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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem First Reviews: Clever, Visually Distinct, and Irresistible

Critics say the latest iteration of the heroes in a half shell is a lively, faithful adaptation that should thrill longtime fans and easily earn new ones..

TAGGED AS: Animation , comic book movies , movies

Here’s what critics are saying about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem :

How does  Mutant Mayhem  compare to other Ninja Turtles movies?

“The best Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film yet!” – Zach Pope, Zach Pope Reviews

“ Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem skillfully finds a way to balance heart, action, and comedy in a mind-blowingly gorgeous animation presentation that instantly places it head and shoulders above all other Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles films to date.” – Matt Neglia, Next Best Picture

“This CGI-animated effort is the most engaging version I’ve encountered thus far, which bodes well for those who haven’t grown up as TMNT lovers.” – Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter

“I have to say I found this version of the Turtles to be irresistible.” – Pete Hammond, Deadline Hollywood Daily

“It couldn’t be more different from the darker vibe and photorealistic textures seen in the Turtles’ last two theatrical outings.” – Peter Debruge, Variety

“Just when you thought Teenage Mutant Ninja Turltes: Mutant Mayhem couldn’t get any better, it does, with some both surprising but very satisfying story choices in the third act that makes the film stand out even more from all the other Turtles stories you’ve seen before.” – Germain Lussier, io9.com

(Photo by ©Paramount Pictures)

Does it change the characters?

“Rowe’s film marks the first time in the Turtles’ long and storied history that the young heroes have been voiced by actual teenagers… a clever touch that adds real dimensions and emotion to a story, again, about mutant teenage crime-fighters.” – Kate Erbland, IndieWire

“Losing some of the bulk and imposing look of some of the past creations of this foursome, they are all truly believable as excited teens looking to find their way in a world they are just beginning to experience.” – Pete Hammond, Deadline Hollywood Daily

“The turtles and other mutant animals look cute again.” – Fred Topel, United Press International

“Setting this version apart, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem features a Splinter who is not the sage-like sensei of past incarnations, but a fussy, overprotective dad, traumatized by his interactions with humans.” – Kristy Puchko, Mashable

“These are turtles who grew up with social media, creating memes, and watching twerking videos on TikTok. There are a handful of scenes that made me feel old and out of touch.” – Matt Rodriguez, Shakefire

Will longtime TMNT fans enjoy it?

“If you grew up on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon show from the ’80s, worshipped the live-action movies from the ’90s, or still could chant the chorus of Vanilla Ice’s ‘Ninja Rap,’ then Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is for you.” – Kristy Puchko, Mashable

“They have delivered exactly what you might hope they would, a fiendishly clever, funny, but appropriately faithful take on a brand.” – Pete Hammond, Deadline Hollywood Daily

“You feel passion and respect for the franchise bursting off-screen. The movie has confidence in its audience to embrace a few new ideas as well as the tried and true ones.” – Germain Lussier, io9.com

“It’s a great introduction for new younger audiences, and at the same time hits older fans with a comforting wave of nostalgia. Even more so, the film leaves plenty of room for the franchise to grow.” – Matt Rodriguez, Shakefire

“ Mutant Mayhem handles Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Easter eggs much more subtly than many nostalgic movies… For longtime fans who recognize them, they generate genuine surprise.” – Fred Topel, United Press International

Are there any standouts in the voice cast?

“Ice Cube steals the entire movie, droppin’ braggadocio verses on the Turtles as he beats them up.” – Travis Hopson, Punch Drunk Critics

“The casting of Ice Cube is brilliant. He is absolutely dynamic whether Superfly is dropping familiar rap lyrics, hyping up his hybrid siblings, or preaching human annihilation.” – Kristy Puchko, Mashable

“The fact that the young actors voicing the TMNTs were actually teenagers when they recorded their performances infuses a welcome youthful energy to the goings-on.” – Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter

How is the animation?

“Similar in look to the Spider-Verse animated films and resembling underground comics in its deliberately rough-hewn character and background designs… vibrantly distinctive visuals that perfectly suit the rambunctious and frequently violent proceedings.” – Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter

“The scattershot animation feels rough around the edges, stylish, anti-CGI blandness, and visually surprising and satisfying.” – Pete Hammond, Deadline Hollywood Daily

“This style brings texture and personality into every frame of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem , reminding audiences that there are far more interesting things that can be done with computer animation beyond the bland accuracy of photorealism.” – Kristy Puchko, Mashable

“A rough sketch hand-drawn aesthetic to match the griminess of New York City. The imaginary camera moves with stimulating purpose through 3D space to immerse you in the action set pieces and the world these mutant characters occupy in an exhilarating way.” – Matt Neglia, Next Best Picture

“The action and animation are all top-notch… You’ll be blown away by what’s on screen.” – Matt Rodriguez, Shakefire

“The animation takes some getting used to. The kinetic, exaggerated style has some figures looking deformed, but it all comes together and gives the Turtles a fresh, energetic look.” – Travis Hopson, Punch Drunk Critics

What about the plot?

