-Doo." I never liked when they did that-it just seems so cheesy and fake. Through the CGI I was able to get invested into this brand new world. It isn't top notch animation but it is worthy enough. I did enjoy "TMNT," almost in a secret way. I know it sounds ridiculous-a seventeen year old person enjoying a movie designed for people much younger than him. But it reminded me of the past, and managed to bring back a franchise without dumbing it down or ruining it. I would welcome a sequel to this, and hopefully this could be the first in a brand new series of films for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.