Review - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) & TMNT: Out of the Shadows (2016)

           Hey guys, Chuck here, and we're just a month away from the newest film in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise: Mutant Mayhem. So, today, I'm taking a look at the two most recent live-action TMNT movies, starting with 2014's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Directed by Jonathan Liebesman and produced by Michael Bay, this movie stars Megan Fox, Will Arnett, William Fichtner, Whoopi Goldberg, and Minae Noji, with voice performances by Johnny Knoxville, Alan Ritchson, Jeremy Howard, Noel Fisher, and Tony Shalhoub. Although, both Knoxville and Shalhoub's characters are performed via performance capture by Pete Ploszek and Danny Woodburn, respectively. 

          Okay, so if you aware of the Ninja Turtles, you pretty much know their backstory. Four turtles, exposed to a mysterious mutagenic ooze, begin to grow large and are trained in the art of ninjitsu by a rat named Splinter, who was also affected by the ooze. However, what's done differently this go around is that, in this version, the Turtles, Splinter, and the ooze were all part of a research project called Project Renaissance, which was overseen by pharmaceutical entrepreneur Eric Sacks, alongside the likes of Dr. Baxter Stockman and Dr. O'Neil, father of April O'Neil. This, in fact, makes the Turtles April's childhood pets. Interesting change, to say the least. 

         And just who the hell is Eric Sacks, you ask? Well, before a joint online movement made of fanboy rage got the filmmakers to change their minds in a series of obvious reshoots, Eric Sacks was intended to be this film's version of long-time Ninja Turtle adversary, the Shredder. Yeah, they were going for an American version of the Shedder, not a Japanese one. Whoops. However, in the final version, the Shredder is Japanese, and Sacks is merely one of his followers. And speaking of the Shedder, yes, I have heard the jokes about his suit looking like a walking version of the Iron Throne from Game of Thrones, and while it does look over the top, I still think it looks pretty badass, at least for this movie. And both William Fichtner and Tohoru Masamune did an excellent job as Sacks and Shredder, respectively. 

         The Turtles themselves are all portrayed really well. While the visual effects on their faces is a bit, uh, different with the nose holes and all that, I still think that they look enough like the Turtles that I give what amounts to a minor cosmetic choice a free pass. 'Cuz guess what? It could have been far worse, especially with what the original plan was for the Turtles. In another move sparked by fanboy rage, the filmmakers backed off on a plan to make the Ninja Turtles be from an alien race of humanoid turtles. Yeah, you heard me right, the Ninja Turtles were going to be aliens. This is a decision I'm glad they reversed course on, because this was one of dumbest ideas in the long, sad history of dumb ideas. Anyway, the performance capture by Pete Ploszek as Leonardo, Jeremy Howard as Donatello, Alan Ritchson as Raphael, and Noel Fisher as Michelangelo was fantastic, and Johnny Knoxville did an awesome job with his voice over of Leonardo. Danny Woodburn and Tony Shalhoub also do an excellent job with performance capture and voice over, respectively, for Splinter. No complaints there.

         As for the human cast outside of Sacks and Shredder, I thoroughly enjoyed both Megan Fox as April O'Neil and Will Arnett as Vern Fenwick. Both are fantastic additions to the movie, and Fenwick is a character we didn't get to see a lot in most adaptations of the TMNT franchise. Whoopi Goldberg was also great as April and Vern's boss, Bernadette Thompson. Other performances from the likes of Abby Elliott and Taran Killam are decent enough, but don't add much other than the fact that it's Abby Elliott and Taran Killam. Lastly, there's Minae Noji as Karai, one of the Shredder's top assassins. She does a decent job, as well, but doesn't do a lot outside of scenes of her leading a squad of Foot Clan troops here and there. 

         Now, the villain's plot is pretty stupid, and feels pretty damn generic by comparison to some superhero movies nowadays. So, Sacks plans to unleash a virus on the city of New York, wherever n he will later offer the cure in the form of the green ooze that mutated the Turtles, and a massive check from the government for finding the miracle cure will make him "rich. Like, stupid rich." Okay, for one, of you have to include the phrase "stupid rich" in your plan, the plan itself is pretty stupid. Secondly, the virus is in the form of a red mist coming from the spire atop Sacks Industries, which will make Sacks a prime suspect in unleashing the virus in the first place. And lastly, you're the CEO of a pharmaceutical company with a mansion in the mountains, dude, so you're already "stupid rich."

         Anyway, we get a pretty kickass rooftop fight between the Turtles and the Shredder, the virus is stopped, New York is saved, whoop de doo. Oh, and we get to see the Turtle Van on the big screen for the first time. Cool.

         This movie was not perfect, per se, but it was a decent enough outing for the Ninja Turtles, and I think that director Jonathan Liebesman, as well as the studios Paramount and Nickelodeon, did a pretty good job with what he was given to work with. So, I'm giving the 2014 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie a rating of 3.95/5. 