“Is [there] a lot of plot? Yes. Is the movie a bit of a mad jumble because of it? Also, yes. But with ‘mayhem’ in the title, what more do you expect?” – Kristy Puchko, Mashable

“The Turtles have an actual arc… The Turtles’ understanding of themselves becomes a rich story thread the movie pulls on, along with the journey of self-discovery.” – Germain Lussier, io9.com

“Eventually, the film settles into predictable plotting, but that doesn’t detract much from its otherwise giddy, witty vibe.” – Kate Erbland, IndieWire

“The storytelling is sloppy.” – Nick Schager, The Daily Beast

“It feels like there’s a variation on this script that takes as many risks as the visuals do instead of going predictably from point A to point B in the coming-of-age playbook.” – Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com

Is it funny?

“Unexpectedly funny.” – Peter Bradshaw, Guardian

“The dialogue proves consistently amusing (not surprising considering Rogen’s participation).” – Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter

“Some of the pop culture references might not age as well as this film deserves, but they’re hilarious for now.” – Liz Shannon Miller, Consequence

“While the tone and some of the jokes are geared towards people in Rogen’s age range, and thus suits people like me, some of it may fly over the heads of younger children.” – Travis Hopson, Punch Drunk Critics

“Kids will love the bombastic humor.” – Kristy Puchko, Mashable

“As expected, the humor is skewed toward a younger audience… Not all the humor lands.” – Matt Rodriguez, Shakefire

“The fact that there’s no potty humor should be taken as a minor victory.” – Nick Schager, The Daily Beast

“I’m pretty sure you could ask ChatGPT to write a TMNT script in the style of Seth Rogen and get something just as funny.” – Peter Debruge, Variety

What else does the movie have going for it?

“One of the best 1990s/2000s soundtracks in years.” – Germain Lussier, io9.com

“There’s so much to appreciate here, such as the film’s dynamic score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, or the needle drops, which aren’t just delightful picks on their own, but integrated into the action with thought and care.” – Liz Shannon Miller, Consequence

“It also has lots of heart.” – Pete Hammond, Deadline Hollywood Daily

Any major criticisms?

“A quibble is that Rowe, Rogen, et al skate around the refined humanist mystery of their names… a shame. Perhaps the sequel can take us to the Uffizi in Florence.” – Peter Bradshaw, Guardian

“Considering Rogen’s participation as both a writer and actor, it’s surprising that Mutant Mayhem plays it so safe.” – Nick Schager, The Daily Beast

“The mixture of teenage coming-of-age and gloomy mutant brawl doesn’t vibe all that well.” – Jimmy Cage, Jimmy Cage Movie Reviews

“If anything feels out of sync, it’s the way in which life in the year 2023 doesn’t immediately integrate with aspects of the original premise.” – Liz Shannon Miller, Consequence

“Unfortunately, there might be one mutant too many in this expansive roster.” – Evan Valentine, ComicBook.com

“Most damagingly, as ridiculous as this may sound, we really don’t learn enough about the turtles, who are reduced to one or two traits as they’re pushed along the action track of the movie.” – Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com

Could it be one of the best movies of the year?

“In a year that’s already given us unforgettable animation with films like Nimona , Elemental , and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse , Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is right up there. It’s a near-perfect movie.” – Germain Lussier, io9.com

“One of the year’s best-animated feature films.” – Matt Neglia, Next Best Picture

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem  opens in theaters everywhere on August 2, 2023.

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

The Turtle brothers work to earn the love of New York City while facing down an army of mutants. The Turtle brothers work to earn the love of New York City while facing down an army of mutants. The Turtle brothers work to earn the love of New York City while facing down an army of mutants.

• Kyler Spears
• Evan Goldberg
• Micah Abbey
• Shamon Brown Jr.
• Nicolas Cantu
• 426 User reviews
• 189 Critic reviews
• 74 Metascore
• 1 win & 68 nominations

• Michelangelo

• April O'Neil

• Cynthia Utrom

• Leatherhead

• Baxter Stockman

• Mondo Gecko

• (as Austin Post)

• Genghis Frog

• Times Square Guy
• (as MrBeast)

• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

The Evolution of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

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Did you know

• Trivia Jeff Rowe wrote a letter to Jackie Chan requesting him to play Master Splinter.
• Goofs When Superfly is attacking the city near the end, he kicks a tanker truck, which flies through the air and explodes in the street. Moments later, the same truck is seen intact and undamaged.

