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TMNT
By Mitch Emerson
March 23, 2007 - 13:15
After the defeat of their old arch
nemesis, The Shredder, the Turtles have grown apart as a family.
Struggling to keep them together, their rat sensei, Master Splinter,
becomes worried when strange things begin to brew in New York City.
Tech-industrialist Max Winters is amassing an army of ancient
monsters to apparently take over the world. And only one super-ninja
fighting team can stop them-those heroes in a half shell-Leonardo,
Michelangelo, Donatello and Raphael! With the help of old allies
April O'Neil and Casey Jones, the Turtles are in for the fight of
their lives as they once again must face the mysterious Foot Clan,
who have put their own ninja skills behind Winters' endeavors. -Yahoo
Movies
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Those wisecracking, pizza loving,
trouble finding turtles are back. This time with a makeover that
makes them a little darker, leaner, meaner and greener. OK, maybe not
greener but I had to throw that in. Animation technology keeps
growing in leaps and bounds and I have a feeling that it won't be
long before we won't be able to tell the difference between CG and
live action. So obviously I liked that part. Especially the rooftop
fight in the rain. The reflected light playing off of their skin is
just gorgeous. And the attention to detail is phenomenal. The
character design was really good too, everybody was recognizable and
everyone got the lean mean makeover as well. For the Turtles, I found
it interesting to note that all of their under shells had some
variation to them. Not like the cartoon where you could only tell
them apart by their mask colors and weapons. The Nightwatcher – his
armor design just plain bad ass. I hate to sound like a weirdo but I
found April, (Sarah Michelle Gellar) when in her ninja suit, and the
new leader of the Foot, Karai (Ziyi Zhang) to be kind of sexy. The
other villains looked just as cool except for Max Winters (Patrick
Stewart), where they went with the super big chest that looks a
little ridiculous.
Story wise, I didn't really get into it
until about halfway through. The ball really gets rolling after the
diner scene (with guest voice Kevin Smith as the diner owner) with
the aforementioned rooftop battle and then the climax of the film.
The beginning was just setup and I understand, but they could have
sped it up a little. What really makes it interesting is that there
is some unexpected developments for Winters and I won't say any more
as it could be construed as a spoiler. Let's just say that there is a
twist or two that I didn't see coming that made for a nice touch.
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Casting – What can you really say
about voice acting except that when it works, you buy it without
question. Sarah Michell Gellar, Chris Evans (Johnny Storm from
Fantastic Four) and the Turtles are a good example. But, when it
doesn't work it sticks out like a sore thumb. Case in point, Master
Splinter. Now I don't want to speak ill of the deceased but Mako just
wasn't right. Every incarnation of TMNT has always had a raspy voiced
Splinter and while the character and his actions were the same, the
voice just didn't work for me. And that my friends, brings me to my
major issue: Patrick Stewart as Max Winters. Not only is the
character design a bit over the top, but with Stewart's extremely
singular voice I just couldn't get the picture of Picard/Xavier out
of my head. That may just be me though.
All in all TMNT is a pretty faithful
blend of the first two live action films and the original comics
while still having a tone of it's own. With great animation and a
healthy dollop of humor, you won't be disappointed. Now you purists
out there may have noticed that I haven't mentioned where this fits
in with existing continuity. And honestly, it doesn't really matter
but if you really want to know, TMNT supposedly is a “loose”
sequel that takes place between the first and the second live action
movie even though there are some nods to all three movies. Mainly in
Splinters trophy room.
For Turtle and animation fans, go see
this at the theater. For non-fans or casual fans, this is a good
jumping on point as well as a way to get a taste of what the TMNT are
all about without having to watch the dreadful cartoon series.
Cowabunga dudes and dudettes!
mitch@comicbookbin.com
Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12