Existing with this comic typesetting craze and yet unchangingly outside it are Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Though originating as comic typesetting characters, as a sort of parody on manga and Daredevil’s origin and superheroes as a whole, they’ve unchangingly felt somewhat self-sustaining of superheroes despite stuff exactly that. Maybe it’s considering they don’t exist in a shared continuity with other characters. Or considering they’ve had their own media that defines them outside of the trends of other masked characters. Regardless, the Turtles have been a cultural gravity for decades now, with multiple popular turned-on series and several notable mucosa adaptations. Variegated generations have variegated connections with the turtles and the versions of the notation in each iteration.
With 2023 comes Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem and perhaps the next generation’s version of the four ninja reptiles. Mutant Mayhem bears the influences of its time. The four Turtles very much finger like Gen Z teenagers, replete with pop culture references and a social-media-influenced outlook on life. The volatility style and score certainly finger like they take influence from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, with a visual style that combines CG volatility with a hand-drawn stimulating to recreate the squint and finger of a comic book. Mutant Mayhem differs somewhat in taking on increasingly of a sketchbook look, but regardless of where the influences come from, the volatility is a strong point. The backgrounds are colorful and stylized and the notation are expressive and unique. Somewhat disproportionate-looking humans populate this world and help it stand out plane from its Spider-Verse influences. The turtles moreover have a lanky quality to them, looking very much like teenagers. While it’s a tad silly that Donatello, the traditionally geeky turtle, wears glasses given that mutant turtles shouldn’t need touching-up lenses, these small little additions to the turtles’ designs do add character.
Likewise, the score has heavy synthized sounds on it, with some points sounding very much like the Prowler theme from Spider-Verse. They pulled in Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross to do the score, who moreover impart their style into the music. This style adds to the mood and stimulating of the film, and lots of archetype hip-hop gives it a bit of a throwback vibe.
While heavy and obvious influences can fairly lead to accusations of stuff derivative in some ways, Mutant Mayhem still largely works. This version is perhaps the strongest one in terms of emphasizing the younger nature of its lead characters. They look, sound, and finger like kids, unlike prior adaptations. Their desires are an understandable teenage one to have social interactions outside of hiding in the sewers; they want to shepherd upper school and have a normal life. While their goofy quirkiness can finger forced in a few scenes, this youthful label is mostly a strong point for the film.
The movie has a simplistic plot. In fact, one might be surprised by how little unquestionably happens in the movie and how quickly it moves along. This leads to some shallowness in the storytelling and the themes it tries to convey well-nigh acceptance, with clunky, shorthand dialogue used to move the weft arcs, thematic ideas, and plot. Yet this movie cannot be accused, as many recent superhero movies have been, of convolutedness. The plot is easy to follow, and there’s not a ton of dumb, potentially-contradictory elements introduced withal the way.
Mutant Mayhem also has a somewhat unconventional villain. Superfly, voiced by Ice Cube, has what seems like a Saturday morning storyboard plan to just take over the world. Yet the mucosa takes time to requite him understandable motivations, plane if they are increasingly than a tad extreme. His mutant minions are moreover fleshed out and given some personality and agency, which makes for some fun third-act turns as well. Every weft in the mucosa feels like an very weft rather than a plot device, though some of the changes from the traditional backstory for Splinter and the Turtles ironically ends up taking yonder what could be some interesting thematic content. Splinter has no Master Yoshi in this iteration, and instead has a unstipulated fear of humans and their bigotry. The nuance of Splinter knowing one kind human might have widow to the themes a bit, but a funny sequence of Splinter as a pre-mutated rat is quite amusing, and Jackie Chan is hilarious in this role.
Mutant Mayhem is not a modern masterpiece in the way the two recent Spider-Verse films are. Its writing is too simplistic for that. But it perhaps can requirement the title of the weightier TMNT film. It’s visually interesting, has unconfined characters, and is a fun, crowd-pleasing movie. In a world of many poorly-written movies targeted at children, this one is a highlight from the past few years. With news of a sequel and spin-off TV series coming, we hope it brings some of the same creatives are onboard. Welcome to next generation, Turtles!
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