Michelangelo : Thanks for ratting us out.

Master Splinter : Hey! Don't use that word that way.

• Crazy credits There is a scene in the closing credits: as the Turtles and April enjoy high school, Cynthia Utrom spies on them and decides to bring in the Shredder.
• Connections Featured in AniMat's Crazy Cartoon Cast: Your Daily Fails (2020)
• Soundtracks Ante Up (Robbin Hoodz Theory) (Radio Version) Written by Jamal Grinnage (as Gerard Jamal Grinnage), Billy Danze (as Eric Murray), and Darryl Pittman Performed by M.O.P. Courtesy of Columbia Records By arrangement with Sony Music Entertainment

User reviews 426

• dalesimmance
• Aug 6, 2023
• How long is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem? Powered by Alexa
• August 2, 2023 (United States)
• United States
• Ninja Rùa: Hỗn Loạn Tuổi Dậy Thì
• New York City, New York, USA (on location)
• Image Comics
• Mikros Animation
• Nickelodeon Animation Studios
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $70,000,000 (estimated)
• $118,613,586
• $28,007,544
• $180,513,586

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 39 minutes
• Dolby Atmos
• Dolby Digital
• Dolby Surround 7.1
• 12-Track Digital Sound

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Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, teenage mutant ninja turtles: mutant mayhem.

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As the leads in Jeff Rowe ’s “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” spoke with all the momentum of my kids when they have a bottle of Prime—it’s a new energy drink for those out of the loop—I thought about the difference between fast-paced and hyperactive when it comes to this kind of movie. “ Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse ” and its incredible sequel are undeniably fast-paced, but the momentum is right for the material. “The Mitchells vs. the Machines,” co-written by this film’s director, also packs so much into its runtime that it’s impossible to catch it all on first viewing. Those films are fast because they’re fueled by so much creativity that you can see their ideas bursting off the screen. “Mutant Mayhem” is fast because it thinks it should be. There’s a difference. Using its hyperactive nature to disguise how there’s not much going on, “Mutant Mayhem” is a pretty shallow venture thematically. Having said that, it also has undeniably strong visuals and enough creative voice work to make it tolerable on a hot August day when families need an air-conditioned theater for a few hours. I wish the mayhem of it all led somewhere more rewarding.

Yes, it’s another origin story. Despite being the seventh film to feature these characters, Rowe and co-writers Dan Hernandez , Benji Samit , Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg go back to the beginning of the TMNT saga, opening with a scientist named Baxter Stockman ( Giancarlo Esposito ) creating the infamous ooze that turns ordinary creatures into mutants. When the authorities break into Baxter’s basement lair, the ooze is spilled into the sewers, and the rest is comic book history as a quartet of turtles becomes fast-talking humanoid creatures named Donatello ( Micah Abbey ), Michelangelo (Shamon Brown Jr.), Leonardo ( Nicolas Cantu ), and Raphael ( Brady Noon ).

Fans of the franchise know that the turtles are nothing without their leader, Splinter ( Jackie Chan ), a rat who was also transformed by the ooze and became the father to the teenage mutants after teaching them the ninja skills to protect themselves. Splinter is extremely overprotective, ordering the boys to stay away from human beings at all costs or risk being milked by them (don't ask). A flashback reveals that Splinter tried to introduce himself and the turtles to the humans, but they were somewhat understandably terrified. Now they all live underground, as the turtles sneak out to get supplies and wish they could have a normal teenage life beyond the sewers.

Meanwhile, one of Baxter’s experiments responds very differently to the chasm between the human race and the mutants now living underground. Whereas Splinter wants to hide, Superfly ( Ice Cube ) wants something closer to vengeance. He’s assembled a group of mutants that include Genghis Frog ( Hannibal Buress ), Leatherhead ( Rose Byrne ), Rocksteady ( John Cena ), Wingnut ( Natasia Demetriou ), Ray Fillet ( Post Malone ), Bebop (Seth Rogen), and Mondo Gecko ( Paul Rudd ). Throw in Maya Rudolph as a mysterious figure trying to find the turtles and Ayo Edebiri as April, the human being who befriends the turtles and tries to introduce them to the above-ground world, and you have a stellar voice cast. Once Superfly and his cadre of creatures join the action, “Mutant Mayhem” gets exponentially more fun as each great actor is allowed fun voice beats to shine.

The visuals of “Mutant Mayhem” also explode when Superfly and his gang join in the fun as the animators bring their A-game to creative character designs that recall the source material but also pop on the big screen. The entire film has that “Spider-Verse” aesthetic that looks like a comic book come to life. The characters can go from simple animation that looks hand-drawn to something more like stop-motion animation and then back again in a manner that keeps the film visually engaging.

