Sunday, June 24, 2018

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016) - 7 stars out of 10

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016) - 7 stars out of 10

The turtles are back in “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows” and there is just as much nostalgia in this one as Michael Bay’s first installment.  They go all out with incorporating classic TMNT characters into the story with Casey Jones, Baxter Stockman, Krang, and most importantly our favorite boneheads Bebop and Rocksteady.  The latter two provide great comedy throughout the film while Krang is significantly more disturbing (in a good way) than in the cartoons.  I appreciate the character development given to Casey Jones and the Turtles’ struggle to be accepted by humans is an interesting theme that makes this more than an episodic adventure.  The script still has a lot of cheesy dialogue and some of the acting is questionable but it is good for what it is.  Besides, we finally get a glimpse of the technodrome!  I truly believe that the writers wanted to create a movie for the childhood turtle fans, allowing us to see all of our favorite parts of the cartoon in live-action.  I liked Stephen Amell as Casey Jones, Will Arnett’s personality fits well with the newly imagined Vern, Megan Fox is an excellent April O’Neil, and Laura Linney was a nice addition to the cast.  I’d be interested to see what these actors could do it a better script, though the story as a whole does a good job of cohesively incorporating the turtles into their real-world surroundings.  “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows” isn’t going to win any Oscars and non-lifetime-fans probably won’t understand why we love it, but who cares because this film is a fitting tribute to every piece of Turtles fandom from our childhood.

[Pictured: Bebop and Rocksteady are reason enough to watch this movie]

No comments:

Post a Comment