So, uh... I saw TMNT today.

[Magus]

Re: So, uh... I saw TMNT today.

Saw it tonight

I'll tear it apart later

[John Mora]

Re: So, uh... I saw TMNT today.

Saw it tonight

I'll tear it apart later

I hope it shattered your dreams. :3

[DK]

Re: So, uh... I saw TMNT today.

Magus you didn't rip it apart. I have to see it tomorrow, I need to know what I'm in for!

[Crimson Knight]

Re: So, uh... I saw TMNT today.

Turtle greatness, WHAT DO YOU THINK D00D!?

[Magus]

Re: So, uh... I saw TMNT today.

We all know how well-received my movie opinions are.

I just hope you're paying for a matinee ticket.

[Kire]

Re: So, uh... I saw TMNT today.

I thought it was great, except the main nemesis was retarded. I could care less about the stone guys. Everything else was handled nicely.

[Chad]

Re: So, uh... I saw TMNT today.

More Mikey, please.

[truekid]

Re: So, uh... I saw TMNT today.

i saw it with my brother (since we used to watch the cartoon when we were kids), to me it seemed like a very solid made-for-tv movie, or a kinda watered-down movie-theatre movie.

the animation wasn't impressive, but it wasn't, y'know, awful.

and the story was slightly above par when compared with the old animated series, so overall i'd say that if you liked the animated series, you should at least not feel like you were robbed by this movie.

[Kefka Jr.]

Re: So, uh... I saw TMNT today.

I kind of feel like they were making one movie, and when they saw the Ninja Turtles license was available, they jumped on it and decided to make a new movie without changing the plot. It was remarkably similar to the Iron Man straight-to-video movie in that 1) they both involved ancient evils running amok and 2) whenever the movie chose to focus on ancient evils running amok, I couldn't help but wonder where the HELL the heroes were at.

I thought it was funny how all the inanimate objects looked awesome - the weapons, the buildings, pretty much the whole city - while most of the human models looked lousy as heck.

My favorite parts were just any time when one of the turtles were just standing on something, looking down or into the distance.

[DK]

Re: So, uh... I saw TMNT today.

I never followed the show much so I don't know what to make of it, the action was pretty awesome in some parts but there wasn't nearly enough of it and the final showdown left a lot to be desired. I also would've appreciated it if they didn't try so hard to make it badass or something and just let it be witty and fun like the first movies.

And why did Casey Jones have more screentime than half of the turtles?

Don't look at me, I wanted to see Grind House

[Magus]

Re: So, uh... I saw TMNT today.

I already wrote a bit about Grindhouse (which was fun but uneven) so I'm in a movie talkin' mood. Actually, both movies share the same problems. When they're good, they're great but when they're dull, they're tiresome and I asked myself "Why didn't they do things differently?"

TMNT's plot, to me, is a mess of missed opportunities. It's unfair to compare this to The Incredibles but with stories so similar to one another I wish the TMNT guys looked to that for inspiration. The Incredibles is a broken superhero family story done right. The "main" plot hatched by the villain and the family plot meshed perfectly. Everyone found their calling, everything clicked together.

TMNT, with the family story involving Leo and Raph, and the Max Winters monster story, never really gelled the way they should have. When Leo gets captured I thought that was the perfect chance for the remaining Turtles to become the team they're supposed to be and stage an exciting rescue that Donatello would expertly plan. Mike would finally do something besides a throwaway skateboard montage and Raph would understand how difficult being a leader can be. They'd reconcile, and Leo would lead them into battle against the combined forces of the Foot Clan and the stone giants. Well, that's my TMNT movie anyway.

Instead, the rescue and climax is COMPLETELY brushed over. They simply... end up there. They just RUN through the Foot Clan and do battle with some mumbo-jumbo mystical beings I never felt were adequately explained to begin with. Where'd these monsters come from?! Why was it so easy to gather them? Why does it remind me so much of Digimon? I know this is a KIDS movie and toys need to be sold but come ON, monsters are friggin' lame to begin with, at least the way they weren handled here. Complete pushovers. Ancient prophecies and immortal beings. YAWN. Where's Shredder? Where's Krang? Where's Baxter Stockman? The Foot Clan were a welcome presence, but I think they were wasted and arbitrary. I can't recall anything cool they did. Capture monsters. Oh boy. Karai didn't even have a fight scene. Again, nothing clicked the way it SHOULD have.

Splinter didn't even do anything cool. When I saw that he was with them for the climax I thought he'd be the supreme badass you'd THINK the master/trainer of the TMNT would be. Nah. He just hops around and jumpkicks a monster fly. What a disappointment.

