‘Ninja’ stars
Are we seeing this right? The reboot of a 40-year-old franchise about talking, ass-whupping turtles is legit good?
Teenage mUtant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
Director: Jeff Rowe, Kyler Spears • Writers: Jeff Rowe, Seth Rogen, Even Goldberg, Dan Hernandez, Benji Samit
Starring [English]: Micha Abbey, Shamon Brown Jr, Nicolas Cantu, Brady Noon, Ayo Edebiri, Ice Cube, Jackie Chan
Hong Kong • 1hr 39mins
Opens Hong Kong August 10 • IIA
Grade: B+
If you’re a fan of the recent Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and its sequel Across the Spider-Verse, even though you don’t consider yourself a Spider-Man fan, chances are it’s because of those films’ beautifully rendered, distinctly non-Disney/Pixar/DreamWorks artwork and modern, urban sensibility. If that is indeed the case, heads up. Cut from the same cloth as the Spidey films, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem reboots the silly 1980s franchise in all the ways it should be rebooted: with four stellar, relatively unknown – wait for it – teenaged leads (!) that sound like actual teens (ya think?), some truly witty zingers amid the cacophony of naturalistic dialogue (that can probably be mined for more zingers on second viewing), a killer soundtrack, and some of the messiest, in a good way, most painterly – or ink, or pastel, or watercolour – animation to come from a major distributor in years. Mutant Mayhem’s blend of 2D and 3D animation and hand drawn images makes for an unbelievably warm and watchable canvas, and one where the turtles come off as much more “human” than they ever did in the original animated films or, especially, Michael Bay’s muscular, effects-driven frantic actioners. No, really. Why did they have to look like WWE refugees? Against all odds, Mutant Mayhem is a great time: resonant, current, funny, gorgeous and well under two goddamned hours. It’s hard not to like these turtles.
Only two logos?
Mutant Mayhem is both a reboot and an origin story. This is an old property now, and refresher course is probably crucial for nostalgic viewers and a must for younger viewers. It was also co-written and produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, and it has a lot in quippy (“That vest is a choice!”, “Don’t use ‘rat’ like that!”), rapid-fire common with much of that duo’s best known work: Preacher, Invincible, Blockers, the forthcoming Joy Ride. Rogen and Goldberg got famous trading in absurd juvenilia, and the TMNT fit that bill, but they’ve also grown up – look at Long Shot or Platonic – and so have toned down the gutter humour and leaned into the turtles’ humanity.
Once again we get the mad scientist Baxter (Giancarlo Esposito) experimenting with a DNA-altering formula who loses four young lab turtles in the New York City sewer system but who get doused in the fomula – the ooze. They grow up with their equally oozed “father” Splinter (Jackie Chan, but don’t hold that against the movie) learning how to be ninjas and pining for normal teen life. As usual, there’s the responsible “elder” Leo (Nicolas Cantu), the brainy nerd Donnie (Micha Abbey), the cheeky, youthful Mikey (Shamon Brown Jr), and the hothead, Raph (Brady Noon). One night while looking for pizza and adventure, they meet high school newspaper reporter April O’Neil (Ayo Edebiri, The Bear), who’s chasing a story about a mysterious master criminal, Superfly (Ice Cube, and this could only be better if it were the other Ice, T) terrorising the city. Also looking for Superfly is the evil lab lord who commissioned Baxter’s work, Utrom (Maya Rudolph), who wants the turtles’ mutant blood to make a weapon.
The rest of the action and its fallout is pretty standard: the turtles save the day, they learn Splinter was just trying to protect his kids, Splinter learns he was a bit too enthusiastic in that aim, we learn we must respect our differences rather than be threatened by them, and that we all want to belong. Yawn. It’s the same story artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird concocted in 1983 and which got buried under Bay’s macho mania. Aside from the glorious art, most of the credit for Mutant Mayhem’s success can be laid at the feet of the young cast. Not only do Abbey, Brown, Cantu and Noon sound like teens, the familial, sometimes fraught dynamic the four share is vividly voiced, and the actors have cleaved out distinct personalities for Donnie, Mikey, Leo and Raph, something Bay never bothered to do.
Directors Jeff Rowe (The Mitchells vs. the Machines) and first timer Kyler Spears effortlessly balance the quiet character scenes that are actually revealing (the first time they walk home past the vibrant life of NYC they can’t take part in is as heartbreaking as anything else this year), the energetic ninja fights – that you can actually see – and the TMNT lore fans expect quite effortlessly, while injecting it with a 21st century perspective. Gone is the sex kitten April (sorry, Megan) and here is a normie, an April unsure of her skills and a bit thick in the thigh (I feel seen). Out are the ’roided up super-teens and in are the gangly kids becoming adults that are not always comfortable in their own skins. And Rowe and Spears get a major hand from a deep bench of talent to voice supporting roles, among them Rogen, John Cena, Hannibal Buress, Rose Byrne, Paul Rudd, and What We Do in the Shadows’ Natasia Demetriou and why aren’t you watching that show? It says more with less than Barbie, is more focused than Across the Spider-Verse and still leaves rooms for a Shredder-based sequel. Oh yeah. That’s going to be a thing. — DEK
*Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem was reviewed during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labour of the writers and actors currently on strike, it wouldn't exist.