Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is a fun reboot, but it’s far from the best film in the franchise.
Overall Score: 7/10
Image: Paramount Pictures
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t excited for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. But coming out of the film, I was honestly surprised — and, of course, disappointed — to find that my overall thoughts and feelings were far more mixed than positive. Granted, I probably shouldn’t have gone in with high expectations, but can you blame me when so many people had been touting it as “the best film in the franchise?”
Anyway, before we get to the negatives, let’s start by discussing the good aspects of this movie. First, because it leans into and fully capitalizes on the teenage nature of its titular characters, Mutant Mayhem is arguably better than many of its predecessors. Sure, you may prefer the previously campy or more mature versions of the turtles, but there’s no denying that this new juvenile take is both refreshing and perhaps the truest to the basic concept of the characters.
Second, the film boasts lots of incredible animation. The style here has obviously been greatly inspired by the one featured throughout Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and I love how stylized and comic book-like everything looks and feels. And third, the score composed by Oscar-winning duo Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is fantastic. It’s often loud and intense, but it’s also slow, soft, and intimate when it needs to be.
Unfortunately, that’s just about where my fascination with this movie ends. In other words, while there’s certainly much to like, there’s also a nearly equal number of things to dislike, question, and even hate.
First of all, Mutant Mayhem is bafflingly tonally inconsistent. For a film that seems so committed to depicting the wildness and silliness inherent in being a teenager, it’s shocking how dark and violent it can sometimes get. You have moments where genuinely funny and ridiculous jokes are delivered, and you also have ones where the main villain ruthlessly murders people. It’s as if the filmmakers couldn’t decide if they wanted the movie to be family-friendly or more adult-oriented, and honestly, I wish they’d just chosen one and stuck with it.
The film’s writing is also pretty uneven in terms of quality. Some gags are hilarious, while others are just plain gross and unfunny. Some scenes are set at appropriate lengths, while others go on for too long. Some lines of dialogue are well-written, while others sound odd or out of place. And finally, some character arcs are satisfyingly fulfilled, while others are somehow disappointingly mishandled.
Lastly, while I appreciate Mutant Mayhem’s exploration of themes such as prejudice, discrimination, and acceptance, it’s hard not to compare it to what other films or franchises have done before. The X-Men series, for example, has had several decades of experience in telling stories about similar characters and themes. And despite countless of its storylines having been revisited or redone over the years, I can’t help but think that each attempt has been better than that of this latest TMNT film.
However, that’s not to say that Mutant Mayhem is a bad movie. In fact, you’ll likely enjoy it if you’re a fan or if you’re just looking for a way to kill some time. But while the film is indeed fun, it’s far too clumsy and inconsistent for its own good, and — though I seem to be in the minority here — I draw the line at calling it the best installment in the franchise.
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