The whole movie feels like a bunch of random ideas thrown into a pot, and none of the ingredients really mix. Monsters. Foot Clan. Family strife. Prophecies. Aligning stars. It's an overstuffed kid's flick. Just scene to scene to awkward scene. Notice the abrupt scene dissolves and moments that just stick out like a sore thumb? The movie feels haphazard. Like, right before the courtyard-Foot Clan rush there's this mushy scene between Casey and April that felt so out of place I had to look around the theater to see if anyone else shared my dismay. (The audience was mostly like-minded nostalgic college students.) "Where are the Turtles? Why is April O'Neal suddenly Lara Croft? Can we get to some fighting already? This could've been time (and money) spent on some good action."

Don and Mike are ignored. April's suddenly your typical Toonami grrl power character. The villain's lame and not really a villain so there really isn't a strong adversary to go up against. Worse, he's so sympathetic apparently he gets a send-off that reminded me a bit too much of Beauty and the Beast's ending. And Mike's final lines with the slow zoom out, Jesus ****in' Christ. The writing ranged from "Oh boy, badass turtles" cool (Raph and Leo) to passable (Splinter, human characters) to devoid of any reaction from me at all besides mild to excruciating embarassment (Mike's lines) to the awful/classic "We are invincible! And we are MADE OF STONE."

So what did I like?

The action was decent. The Leo vs. Raph fight is by the high point of the movie and the only fight scene that delivered, even if the camera obscured some parts. Don and Mike, however, were wasted. If Soul Calibur is any indication, nunchuks and a bo staff would make for some damn inspired fight scenes. But no, not here. I can't even recall SEEING nuncucks or Don's bo doing anything at all. But then again, big hulking monsters don't exactly lend themselves to inspiring nunchuck fights. Again, a poor, poor, poor choice.

The animation is really good and fluid, even if it did look a tad cheap. Kefka noted how good all the inanimate objects look, like the leather on the TMNT's belts and the weaponry. Leo's swords looked fantastic. The camerawork was surprisingly impressive, particularly the P.O.V. shots of the various weapons (Nightwatcher's chains), and the diner scene - though way too long for what it was - did manage to show off all the action well. My caveat here is the human character design. Servicable but bland. Cheap looking. Jeff Matsuda was in charge of character design and he's the guy responsible for the Adventures of Jackie Chan and The Batman designs. Ugh. Bruce Timm, he ain't. Remember how April O'Neal used to be a babe? What happened? =(

Another thing: the setting. What a waste of New York City! No landmarks, no atmosphere (except, uh, the rain in the Leo vs. Raph fight I guess), no PEOPLE. Totally sterile. In every superhero movie the characters have a connection to the city they're in. I didn't sense that at all here, despite the build-up and talk of "returning to the surface" or whatever. There were a lot of rooftop scenes but it just looked like... a city. Not New York City.

Boy, I expect a lot from my Ninja Turtles don't I? Again, I stress it wasn't that bad, I don't really hate it, I'm just frustrated with it. I mean, it's for KIDS, not overly nitpicky doubters. It's got a lot to like, primarily the animation, the Leo and Raph interactions, the voice acting (Tidus!), the overall dark tone...

But... You have all this money and a crew and a chance to reinvent and reintroduce a property to a new audience and THIS is all you can come up with? Of all the "resets" the past two or so years TMNT is the least successful. Though TMNT isn't exactly in the same class as Batman, Superman or James Bond they do belong to the same genre and tradition and it would have been nice if the guys behind it aimed higher.

Though, really, as a Raph fan I guess I couldn't ask for anything more. The big jerk was the main character. It's just frustrating he's the main character in such a poor story.

[Misty]

Re: So, uh... I saw TMNT today.

Saw it tonight

I'll tear it apart later

You didn't just tear it apart. You put it through a paper shredder thirty times.

HOLY ****.

[Jamos]

Re: So, uh... I saw TMNT today.

That's our Magus!

[Magus]

Re: So, uh... I saw TMNT today.

I wasn't even mean about it either.

shredder

[Sejon]

Re: So, uh... I saw TMNT today.

I saw it today and I feel more or less the same way as Magus. It would've been nice to not have villains whose stories seemed like they came straight out of a Marvel direct-to-DVD animation, so I could have actually cared about what they were doing.


I didn't mind the character designs that much. I've heard a lot of complaints about the turtles needing to be bulkier, but I liked how they came across as sleek and lean (they are damned ninjas after all, so it was very satisfying for me to actually see them look and act like them for a change). The human characters were pretty generic, though. The first time I saw Karai I almost confused her as April as their faces looked practically identical.

And why, oh why, was April kicking ass at the end? Not only was she beating up Foot Soldiers (which I've learned a crawling baby can anyway) but for a few seconds I saw her holding her own against Karai? What the hell?

Anyway, I did enjoy it regardless, but like Magus, I felt like they had such a great opportunity to do something really amazing (they obviously had the technical know-how), but instead chose to dish out the plot of a Saturday morning cartoon. Hoooooraaaaay.