          Two years later, a sequel was released by Paramount and Nickelodeon. Directed this time by Dave Green, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows saw the returns of previous film's cast members like Megan Fox, Will Arnett, Pete Ploszek, Jeremy Howard, Noel Fisher, Alan Ritchson, and both Danny Woodburn and Tony Shalhoub, with actors Tohoru Masamune, K Todd Freeman, and Minae Noji all being replaced, respectively, by Brian Tee, Tyler Perry, and Brittany Isibashi, in addition to newcomers Stephen Amell, Gary Anthony Williams, Sheamus, Laura Linney, and the voice of Brad Garrett. 

        So, it's obviously been a while since the Turtles and April O'Neil worked to defeat the Shredder, but Vern Fenwick was the one who claimed credit for stopping Shredder's plan. Yeesh. However, the Foot Clan is still active, and this time working with TCRI scientist Dr. Baxter Stockman, and they have a plan: break the Shredder out of police custody while in a transit convoy. Also in the vehicle with Shredder are career criminals Bebop and Rocksteady, and one of the police officers overseeing the convoy is Casey Jones. Okay, this was one minor red flag for the movie, as Casey Jones is a vigilante, not a cop. But, I will admit that I did thoroughly enjoyed Stephen Amell as Casey Jones in this movie, and it was cool seeing him in the hockey mask in the movie. But making him a cop? Eh.

        Anyway, the Foot Clan breaks Shredder out, and Baxter uses an experimental transport device to get him out. The device instead sends Shredder to Dimension X, where Krang reveals that the transport device is only one of three parts of a larger device, through which Krang can open a portal between Earth and Dimension X and bring his war machine, the Technodrome, to Earth. So, Krang gives Shredder a purple ooze to help in the fight against the Turtles. Back on Earth, Shredder recruits Bebop and Rocksteady and uses the purple ooze on them, turning them into their familiar forms as a warthog and a rhino, respectively. Shredder sends Bebop and Rocksteady to collect the other two pieces of Krang's device, one of which is in the Amazon, while the other is in the Hayden Planetarium. 

        Now, when it was announced that both Bebop and Rocksteady were going to be in this movie, I lost my effing mind, because fans had wanted to see Bebop and Rocksteady on the big screen for years. Back in the '90s, we almost had Bebop and Rocksteady, but they were swapped out for the lame-as-hell knockoffs Tokka and Rahzar. But now, we finally got big screen versions of Bebop and Rocksteady, and both Gary Anthony Williams and Sheamus were absolutely hilarious as the duo. 

         Ultimately, April gets her hands on the purple ooze and gives it to the Turtles, and Donnie discovers it can be used to make the Turtles appear human. Leo is against it, but Raphael wants it so the Turtles will be accepted by the people of New York. Police Chief Rebecca Vincent accepts the help of the Turtles, who decide against using the ooze, and the four head up to the Technodrome, which is slowly assembling piece by piece through the portal that has been opened. Shredder betrays Stockman, sending him to Tokyo. Later, Krang betrays Shredder and freezes him, locking him away to be part of his collection, and the Turtles arrive and fight Krang. Casey, April, and Vern head to shut down the teleport device, with Casey apprehending Bebop and Rocksteady in a shipping container with a hand grenade, and April and Vern take down Karai. The Technodrome is sent back to Dimension X, the portal is closed, and the day is saved. 

         Now, in terms of our three villains, I will admit that Brian Tee was an excellent choice for the Shredder, and it was great to have Shredder himself be more prominent in this movie than in the previous one. I also liked how Baxter Stockman was a major player in the movie, and Tyler Perry did a great job. Although, some of his more dorkier moments in the movie were a bit too over the top in terms of being dorky. And finally, we have Krang. My all time favorite villain in the Ninja Turtles franchise. The overall visual design was faithful, but a bit too busy. Brad Garrett was absolutely fantastic providing the character's voice, but went a bit too overboard with some of the mannerisms. So, I liked it, but not as much as I was hoping for. Either way, it was fantastic seeing Krang in a live-action movie for the first time. 

          Now, one thing that really made me happy was that the closing credits included a cover of the classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon theme, performed for this movie by CD9. How awesome that finally, the fans got to hear an updated version of the iconic theme for this movie. Hell, I saw this movie twice in the theater, and I loved hearing it both times I heard it. Don't get me wrong, the first movies closing song, "Shell Shocked" by Wiz Khalifa, Ty Dolla $ign, Juicy J, Kill the Noise and composer Brian Tyler (who worked on the score for the first movie) was fine and all, and is a great rap track. But, fans who grew up on nostalgic franchises expect updated covers of the classic theme songs. So, the fact that it happened with this movie was awesome. Oh, and Steve Jablonsky did a great job with the film score in this movie. 

          Overall, while the first movie certainly did better at the box office, Out of the Shadows was better overall in terms of giving fans what they wanted to see in a live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. So, I'm giving Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows a rating of 4.35/5. 

         Well guys, that's gonna do it for my reviews of the two most recent films in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise. I definitely can't wait for next month with the new animated film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, which I will definitely be reviewing when it comes out. Thanks for checking out my review, and I'll see you guys later.