Film review: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (12A)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (12A) review

If – like me – you had your younger years in the 1990s, you’ll need no introduction to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

I quite literally lived and breathed the heroes in a half-shell as a kid. Be it watching the television series, pretending I was Leonardo in the playground or playing Turtles In Time on the SNES, it was my absolute favourite.

Times quickly change, though, and the pizza-munching reptiles seemed to disappear from popular culture without a trace sometime before the millennium.

It didn’t really register with me, but Nickelodeon brought Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo back in 2011. And, with a little help from action movie junkie Michael Bay (who acts as producer), this film marks their return to the big screen.

I’ll level with you, my hopes weren’t too high ahead of this one. Comic duo Marvel and DC pretty much have the superhero genre locked down at present, while Bay’s Transformers offers me the light relief the Turtles used to.
Anyhow, it’s important to embrace change – so if you’re a fan of TMNT, drop your ideals at the door.

On the surface, this latest Turtles tale is more of the same. New York is under siege by criminals known as the Foot Clan (yes, they look nothing like they used to), who answer to the evil Shredder (he does, a bit).

There’s seemingly nobody who can stand up to them. However, young reporter April O’Neil (the ever-beautiful Megan Fox) stumbles across them getting their backsides handed to them by what she believes to be a vigilante.

She then discovers the unthinkable – that four talking Turtles are fighting back for the city. O’Neil soon realises that her late father helped create the four genetically mutated heroes (and indeed their rodent master Splinter) and reveals their existence to his former boss Eric Sachs (William Fichtner).

You’ll not be surprised to discover that Sachs isn’t the city saviour he’s made out to be – and it soon becomes clear that the Turtles hold the key to an evil Shredder-led plan to bring chaos to the Big Apple.

I mentioned earlier on that TMNT fans should embrace any changes, but on some levels it was quite hard. For starters, the Turtles themselves are absolutely massive, which kind of took away the ninja element from the film, with the fight scenes more of a street fight.

Saying that, they looked pretty good, as did Splinter.

Personality-wise, Leo, Raph and Michelangelo are also pretty much as you’d expect, but Donatello seems to have become more geeky over time (not that it bothered me too much).

On the action front, one amazing sequence aside, I kind of found myself switching off at times.

Maybe it’s because I was such a big fan as kid, but this reboot – although by no means a flop – just felt like a run-of-the-mill action flick compared to the likes of Marvel’s amazing Guardians Of The Galaxy.

Saying that, I’m sure younger viewers will get the buzz I once got from TMNT – and that’s what this film should be all about, after all.

Rating: 2.5/5 (watched at West End Cinema, Boston)

Showtimes at West End Cinema, Boston
(October 24 to October 30)

EVENT CINEMA

LEGENDS OF LOVE
3pm (Sun)

I DUE FOSCARI
7.15pm (Mon)

FRANKENSTEIN
8pm (Thurs)

CINEMA

**FURY (15)
2.25pm (daily), 5.20pm (daily), 8.20pm (daily)

**LOVE ROSIE (15)
6.30pm (daily), 20.45pm (daily)

**ALEXANDER AND THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE VERY BAD NO GOOD DAY (PG)
10am (daily), noon (daily), 2pm (daily), 4pm (daily)

**BOOK OF LIFE 3D (U)
10am (not Weds), 2.10pm (daily) 4.20pm (daily)

**BOOK OF LIFE 2D (U)
noon (daily)

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES 3D (12A)
2pm (daily), 6.30pm (daily), 8.45pm (daily)

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES 2D
(12A) 10am (daily), 12.20pm (daily) 4.15pm (daily)

ANNABELLE (15)
6pm (daily) 8.30pm (daily)

DOLPHIN TALE 2 (U)
10am (daily)

THE BOXTROLLS 2D (PG)
12.15pm (Mon/Tues/Thurs)

THE MAZE RUNNER (12A)
2.45pm (not Sun), 6pm (not Mon)

GONE GIRL (18)
8.15pm (not Mon/Thurs)

KIDS’ CLUB

Fri-Weds 10.30am – The Nut Job 3D (U)

Thurs – How To Train Your Dragon 2 (PG)

SILVER SCREEN

Wed 11.30am – The Maze Runner (12A)

** Denotes free list suspended