Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Running Time: 1 hour 41 minutes

Rating: PG-13

Synopsis:

A criminal syndicate known only as the Foot Clan has been running rampant all over New York City, with little to no evidence for the police to follow. TV reporter April O’Neil (Megan Fox) is looking for any kind of lead so that she can break this story wide open, and give her career the jump start it needs. Hoping to interview a source at the docks, O’Neil stumbles into a Foot Clan robbery and is the first and only witness when an unbelievable team of vigilantes appear to foil the thieves. 

Telling her bosses that she saw four six foot tall, talking turtles with expert martial arts skills was not the career boost she was hoping for, and April is summarily fired. Still having more questions than answers, April seeks out the turtles and ends up in grave danger when the leader of the Foot Clan, Shredder (Tohoru Masamune) decides to use April as bait to draw the Ninja Turtles into a deadly confrontation. 

Scott’s Review:

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were an integral part of my childhood and I loved the original cartoon series and live action movie. That made this film all the more disappointing for me. It wasn’t terrible, it just lacked the sense of fun and humor that infused the originals. I actually liked the new design and CGI effects that brought the turtles to life, but small changes to the origin stories, the ridiculous look of Shredder, Megan Fox’s lifeless performance and a less than stellar plot put more hurdles in front of this movie than it can get over. 

It must be said there are some amazing sequences in the movie. The chase down the side of a snowy mountain is particularly eye-popping, but I would have preferred it if there would have been a few more standard fight scenes and some more goofy hi-jinks instead.  There is already a sequel in the works and it will take a lot of convincing to get me to give Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles another try. C-