Courtesy Paramount Pictures
Whereas an inherent lack of identity in a film like Elemental from animation juggernaut Pixar earlier this summer proves the company seems to be grappling with relevance and a fundamental misunderstanding of the makeup of its audience, newly minted Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem from celebrated Hollywood stoner Seth Rogen and longtime writing/producing partner Evan Goldberg captures that certain something special that speaks to moviegoers of all ages.
Let us tip our caps, of course, to the recent format-busting Spider-Verse animated movies for establishing the market desire for offbeat art styles, but Rogen and company have something special on their hands with their new animated property.
See, Elemental (and other recent-ish Pixar properties) have struggled to adapt to various ages. Are the Disney-owned studio’s films aimed at today’s kids and their sensibilities? The parents? Neither, it turns out, at least not effectively—oh, how their ‘90s heyday feels so, so long ago! Rogen, however, understands the sweet spot lies in using characters that aging nerds recognize, but designing them, writing them and executing them specifically for kids from the internet era. The older dorks who grew up with TMNT react to new takes on characters they know and love, the younger generations go wild for age-specific humor.
In the newest outing for the fearsome fighting teens, heroes Leo (Nicolas Cantu), Donnie (Micah Abbey), Mikey (Shamon Brown Jr.) and Raph (Brady Noon) long to coexist with the human world. Their adoptive father, the rat-man Splinter (a very funny Jackie Chan), forbids this—humans and mutants don’t get along! Enter April O’Neil (The Bear’s Ayo Edebiri), a high school-aged would-be journalist with a penchant for investigation who becomes the recipient of some ninja-based assistance and accepts the turtles; together, they investigate a series of crimes throughout New York City. The turtles, they reckon, will be accepted by society if they do hero stuff.
It’s not totally a spoiler to say that it’s mutants behind the crimes, but this is where the new TMNT truly shines: embracing the weirdo offshoot characters from the old TMNT days that mainly showed up as toys—characters like cyborg alligator Leatherhead (Rose Byrne), über-’90s skateboarding lizard Mondo Gecko (Paul Rudd), the bizarre Genghis Frog (Hannibal Buress), the impossibly land-based stingray Ray Filet (Post Malone) and the inimitably strange bat Wingnut (What We Do in the Shadows’ Natasia Demetriou) among others. The soft-reboot of the series mainly excels in the hand-drawn look to the 3D computer animation, though.
Even so, each turtle now has its own notable identity, thanks both to the writing’s homage to longtime traits set down since the early days of TMNT and the standout performances of the core four’s teen voice actors. Reworking April as a teen helps, too, as it’s strange, in retrospect, that a bunch of teenage turtles were cavorting through NYC with a grown woman/professional journalist. Like, she just hung out with a bunch of teens? Weird. Edebiri’s nuanced take on the character is wildly enjoyable, too, and the interplay between April and the turtles is consistently funny and heartwarming while avoiding schmaltz.
Mutant Mayhem’s risky take on established properties makes it a winner that brings them into the now while paying the proper respect to their roots. Cowabunga, dudes.
8
+Core cast nails it; animation is wild and fun; actually funny
-Some jokes feel meme-y
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
Directed by Jeff Rowe and Kyler Spears
With Cantu, Abbey, Brown Jr., Noon, Edebiri and Chan (plus many others)
Violet Crown, Regal, PG, 99 min.
