Cowa-freaking-bunga.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is the best ninja turtles movie we’ve ever gotten. Yes, even better than the classic 1990’s film. Like the turtles themselves, TMNT: Mutant Mayhem is bursting with personality, energy, off-kilter comedy, high-kicking ninja action, and a ton of heart. It may deviate slightly from the source material, but the essence of the turtles is all here. Or maybe it’s more appropriate to say “ooze.”
Retelling the classic turtles story for the modern age, TMNT: Mutant Mayhem follows our four teenage mutants as they grow up wanting to live a life beyond the sewer. When they were very little, their father Splinter (Jackie Chan) raised Leonardo (Nicolas Cantu), Donatello (Micah Abbey), Raphael (Brady Noon), and Michelangelo (Shamon Brown Jr.) to fear the surface world and trained them in the martial arts to defend themselves. But while Leo wants to follow his father’s wishes, his brothers are always getting into trouble whether they’re ordering extra pizza, sneaking out to the movies, or breaking windows with their ninja stars.
One day, the quartet of brothers get an idea — if they help bring in a master criminal who is threatening New York City, the world will see that they’re not monsters and will accept them as one of their own. The problem is they need to catch “The Superfly” (Ice Cube), a mass murderer whose face nobody has ever seen. With their nunchucks, katanas, sai, and bo staff in hand, the turtles come together to prove that humans don’t need to be afraid of mutants.
One of the things I’ve always loved about the turtles is that it’s a story about outsiders. Much like the Hulk and the X-Men, the turtles are a family of misunderstood heroes who are feared and hated by society just because they’re different from them. Yet, despite the fear and hatred they experience on a daily basis, the turtles always strive to do the right thing. Not because it personally benefits them or because it makes others see them differently, but just because it is the honorable thing to do.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is a different story. While other TMNT adaptations have traditionally emphasized the “mutant” or “ninja” side of the turtles, Mutant Mayhem instead fully embraces the teenage aspect and allows them to be much more mischievous, rebellious, and even a little reckless — just like real teenagers are. We’ve seen action-hero turtles beat up a bunch of highly-trained assassins, as well as stealthy ninja turtles who silently stalk their prey at night. I’ve never seen a turtles movie where their biggest concerns are high school crushes, pizza toppings, and searching for a place to belong. That makes them so much more relatable and humanizes them to the point where we don’t see them as mutants, ninjas, or turtles, but rather as kids confused and hurt by a world that hates them so much.
I also love the animation in this movie. While clearly inspired by the recent success of Into The Spider-Verse, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem carries its own gross and pulpy influence that feels like it’s popping straight out of the pages of an Eastman & Laird comic book. The lines are scratchy and unrefined, yet illustrate whole and complete pictures. The character designs look uneven and bizarre, but emphasize specific traits relating to their personalities and mutations. And the frame rate is gorgeous, moving and flowing like a waterfall of heavily saturated colors. Remember how Spider-Punk looked in Across The Spider-Verse? Picture that for the entire movie, and you’d come pretty close to what it’s like watching Mutant Mayhem.
And in a day and age where the weakest part of most movies are the villains, I’ve got to give special credit to Ice Cube’s portrayal of Superfly. His arc mirrors that of the turtles in that he too is a mutant who has always been shunned by society, but he doesn’t possess the moral compass that they do — mainly because he never had a father figure in his life to teach him the difference between right and wrong. The fact that he and the turtles share the same struggles while simultaneously divided on their values makes their conflict so much more personal and compelling.
The best part? Superfly is a wholly original villain. While partially influenced by Baxter Stockman, Superfly did not exist in turtles media prior to this movie. It’s so refreshing to see an original idea work so well in a popular franchise, especially when many other live-action movie villains fail to be as interesting or intimidating.
The fast-paced ninja action you know and love is all here, and personally, I would argue some of the movie’s crazier action sequences are more exciting than even the live-action movies are. The pop-culture references are clever and copious, further emphasizing the teenage aspect of the turtles. And the comedic bits are spot-on and hilarious. This is probably the funniest ninja turtles movie we’ve ever seen, and the best part is it doesn’t have to sacrifice its serious or darker tones in order to remain fun and entertaining.
There are some differences from the source material that will bother some die-hard fans, namely with how the turtles acquire their ninja skills and how the movie ends. For me, changes are justified if they add to the characters and the world they’re living in, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is filled with wild, gross, and weird characters that you quickly learn to fall in love with. Imagine all of the kids out in the world right now who sometimes feel as lost, afraid, and alone as Leo, Raph, Mikey, and Donnie do. And imagine how inspired they must feel when they look down the sewers knowing that they too can be a ninja turtle.
DAVID DUNN 