Film Review: Cowabunga, dudes - the Turtles' latest revamp is a totally tubular trip

"In a first for the franchise, the turtles are voiced by teen actors who bring great energy and chemistry to a film with a sharp, funny script and fantastic visuals conceived to look like an animated comic book."

Sun, 06 Aug, 2023 - 07:37

Cara O'Doherty

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
★★★★☆
Cinema release

The popular 1980s comic book heroes, The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, are back for a reboot in The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (PG).

It is fair to question why the heroes in a half-shell are back.

While they were much loved on the small screen in the 1980s and 1990s, their theatrical outings proved less than successful.

The actor Seth Rogen produces the latest film, bringing together a solid team to ensure the turtles soar.

Fifteen years ago, a shady villain Cynthia Utrom (Maya Rudolph), sent her goons to take down a scientist who successfully synthesised a serum to turn animals into mutant beasts.

In the resulting melee, some of Dr Stockman’s (Giancarlo Esposito) serum falls into the New York sewer system, where four baby turtles waddle into it.

Splinter, a rat, finds the turtles, and within seconds of touching them, he mutates into a giant talking rat, voiced by Jackie Chan. He adopts the babies, raising them as his own.

Today, the babies are giant, talking teenage turtles, Donatello (Micah Abbey), Michelangelo (Shamon Brown Jr), Raphael (Brady Noon), and Leonardo (Nicolas Cantu).

Splinter is afraid of humans and has gone to great lengths to keep his sons out of the human world, but they are inquisitive; they keep sneaking out.

A chance meeting with a human, April O’Neil (Ayo Edebiri), brings the brothers into contact with other mutants led by Superfly (Ice Cube), who is terrifying New York.

The turtles wonder if they can stop Superfly’s villainous ways, will humans accept them?

In a first for the franchise, the turtles are voiced by teen actors who bring great energy and chemistry to a film with a sharp, funny script and fantastic visuals conceived to look like an animated comic book.

Cowabunga, dude, this is worth watching.

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