“Mutant Mayhem” is packed with undeniable T-U-R-T-L-E power!
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series and three feature films of the early 1990s that centered around the reptilian mutant fighting foursome were hugely successful and spawned a multimedia franchise of toys, shows, and comics for decades. The hype was tempered by three mediocre films between 2007-2016, with the latter two misfires produced by Michael Bay. Nostalgia was keeping the franchise afloat, despite diminishing returns. So with a huge sigh of relief and a heart full of nostalgic glee, I’m happy to report that the series reboot Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is an energetic and artistic cinematic take on what makes the Ninja Turtles brand so fun.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem begins fresh and unencumbered by previous film and TV adaptations. In an opening sequence, a corporate raid on a scientist’s experimental lab spills mutant-forming ooze into the New York City sewers. That ooze transforms a rat and four turtles into a sewer family unit, living in fear of the human world above, and learning fighting skills to defend themselves. Fifteen years later, the turtle brothers, Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael, finally voiced by actual teenage actors Nicolas Cantu (The Fabelmans), Micah Abbey (Grey’s Anatomy), Shamon Brown Jr. (The Chi) and Brady Noon (Good Boys), respectively, yearn for the approval of humans. They team up with aspiring journalist April O’Neil, voiced by Ayo Edebiri ( The Bear) to stop a growing crime syndicate and be viewed by New Yorkers as heroes.
Director Jeff Rowe (The Mitchells vs the Machines) and writers/producers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg (Good Boys; Sausage Party) inject a surprising amount of fast-paced humor and creative action set-pieces into a tight origin story. The script is economical but overflows with jokes and cultural references, delivered by characters in rapidly overlapping dialogue against a backdrop of neon signs and glowing cityscapes. The movie plays as if Robert Altman directed a family-friendly Judd Apatow script inspired by the films of Wong Kar-wai. If you can’t readily identify any of the character voice work, be sure to stay for the credits. The cast is impressive, with even the small roles boasting the vocal talents of notable actors.
Speaking of small roles, every single character in Mutant Mayhem, humans and mutants, are imaginatively designed. The animation style blends 2D and 3D elements. This approach allowed the animators to build the visuals with a purposeful messiness using unattached lines and scratched up textures, reminiscent of the doodles found in high school notebooks. Each environment is rendered with surprising depth and detail. The level of artistry is mesmerizingly simple yet stunning. The snappy dialogue and impressive visuals are combined with a propulsive musical score from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (The Social Network; Soul) to create a fully realized sensory experience.
The recent trend of trying out unique animation styles or blending and building upon existing ones, like in Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, Apollo 10 ½, The Mitchells vs the Machines, and Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio, can probably be traced back to the success of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and, more recently, Across the Spider-Verse. Into the Spider-Verse broke down barriers of multi-style animated storytelling and inspired studios to seek styles beyond the cleanly curved Pixar default visual language that dominated animation for over twenty years. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem represents a creative risk that pays off. The style fits the story, and the story fits the franchise. While aimed at young audiences, the movie doesn’t take adult attention for granted, allowing room for more than a few (non-intrusive) cultural references and nostalgic throwbacks. While Mutant Mayhem could stand well on its own, it’s inevitable that sequels will be green lit soon. Go, Ninja, go!
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem opens in theaters Wednesday, August 2nd.
