Cowabunga Comeback
I wasn’t sure there would be another animated film releasing in 2023 that could compete with my feelings about “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”, but “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” comes close. Writer and director Jeff Rowe has admitted the film’s style was actually influenced by “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”. That explains why “Mutant Mayhem” is a similar feast for the eyes. Each frame employs realistic lighting and texturing that creates an entrancing movie-going experience. Great for older viewers who will be delighted to meet their old favorites in this new medium.
After many iterations of comic books, television series and feature films, the property known as TMNT is ready for a fresh start. Created in 1984 as a pseudo-parody of the many superhero comics popular at that time, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” is a ludicrous premise. There are four anthropomorphic brother turtles exposed to a toxic green ooze that turns them, not only sentient but human-sized. Each has the ability to walk on two feet and commit the ninja moves they’ve learned under the tutelage of a mutant rat.
Laughably absurd in the bare bones of its design, TMNT is a very obvious product of an era that reveled in irreverence and learned the immense profitability of toy marketing and merchandise. Although such properties rarely survive for nearly 40 years, the mutant turtles have gone the distance, and the latest cinematic entry into their canon not only makes the turtles cool again, but reintroduces their story in a fresh and tasteful way.
Abandon the Sewer, Save the City
Four turtle brothers – Michelangelo (Shamon Brown Jr.), Donatello (Micah Abbey), Leonardo (Nicolas Cantu), Raphael (Brady Noon) – are the unintended victims of a science experiment that accidentally spills into the underground sewers of NYC. The neon bio-slime grants them the fairy tale abilities to talk, and they physically turn more human-like as the years pass. The quad relies on their sensei-slash-father-figure Splinter (Jackie Chan), who learned his karate-infused moves by watching films and at-home videos. As an extra layer of protection and given the lack of acceptance they’ve experienced in the world above their sheltered sewer, Splinter has passed on these life-saving skills to his adopted sons.
Their life of hiding and avoiding humans comes to an end when the turtles meet April O’Neil (Ayo Edebiri), a high school student and wannabe journalist. She’s the first person to treat them with kindness instead of shrieking in ignorant fear. Smitten and intrigued by the human girl, the teenagers are soon eager to prove their worth to the rest of the world.
The city is plagued by a mysterious villain named Superfly (Ice Cube), a mutant insect who oversees a crew of fellow mutant creatures like Genghis Frog (Hannibal Buress) and Mondo Gecko (Paul Rudd). They have been terrorizing the city, stealing pieces of technology in a grand scheme of weaponizing the ooze that created them and mutating all wildlife on the planet, thereby enslaving the humans that once tried to destroy them. It’s up to the crime-fighting turtles to infiltrate Superfly’s small army and put a stop to his horrible plan before humanity is mutantized.
Undeniably Rogen
With a script that is tight, well-structured and quite funny, “Mutant Mayhem” finds a lift from its co-writers/producers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. The duo behind most of Rogen’s comedy vehicles (“Superbad” is, of course, at the top of that list) write this teenage demographic very well, and “Mutant Mayhem” is strengthened by the on-the-page comradery written for the four leads. They may be turtles dressed as ninjas, but, at heart, they are teenage boys sneaking off to catch a movie in the park or pester each other about playground crushes.
The choice to use this particular style of CGI, which pushes the imagery into the realm of hyperrealism, also completely elevates the material. It harkens back to its comic book roots and establishes their world as one that is as dirty as the sewer in which they were raised and as imperfect as the mutants that were inadvertently created. It may not usurp the reigning favorite from this year, but “Mutant Mayhem” has plenty of butt-kicking, pizza-eating, cowabunga-screaming joy for a new era of TMNT fans.
Know before you go
MPAA rating: PG for sequences of violent and action, language and impolite material
Recommended age: 6+
Runtime: 99 minutes
Nightmare inducers: Though I’ve noted a 6+ age recommendation, my 3.5-year-old sat through the entire film. She was actively bored and restless, but she found no part of it – not the villains, nor the gritty animation – frightening. To me, the animation style does make every scene feel darker and “scarier” than those films that go through the Pixar filter. Superfly and his crew of mutants are conventionally unattractive and arguably gross-looking characters, but they shouldn’t push any viewer to tears or nightmares.
Difficult concepts or emotions: Raised below ground and shafted from society, the turtles certainly deal with issues of abandonment and rejection. They are yearning to fit in with kids their age and with the human world in general. All of the mutants are hunted by humans, and it takes one kind, compassionate person to turn the tides in their favor. There is minor riffing between the turtles, who joke amongst each other, though they are never offensive or cruel.
