Reviews by Matt

Nostalgia. As weak a reason as it may be, it is my defense and I’m sticking to it because it is the only reason I would ever go see “TMNT.” It’s that damn inner child who made me do it.

“TMNT” or to those who grew up before everything was abbreviated, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” brings back a classic cartoon from 1987. The “heroes in a half shell” are back after being gone for a very long time. The team has split up. Leonardo is in Mexico learning to become a better leader. Meanwhile his brothers are still in New York City and are struggling to get by. Michelangelo is a children’s party act, Donatello is a computer helpline operator and Raphael has developed a secret alter ego named “Nightwatcher” and he roams the rooftops of the city at night looking for criminals to catch. April O’Neil and Casey Jones (Sarah Michelle Gellar and Chris Evens) are dating (for some odd reason.) April has left her job as a reporter and, as near as I can guess, goes around the world picking up artifacts for rich people. When strange creatures are unleashed on New York, the Turtles must come together and save the city before it is destroyed.

Even my inner child was disappointed by this movie. I can remember sitting down in the living room on Saturday morning, watching the show and loving every minute of it. You do not get the same effect 10-15 years later. Predictable plot, jokes that everyone over the age of 15 would groan at and characters that seem more like parodies of the original cartoon, make this a disappointing adaptation. At least the animation is enough to keep you entertained.

The saddest difference between the movie and my memories of the cartoon is Michelangelo. He went from pizza loving jokester to a complete moron. I used to love Mike, he was easy going, funny and had some good ideas every now and then, but now he is riding his skateboard into grates in the sewers. Sad to see what happens when a memory is destroyed to make it marketable to today’s youth.

I will give the filmmakers credit for the animation. It was better than anything I watched when I was a kid. Computer animation has gotten to the point where it can almost replicate reality. “TMNT” has a realistic feel to it, but it still looks like animation. Some of the coolest animation in the movie comes when Raphael and Leonardo get into a fight on a rooftop. A lot of “camera movements” are something not normally seen in an animated movie. It looks like they actually filmed the scene as opposed to digitally making everything in the scene.

Looking around the theater I got the strangest feeling that my friends and I were the only ones there who were not dragged to the movie by our kids. It could be that my memories of Saturday morning have distorted how I remember the Turtles, but this was not very good. The plot was almost non-existent and the characters were dumbed down. It was sad to see all that I loved about the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” gone. Then again, maybe nothing has changed but my taste in movies.

5 out of 10
Rated PG for animated action violence, some scary cartoon images and mild language.
87 min