Movie Review: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016)

Now I actually didn’t mind the first one, I mean it’s not a good movie but it definitely has some fun moments and honestly, I enjoyed the heck out of the turtles. I was probably one of the few people who didn’t mind their new design.  This review is gonna be short though. Just some thoughts. Probably some spoilers but… I mean do we really care?

Pros:

• Characters (cast). Now, I want to say that as a unit everyone is likable, not like great or anything but I think they’re all doable in their roles.

  • April O’Neil (Megan Fox). I can’t believe I’m saying this but she’s fine and unfortunately grows on me throughout this film. I still think Karen Gillian or Emma Stone would be a better choice. But she’s not as stupid and forced as she was in the first movie but we’re definitely keeping with the fact that she named them and whatever. Also, April is known for her yellow jumpsuit (jacket) and red hair, what happened to the red hair in this movie?

  • Casey Jones (Stephen Amell). I only know him from Arrow and it took me a moment to not see Oliver Queen but to see this new character he was trying to play. He did alright. Oliver is such a serious character that I don’t think it was seamless to go into a character like Casey. I was also okay with the disappearance of his long hair, he was interested in becoming a detective, he grew up on the streets of New York and wanted to protect it. He is headstrong, impulsive, a bit hot headed and kind of funny. I think Amell tried and he was fine. He actually had some nice chemistry with Fox.

  • The turtles. Again, I like their design, I like how each one looks different with their own style. I think they are the strongest parts of both films, while the actors are doing motion capture, they still have some nice chemistry with each other. It’s believable that they’re a family.

    • Leonardo (Pete Ploszek) is the leader, wears blue (my favorite actually lol), pretty average height and build, wields twin katanas and tries to unify his brothers and has to learn that they’re all different and it works.Oh plus for them using Pete’s actual voice this time around.

    • Donatello (Jeremy Howard) is the smart one, wears purple under his glasses, carries a bow staff, slender and a tall build, wears a gigantic computer thing on his shell. He’s the sweetest one and tries to be a mediator at the best of times.

    • Raphael (Alan Ritchson) is the hothead, impulsive one, wears red (I think it’s a t-shirt with eyeholes), wields double sai, the largest build and butts heads with Leo a lot. Ralph is the one who is always up for a fight and continues to learn that he doesn’t always have to fight against his brothers just because he wants things his way.

    • Michaelangelo (Noel Fisher) is the lighthearted one, wears orange, carries two nunchaku, and carries around a rocket powered skateboard. He’s the youngest and not the brightest in the bunch, loves pizza and obviously looks up to his older brothers.

• Shredder’s suit. It looked much better than it did in the first film. The first film, it was like shiny big robotic armor and it was unnecessary. His costume normally looks like something a samurai would wear but in the first movie, it was too much. This one it’s much more toned down and looks like an actual suit a ninja would wear. If he had the cape it probably would be just about pulled from the cartoons just updated, and more sophisticated.

• Change of Actors. Also, the actors who portrayed Shredder and Kurai were also changed in this film, which was better as Shredder had a larger role in this film. Brian Tee plays Shredder this time around and as he was more in the film, the audience has more of a chance to experience him. He didn’t get the chance to be nearly as cool as he can be but I guess if there are sequels then he could do more.

• Turtle Sizes. I wasn’t sure if it was just me, but the turtles looked definitely smaller than they did in the first film. I think April said they were “8 foot fall” which ideally is too big for certain things they’re supposed to be able to do so if they actually did make them smaller (especially since Casey was about eye to eye with Raph, who is the biggest turtle) it’s a good thing. It seems more plausible and realistic for them to be maybe between 6 and 7 feet.

• The Action. Some, not all, of the action was cool. Some of it was too long just like that ridiculous mountain scene in the first one but I guess in terms of looks and fun the action was fun.

Cons:

• Krang’s design. Oh my goodness, why?? He’s so disgusting looking. I’ve seen his animated and old movies counterpart and I disagree on trying to make him look more “realistic” if that was the reason behind his design. So gross! I’m so glad the turtles commented on it. It’s not “damaging” to the grade but disliked it.

• Tyler Perry. I’m already not a fan but I think someone else could have played Baxter Stockman because he failed. He was trying to be that crazed, weird scientist but it just came off campy and forced. Perry didn’t pull it off and Stockman was annoying at best.

• Bebop and Rocksteady. I know they’re not supposed to be “cool” but they were annoying. Shredder used them as hired hands basically but they were annoying as humans, a bit funnier though, but when they were turned into their “ancestral counterparts” they became annoying and gross.

• The story. It’s not completely stupid like the first one but there are definitely stupid elements. First, how long have the turtles been saving New York? Because there are conversations like they’ve been doing it for a long time, the first movie was like their first time out for real for real, so at this point, how long as it been? I think that’s important to know (unless I missed it) because for things to happen and be fixed and the police think it’s done by another man? Verne, the camera guy, takes all of the turtles’ credit for defeating Shredder, as per their “agreement” and people actually believe that? Yeah, this cameraman defeated that Shredder Transformer in the first movie. I mean… come on.

• Not as cool as the animated shows. I mean, the designs are definitely cool, I like how each turtle has their own look but overall, they lack the same kind of… something special the animated shows had. I haven’t seen the newest one but I watched the older ones and those turtles were cool, witty, and badass and this time around, they are half of those things. There’s not enough life in them.

• Bad CGI. It’s not throughout the film, but the designs of Rocksteady and Bebop were shaky, I think most of the budget went to the design of the turtles (even if they were giants this time). There’s also a scene where the turtles are running out of a building onto the rooftop during the climax and that cgi was horrible. I went ‘oo bad cgi there’ and that also credits towards Krang’s gross design.

• Too many villains. I don’t know what it is about movies like this these days where people think the sequel needs to have more than one villain: Krang, Shredder, Stockman, Rocksteady and Bebop. I mean… I get that everyone was basically a working for someone else in a way but still too much. Shredder should have stayed where he was, same with Bebop and Rocksteady and kept till a third film and just let Krang be the villain this time around. I mean, I get it but it didn’t work.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie for the most part. Is it good? Meh, no. It definitely had a stupid story elements, while Megan Fox is fine in her role, she can still be replaced, Stephen Amell was just fine as Casey Jones, the turtles were cool basically the strongest part of the movie just as they were in the first film, but it still lacks charisma that the shows had. It has some really cool moments, and it’s definitely not going to be the best movie in the world, but it’s a fun adventure. If you grew up with them though and didn’t like the first movie, then you most likely won’t like this one either but it’s more fun.

Rating: 1.9 out of 5