New York is being flooded by a series of crimes that are caused by young members of a ninja clan that call themselves the Foot. How strange of a name is that? Maybe it’s because Ninjitsu requires a lot of footwork, but then again, I’ve never taken any self-defense lessons in any form of fighting, so it shows you how much I know. Their leader: the diabolical Shredder (played by James Saito, but voiced by David McCharen), whose face is covered behind a mask and you can only see his eyes, and it owes very much to the traditional Japanese armor, similar to Darth Vader’s helmet. People have described this character as a Darth Vader rip-off, especially with the "I am your father" line. Television reporter April O’Neil, played by Judith Hoag, is assigned to this case, demanding that she is put on the case by the satisfied police force and making herself a target for the Foot Clan. What no New York citizen knows is that among them are four rather unusual citizens to fight the Foot Clan on the streets: Michelangelo (puppetry done by Mark Wilson and Michelan Sisti, and voiced by Robbie Rist), Donatello (puppetry done by Leif Tilden and David Rudman, and voiced by Corey Feldman), Leonardo (puppetry done by David Forman and Martin P. Robinson, and voiced by Brian Tochi) and Raphael (puppetry done by David Greenway and Josh Pais, and voiced by Josh Pais), the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Their specialty is that they live in the sewers, study Ninjitsu, eat pizza, and say catchphrases that are so outdated. But that’s what makes them so cool, especially with Michelangelo imitating Sylvester Stallone's character, Rocky Balboa, and James Cagney. With the help from their martial-arts master, a rat named Splinter (puppetry done by Kevin Clash, Rickey Boyd and Robert Tygner, and voiced by Kevin Clash) and a vigilante named Casey Jones, played by Elias Koteas, the Turtles team up with April to take down Shredder and the Foot Clan. Trouble then arrives when April’s boss, played by Raymond Serra, fires her, Shredder kidnaps Splinter, and Raphael gets seriously injured after getting massacred by the Foot Clan. April, Casey, and the Turtles escape to April’s old farmhouse to recover from everything, then return to New York to take down the Foot Clan, resulting in a relay that tests the limits of their abilities. April is rehired, Casey confesses his love for April, and the Turtles are reunited with Splinter.
You might be wondering why any director would want to pick up the rights to make a live-action movie of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? The obvious answer is that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, who started off as comic book characters, then got their own cartoon show and a radical amount of merchandise, have a magnificent pre-teen following that could fill the theater seats, on their own and in the presence of their parents and baby sitters. TV Guide has said in their review of this film, “But, unlike THE GARBAGE PAIL KIDS MOVIE or other films inspired by existing marketing concepts, TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES is entertaining enough to gloss over the crassness of its underpinnings.” Brought to life by state-of-the-art special effects methods that bring together performers in full-body suits with radio-controlled animation (thanks to the puppet master, Jim Henson), the Turtles and Splinter come out as real characters as opposed to larger-than-life advertising come-ons. On top of that, the relationships which motivate Splinter, the Turtles, and any of the human characters are positive without being overly sentimental. The idea of family appears large in the story. Shredder’s Foot Clan only become his members because of rejection from their own family. The Clan’s headquarters is just mindless, filled with pool tables, skateboarding, video games, cigarettes (yes, you heard right), and junk food, but what is missing is that it offers a sense of belonging and camaraderie. When the Foot Clan finally wakes up and sees that they are being used, their obedience to Shredder finally is stopped. In contrast, Splinter is a positive parental figure, who teaches the Turtles that their strength is not from their Ninjitsu, but from the love and respect the four have for one another. TV Guide mentioned in their review:
“Offset by the Turtles' Val-speak sarcasm and by action sequences staged with a hip nod to years of martial-arts movie conventions, the message goes down pretty smoothly. And while many reviewers were put off by Splinter's rheumy-eyed philosophizing and the Turtles' ninja antics, the movie's youthful target audience squealed with delight.”
A noticeable mistake in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles story is the equally dark cinematography. Despite noir visuals, this description often becomes distracting. The flashback to how the Turtles became Ninjas, which (for those of you who don’t know) is they were little pet store turtles that were exposed to radioactive ooze, and they meet up with Splinter, who was once a pet rat to a Japanese martial arts master named Hamato Yoshi, is said by TV Guide to be “so underlit that without the rat's voice-over narration it would be difficult to follow.” That could be corrected in the future Ninja Turtles movies to come.
In the end, despite the drawbacks to this film, it still holds up very well today, much like Tim Burton’s “Batman.” If you haven’t seen this film yet and you are a Ninja Turtles fan, definitely check this one out, it’s a must. I wouldn’t say this is one of my favorite films, but a childhood memory that I hold very close to me since I looked up to the Ninja Turtles as a kid and I still am an old-school Ninja Turtles fan to this day. Stay tuned next week dudes to see how the sequel was. Sorry about posting this late, I was out for a good majority of the day.
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