New Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have the rizz, in a radical teen-focused reboot
It's not sus, the tubular turtles get a much needed refresh in a film bubbling with teen vibes
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are many things. Toon-ified tortoises. Masters of the martial arts. But in what is a surprisingly revolutionary move for the long-running franchise, this time, they are teenagers first.
First springing onto the pages of Mirage Studios comic books back in 1984, TMNT soon escaped its underground comic and became an animated staple of the 1980s and '90s. With their brightly coloured costumes and radical names, the turtle bros often sounded more like Point Break California surfers with their totally tubular street slang. Cowabunga indeed.
This new animated version comes from the producing team of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg who had the idea of making Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles about actual teens. Tortoise teens, but teens all the same. The film captures the messiness of that time in life, when young adults are a boundless source of potential … and can mess up really bad.
To channel that energy, directors Jeff Rowe and Kyler Spears jammed all four turtle voice actors, Shamon Brown Jr., Micah Abbey, Nicolas Cantu and Brady Noon, into a recording booth together.
Listening to them riffing on memes and joshing with each other it's clear the voice actors clicked. There's a new and much needed joy and looseness with the turtle brahs.
Fresh vibe, familiar story
While the vibe is fresher, the story remains familiar.
Jackie Chan voices Master Splinter, the turtle's adoptive rat father who, like them, was exposed to mutant ooze, which made them evolve into human-animal hybrids. Raised in the sewer on a steady diet of pizza and YouTube karate lessons, the turtles are eager to be in the world they watch on their phones.
From jokes about the rizz (short for charisma) to shouting out "The Ocky Way" (a catch phrase of a popular deli TikTok star), if the turtles aren't terminally online, they're the most media savvy version of the characters we've seen.
The risk with these kind of references is that it can make the characters appear dated. If anything, watching the turtles twerk and pose for cellphone videos adds another layer of ADHD authenticity, capturing the manic hyperlinked realities of teenage life.
Graffiti art style radiates action
The exuberant energy is complimented by the cleverly chaotic art style from Montreal's Mikros Animation and Vancouver's Cinesite.
Similar to the painterly touches in Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, Mutant Mayhem is the latest film to continue the creative explosion in cartooning inspired by Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse.
Where Spider-Verse adapted the visual vocabulary of comic books, Mutant Mayhem takes inspiration from high school sketch books. The action radiates with squiggles and colourful lines, like a living wall of graffiti.
Something about this playful LeRoy Neiman-esque art style, combined with the throwback hip-hop soundtrack fit the New York City setting perfectly. The world is a messy place and so are the lives of the teen turtles.
Storytelling evolution
The story kicks into motion when the turtles cross paths with aspiring journalist April O'Neil. Voiced by the now omnipresent Ayo Edebiri, O'Neil sees the turtles as her big break. What ties both the turtles and O'Neil together is how they both crave acceptance.
This, too, seems to be a much needed evolution in half-shell storytelling.
O'Neil yearns to be accepted by her classmates. The turtles dream of being welcomed as normal teens, not sewer-sleeping vigilantes. The desire to be seen and celebrated for who they are is what motivates them to join forces, investigating a series of robberies that eventually brings them face to face with their mutant brethren.
Ice Cube, with his customary gruff growl, plays Superfly, an overgrown housefly who leads a crew of mutant animals looking to wipe humanity off the face of the planet. John Cena and Seth Rogen are the loveable lunkheads Rocksteady the rhino and Bebop the warthog. Paul Rudd is a blast as the bro-tastic Mondo Gecko. Even Post Malone pops up as Ray Fillet, a musical manta ray.
Infusion of chaotic creativity
As the story speeds up, the sheer amount of characters fighting for attention can be overwhelming although certain moments shine; Donnie learning the value of his "big stick," Raphael getting a place to focus his unhinged rage, and Leo earning his leader moment.
Even Splinter gets his own fight scene, where, in true Jackie Chan style, the rat stumbles and careens off chairs while somehow destroying a small army of thugs.
While Paramount executives say the days of original animated stories are behind them, the fact that Ninja Turtles could be rescued from the toxic ooze of nostalgia with an infusion of chaotic creativity is encouraging.
By putting teen voices and talents front and centre, Mutant Mayhem is the inspiration the franchise needs.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
