Should you watch this at weekday movie ticket prices? Yes.
Should you watch this at weekend movie ticket prices? If you like the Ninja Turtles.
Score: 3.5/5
Secret ending? No, but the credits are fun to watch.
Running time: 112 minutes (~2 hours)
“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows” is a action comedy that’s a sequel to 2014’s “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.” It sees the Ninja Turtles battling their nemesis Shredder and his new allies, Bebop, Rocksteady, and Krang. It stars Megan Fox (April O’Neil), Stephen Amell (Casey Jones), Will Arnett (Vern Fenwick), Brian Tee (Shredder), Tyler Perry (Baxter Stockman), Brittany Ishibashi (Karai), Laura Linney (Rebecca Vincent). It features the voice talents and motion capture performances of Pete Ploszek (Leonardo), Alan Ritchson (Raphael), Noel Fisher (Michelangelo), Jeremy Howard (Donatello), Danny Woodburn (motion-capture for Splinter), Tony Shalhoub (voice of Splinter), Gary Anthony Williams (Bebop), Stephen Farrelly (Rocksteady), and Brad Garrett (Krang).
“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows” is a fun romp through the Ninja Turtles world with a plot that feels nostalgically like an episode from the television series. It’s got so many new crowd pleasing characters (Bebop, Rocksteady, Krang) and vehicles (the Technodrome) that you can’t help but feel like it’s a return to the good old 80’s. This is the movie that we all wanted to watch when we were kids, and for the kids of today, it’ll give them the same wonder and amusement we had when we were kids.
Highlights
Fun action set pieces
The Ninja Turtles are almost always on the move, somersaulting across exotic landscapes or battling their enemies atop evocative locations. The action sequences are imaginative recreations of how we would have played with our own toys in the past, and are enjoyable sojourns through a fictional world. You’re here to watch the Ninja Turtles fight foes in all sorts of weird places, and the movie gives you exactly that — and more.
More human-looking Ninja Turtles
While the previous movie gave us really alien-looking, frightening Ninja Turtles, this film eases off the monstrous aspect of the Ninja Turtles. They look distinctly more human now, with faces that emote better and convey a broader range of emotions. It works well with the lighter tone of the movie, especially with Michelangelo’s wacky antics.
Fast-paced
The plot of “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows” whizzes by and never lets up. There are virtually no boring scenes in the movie, since the bad guys or the heroes are always up to something. This helps give it the half-hour cartoon feel as there are no extraneous scenes or shots to cut. Its light-hearted tone also means that you’re never bogged down by intense confrontations, allowing the film to zip by cheerily.
Letdowns
Conflict between the protagonists is not satisfactorily resolved
“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows” makes some attempt to create conflict among the Ninja Turtles, which continually escalates and eventually has (fairly) serious repercussions. Unfortunately, this whole conflict magically rights itself once the stakes are increased. It felt like there was going to be deep character development for our heroes, but the status quo didn’t change. Perhaps a less perfunctory resolution would have helped?
Not enough character vs character battles
The biggest issue is that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles don’t fight Shredder, Bebop, or Rocksteady enough times in the film. We’re not here to watch the humans fight the colourful villains, nor do we really want to see the Ninja Turtles fight off humans either. What you really want to see are epic confrontations between the mutants. But, to be fair, the existing fight sequences are pretty exciting.
“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows” is for all fans who loved the 80’s television series.
“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows” opens in cinemas 2 June, 2016 (Thursday).
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