Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Film review

Clear: It helps to be a longtime fan

TMNT leaves too much unexplained for new viewers, and the dense premise just leaves your head swirling.

By MARTY CLEAR
Published March 22, 2007

If your formative years included countless hours watching the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and playing with the action figures in their heyday almost 20 years ago, you may be eager to take your own kids to see TMNT, the computer-generated attempt to revive the franchise.

The kids will need you, because for anyone not steeped in turtle lore, the new film is a confusing bore and lacks sufficient background.

Who, for example, is this mammal of indeterminate species that lives with these turtles and seems to be their father? What's the history of the turtles and this young couple, April and Casey, who seem to be so intertwined with their capers? Do the giant talking turtles think that wearing masks will render them unrecognizable?

Even people who grew up with TMNT will still have to deal with an epic but confusing and uninvolving plot that spans three millennia.

It seems that 3,000 years ago (as we learn in one of two dryly narrated prologues), a really bad guy who wanted to conquer the world attained immortality by standing in a vortex created when certain stars aligned. But for some reason, all his followers were turned into stone instantaneously, so he was left to wander the earth alone for eternity.

Then we're in present-day South America, where one of the turtles, now solo, avenges crimes in the jungle. April is there to find a rare statue, and she persuades the turtle to come to New York and rejoin his brothers.

Turns out April was hired by a wealthy industrialist to retrieve this statue. (Guess who he is: the immortal baddie from 3,000 years ago). The statue - and a dozen more he has already collected - were his generals. He's bringing them back to life for a renewed shot at world domination.

And the turtles are the only ones who can stop them.

That's all just the premise. The exposition takes forever, and the rest of the film is simply battle scenes.

The animation in some of the action sequences, especially a rooftop battle in the rain, is impressive, as are the details in the turtles. But other elements (lack of synchronization between voices and lip movements, for example) are sloppy.

Almost totally lacking is the wry humor that gave the original turtles some street cred among older kids back in their heyday. Fans might find nostalgic appeal and might be excited by the blatant setup for a sequel and by the likelihood of a new line of action figures. Nonfans should beware.

TMNT

Marty Clear's grade: D+

Taylor Glogowski's grade: A-

Director: Kevin Munroe.

Cast: Voices of Sarah Michelle Gellar, Mako, Kevin Smith, Patrick Stewart.

Screenplay: Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird and Kevin Munroe.

Rating: PG for animated action violence, some scary cartoon images and mild language.

Running time: 90 min.

[Last modified March 21, 2007, 11:20:57]