Whelp, I have three movies in a row to watch, so I get to make three reviews in a row, yay.
Let's start then with the first live action bayverse movie. I do belive I've said before that I really like these movies (for whatever reason.) I even made a cosplay of the Raphael from specifically this series for a recent convention. Mostly because this iteration of Raph had more to their design than just shell, belt and kneepads of other iterations. At least i got recognized twice for the specific movie.
That being said I actually kinda like the designs from this movie. Sure, they are ugly, my friend has said Mikey without a mask looks like a booger, but from their outfits they're pretty great. While they are impractical for a ninja, especially Donnie with all the tech strapped to him, they show off their individuality and personality pretty well. Plus, I think they just look cool.
Story wise, it was fine. I liked how the setup for the conflict between Shredder and the turtles was done, it felt different from the usual means so that was nice. Although, a lot of that probably comes from him originally being Eric Stacks, so not cool with the whitewashed shredder. Also I still don't know how Master Splinter knew about the Shredder, like he was legit just a rat, who learnt ninjitsu from a book.
The learning and becoming a master at ninjitsu from like one book doesn't make sense either. I do like the kinda different backstory, but the splinter part doesn't make sense.
Although I thought it was cool that April was tied already to the turtles, it made it make a bit more sense why this random lady cared so much about four teenage turtles and a rat. But lets be honest, this isn't April O'neil, this is just Megan Fox standing around with a blank face half the time.
Vern was cool I guess, a very hate-able character but he was an okay adaptation, 87 Vern was very punchable too.
It's really a bad movie, but I really like it. Sure some things don't make any sense, especially adrenaline and the medical readings, but hey, we got cool battles and the elevator scene so I'm happy. Plus what I'm pretty sure is a Very Turtle Christmas reference with the hip-hop Christmas album so thats cool I guess?
Now, my thoughts in a definitely very organized format.
In my opinion, it was okay. It definitely isn't my favorite by all means, but it isn't by any metrics bad. I definitely liked the later seasons better, the space episodes by far being my favorite. Although the last season meh. It was just a lot of filler that I didn't really care for.
The main reason I'd say I didn't like it were clunky character interactions. I don't want to say it, but the girls kinda sucked. I didn't really like April, she was just a walking plot device whether it be for a Donnie or Casey bit or for Kraang shenanigans. The ideas were good, like her becoming a Kunoichi or... her being friends with Irma again (but she's actually a Kraang) ig? And don't get me started on Karai.
I'm going to get started on Karai. She was more of a character that she is in other iterations, I'll give her that. Actually, she's a pretty cool character when I ignore the gripes I have with her. What I don't like about her mostly revolves around her being Splinter's daughter. In another executuion, it could be really cool, like Shredder raising his enemys kid as his own and all that jazz? It's so cool. But, there is so much focus from Splinter on her being Miwa, being his lost child.
Like at times he focuses more on "Miwa", on his lost kid, than on the kids he raised until he died. On the kids who currently need his guidance as they're like at most 17ish when he dies. And I know for a fact, you still don't get your shit together then. Even when she was gone, then back, good then bad, he was so focused on her. Of course I'm no parent (surprise surprise), nor have I lost a kid, but like, worry about your kids right in frount of you first, she seems to be doing quite fine.
To end off my Karai rant, why was she paired with Leo romantically. Like looking on the wiki, for nicknames or whatever it said he's called her sister. Like they're just objectively siblings, even if adopted, like why are there still romantic threads after Splinter kicks the bucket? Like I'm just done thinking about this. Now of course this isn't her fault, I like her, I think she's neat, but the narrative doesn't know what to do with girls apparently.
Oh lord, I'm going to ramble on so much more... The demons have won.
Whilst I love Splinter, I do have some big problems with him too. He is the best in a teacher and sensei sense from pure knowledge in my opinion, but as a father he's kinda lacking. Like there's the issue with Karai as stated above, and there's the pure pressure put on Leo. When you tell your son that he's going to become a sensei and father after you die, there's something wrong. I can understand the sensei part, he's the best at ninjitsu, he's the leader yada yada. But under no circumstances should you even expect your child to be a parent to their siblings. It happens, I'm aware of that, but it's still wrong, especially from how I remember it was phrased.
But going onto things I like, because why be a total downer, space was awesome. It just gave a different setting and stories than the same villain of the week or shredder/kraang are doing an evil, so that was cool. Plus Fugidroid was a really funny guy, so silly. Y'Gythgba (or Mona Lisa but I wanted to get her actual name in here at least once) is also introduced here and I'm biased towards her.
Like I think she's so awesome. Raph in my opinion, was so lucky she liked his weird turtle butt, because like fumble of the century if she didn't like him giving her a nickname. And I'm not going to go into the problematic aspects of him calling her something else because he couldn't say her name that's in her native language. Because that's the only callback/tie to the original Mona pretty much, so it sucks but it was probably for the sake of the "hey, that characters back(ish)" Yes Mikey, she is bigger, stronger and a fighter than Raph, that's the point. "What a woman" indeed Raph. She's just so cool and yeah...
Whilst I do have problems with the turtles, mostly they're a great representation of the turtles. Leo's a try hard leader done with the guys not listening to him whilst still being a giant geek, Raph's a hothead prone to blow yet still cares for his family (usually via sibling love aka bullying) and is a good turtle mom to both Spike and Chompy. Donnies a complete nerd who's constantly tired of people messing with his lab but is a total softie (we will not be ranting about his annoying, infuriating crush on April) and Mikey is a wildcard with a heart of gold, always willing to make friends and eat weird pizza.
