'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows' Review
Growing up, I was a huge Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan. From the movies, cartoon series, toys and video games, the Turtles were my favorite heroes. In my opinion, the first 2 films from the 90s still hold up extremely well. The Jim Henson-created suits look very life-like, the dialogue and relationships between characters were great, and the films are a lot of fun.
When the first new reboot came out a few years ago, I was cautiously optimistic about it, despite hating what the Turtles looked and sounded like. The hulking CG monstrosities were not what I grew up with, and upon seeing the film in the theatre, I hated every second of it. Flash forward to earlier this year, as the trailers began dropping for 'Out of the Shadows', a film that includes Casey Jones, Krang, Beebop and Rocksteady. 90s kids everywhere rejoiced in knowing their beloved characters from the animated series would finally be making their big screen debuts (sans Casey Jones, whom appeared in the 1990 film played by Elias Koteas).
I sipped the kool-aid just enough to want to see this film out of morbid curiosity, having been burned from the first one. I told myself that I wouldn't go see it during its theatrical run and would wait for a home video release, which I stuck to. Boy, am I glad I did. This movie SUCKS. Filled with fart jokes, terrible looking CG and action scenes, and awful characters, 'Out of the Shadows' should've stayed hidden.
This movie was painful to watch. Megan Fox is probably the worst actress on the planet and is there purely for sex appeal, especially with the opening scene of the movie. I don't like any of the Turtles, Splinter, and I even disliked Stephen Amell as Casey Jones (and I'm a big fan of him on 'Arrow'). Last weekend on The Cinescape Podcast, I briefly talked about this film towards the end of the episode, as the topic of "bastardizing" past properties with new reboots was brought up. This movie was a kick to my 7-year-old gut.
It was so bad that it was actually comical. Krang was horrendously awful, making threats in the form of childish taunts, and Tyler Perry's Baxter Stockman was the campiest cartooniest character I've ever seen on film in a live action format. Beebop and Rocksteady are insanely moronic and made me feel dumb for liking them as a child. And the main Turtle villain, Shredder, was barely in the movie. I just don't understand what the people behind the cameras were thinking. Both new films have taken the Turtles out of New York into rural areas, mountains, rivers with waterfalls, and even on an airplane. It's apparent that the people making these films have no idea what the core, essential values of these characters are.
I literally have nothing good to say about this movie other than the fact that a cover version of the 90s animated series theme was played during the credits. Congratulations, Michael Bay & co., you managed to ruin my childhood yet again. All we need next is for them to team up with Optimus Prime and the other Transformers to bring about the End of Days on Earth.
Looking at the numbers, the movie made $245 million on a $135 million budget, sadly leaving the door open for another sequel. Rotten Tomatoes shows a 38% critic rating and 51% audience rating.
My rating: 0 out of 10