Also, the jokes are usually so good, I've posted a few times already about funny lines. Baxters lines in the end of season 4 live in my head "You jerk! I liked being a fly!" The writing didn't miss too hard with jokes, the one liners definitely being the best.
The villains were pretty good too. Fishface and Dogpound were good shredder lackeys even if they were replaced by the nostalgic Bebop and Rocksteady in later seasons. Baxter Stockman was a pretty good blend of the incompetent fool of 87 and the straight up super villain of 03. But he kinda disappears at some points.
I will forever be mourning Timothy (The Pulverizer). Was he annoying? Yes. Was he a total fool? also yes. But my boy did not deserve to be turned into a pile of mutant goop and left in a vat in Donnies lab. Why did Donnie never use retro-mutagen on my boy failure!
And they did the 87 crossovers way better than Turtles forever, I love the gags with 12 Donnie and 87 Raph since they have the same VA
Idk, it was pretty good as a background show for my crafts, but there's better tmnt. But hey, on the bright side, it's nowhere near the worst iteration (cough cough Next Mutation.)
Look, I love 2012 mikey, he's so silly, especially when stalling or distracting enemy's. He always gets up to scooby and shaggy shenanigans, but I'm shaking my head at him sometimes. He's so dumb i love him.
This is just literally about season 4 episode 21 because to stall bebop and rocksteady, he says the turtles have salmonella. This, somehow, distracts them enough that Leo and Raph can get the jump on them. Why does this work in any way?
In your tmnt 03 post I know you mentioned Don Mikey and Leo but I am curious how do you feel about 03 Raph? I don’t think we seen you talk about him I could be wrong 🤷♂️
Well this was from a while ago, better late then never I suppose.
But yeah, I looked over my old posts and I can't find any mentions of Raph. I'm kinda surprised I didn't as I absolutely adore this version of him. Like he easily makes my favorite turtle list.
I love how snarky and sarcastic he is, and he has like the best one liners, the brooklyn accent just makes the voice acting so good. He's a great blend of brash hothead and someone who'd fight till the end for his family.
Plus he's just got great chemistry with the others. We love the sibling love of beating up your brothers *cough cough mickey*
He's just so good. He just makes up all the best parts of a Raph for me. Like I said before he's fighting with the Bay Raph and Rise Donnie for my favorite turtle. But he often wins.
I, for whatever reason, decided I'm going to try to do artfight this year. So let's start making references yall or I'm not going to get them done let's be honest.
oof, it's been a while.
Anyways, I never reviewed the TMNT 07 movie, lets do that now I guess.
I'mma come right out and say it, Leo is so stupid. What do you mean you went on a *solo* mission to become a better leader, then stay a whole nother year whilst cutting contact with your family, *your team!* This does not make any sense.
I absolutely love exploring dynamics after the big bads been defeated. I love having the turtles trying to figure out how to move on after getting traumatized from having to fight for their literal lives as teens. This movie is great at portraying these concepts that are usually regulated to the lovely fanfics.
Donnie and Mickey getting jobs are just so lovely for me, they fit so well for each of them yet are absolute nightmares. It's capitalism at it's finest.
I don't really like the two narratives trying to mesh together. Like you got the Scooby doo and the thirteen ghosts thing going on in the kinda background while you got "oh my god leo's back, you suck" going on. I like the try at a new villain, but I don't love it here. Elsewhere, if there was more time to flesh out characters, I'd love the difference from the usual villains. Love Krang and Shredder but my blorbo's need a break.
"Jungle Boy" "Fearless Leader" "Oh fearless one" "Splinter Jr" I love the leo insults
Splinter rubs me the wrong way, he puts too much on Leo whilst raising him on such a high pedestal. Additionally most of his reprimands are to Leo and maybe the team as a whole.
I know this is a Leo and Raph centered film, but those too have way more depth than Don and Mickey and it shows. Like my boys are just boiled down to their tropes of Smart one and Silly one. I just want more. It does make sense as from what I know there was supposed to be 2 more but alas they never got made. Sucks too, because apparently Mickey was going to join the Foot!? Hello? That would be awesome!
Overall, it's a really good movie despite my nitpicks. It just lacks more substance. If this was a trilogy this would be an awesome first installment.
However, personally for me, as a stand alone, it's meh. I know the most iconic scene from the movie is the rooftop Raph and Leo fight, but I didn't really remember it much after my initial watch. The most memorable scene that I really liked was like the early scenes with Mikey and Don. (Oh and Raph I guess) I just don't love the main pair of brothers as opposed to the secondary, and that's my main issues.
That's really my final thoughts, a good movie really. I like it better than some of the original trilogy but it suffers from not being fully fleshed out.
If you ever feel dumb, Just remember that Eric Sacks’ plan in the 2014 TMNT film was to flood the city with a deadly toxin that was quite literally ON TOP OF HIS OWN BUILDING WITH CONTAINERS THAT HAS HIS OWN COMPANY LABELS only to try and pass off an antidote as if it wasn’t INCREDIBLY OBVIOUS WHO CAUSED THE TOXIN RELEASE.
So I got a kids shirt from walmart to cannibalize for it's graphic since they don't really make tmnt merch for big people. My dudes, I have no Idea what iteration this is??
Like I think they're from the comics, but I don't know where exactly? Or are they just generic turtles?