I just wish those visuals got more depth from their characters and story beats. "Mutant Mayhem" is ultimately a coming-of-age film, the story of four teenagers who discover a reality they want to live in between Splinter’s overprotectiveness and Superfly’s anger. While that’s an interesting theme, and it’s nice to see a version of this franchise take the word “teenage” seriously, it’s also pretty light for kids and their parents who can handle more complex themes. It feels like there’s a variation on this script that takes as many risks as the visuals do instead of going predictably from point A to point B in the coming-of-age playbook. 

Most damagingly, as ridiculous as this may sound, we really don’t learn enough about the turtles, who are reduced to one or two traits as they're pushed along the action track of the movie. De facto leader Leonardo is the most responsible of the crew and develops a crush on April. The other three barely even get that much development. Of course, not everything can be “Mitchells” or “Spider-Verse,” but those films grounded pieces of the coming-of-age genre even as they raced through their stories. Maybe it's a product of my age or lack of energy drink intake, but “Mutant Mayhem” too often just feels hyper.

In theatres on August 2 nd .

Brian Tallerico

Brian Tallerico is the Managing Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. He is also a writer for Vulture, The Playlist, The New York Times, and GQ, and the President of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023)

Nicolas Cantu as Leonardo (voice)

Shamon Brown Jr. as Michelangelo (voice)

Micah Abbey as Donatello (voice)

Brady Noon as Raphael (voice)

Jackie Chan as Splinter (voice)

Ayo Edebiri as April O'Neil (voice)

Ice Cube as Superfly (voice)

Seth Rogen as Bebop (voice)

John Cena as Rocksteady (voice)

Paul Rudd as Mondo Gecko (voice)

Natasia Demetriou as Wingnut (voice)

Rose Byrne as Leatherhead (voice)

• Dan Hernandez
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Review: Funny and vibrant, ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem’ is an easy shell

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As box office analysts have noted with equal parts glee and alarm, it hasn’t been the hottest summer for the big film franchises. “Fast X” flailed. “The Flash” fizzled. The latest adventures of Indiana Jones and the Impossible Missions Force performed less stratospherically than expected. Meanwhile, the extraordinary commercial success and cultural staying power of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” have been greeted by many as a rare triumph for non-franchise-based storytelling, as well as a pointed referendum on Hollywood’s sequel/reboot overload: Give us originality, or give us depth!

Yet there are always exceptions, contradictions and assorted what-aboutisms: We can argue about how much “Barbie,” a smart, interesting movie that was made to sell toys and surely will mint a franchise of its own, qualifies as original. And this week sees the arrival of “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem,” an unexpectedly delightful challenge to the critic’s reflexive antifranchise mentality.

Nimbly directed by Jeff Rowe ( “The Mitchells vs. the Machines” ) from a funny, perceptive script he wrote with Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit, this rambunctious action-comedy gives nostalgia-stoking, action-figure-selling, comic-book-derived franchise relaunches a good name. To say that it’s the best Ninja Turtles movie I’ve ever seen is both perfectly accurate and arguably faint praise, given how many cowa-bungled mediocrities this aging franchise has spat out over the past 33 years — and I say that as someone with fond childhood memories of the 1990 live-action “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” with its endearingly rubbery Jim Henson turtle costumes, grotty-looking sewer sets and “Hey dude, this is no cartoon” tagline.

Which Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle are you? Take our personality quiz

Aug. 4, 2023

“Mutant Mayhem” joyously embraces its cartoonishness, if that’s the word for Rowe’s ripped-from-the-pages-of-a-kid’s-heavily-doodled-notebook aesthetic. There’s poetry in this imperfection: Unlike the artificially smoothed, computer-animated turtles of “TMNT” (2007) or their motion-captured equivalents in the Michael Bay-produced “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” (2014), these latest incarnations of Leonardo (voiced by Nicolas Cantu), Raphael (Brady Noon), Michelangelo (Shamon Brown Jr.) and Donatello (Micah Abbey) spring to gloriously sketchy, smudgy pop-art life from their first frame. And they lurk, leap and soar across a neon-streaked New York City that, for all its digital rendering, feels as fresh and hand-crafted as a made-to-order Brooklyn pizza.

Sustenance, pizza and otherwise, is of course never far from the turtles’ minds. Their first mission here — to fulfill a lengthy grocery list (and check off a product placement or two) — will require great stealth and cunning, since it’s important that they go unseen by human eyes. They are overgrown humanoid turtles, after all, thanks to a lab-engineered green ooze that contaminated their stretch of sewer 15 years earlier. They’re also teenagers, which only exacerbates their frustration at being lifelong outcasts, something they feel acutely when they sneak into an outdoor screening of that teen-liberation classic “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” More than most “Ninja Turtles” stories, in other words, this one emphasizes its foursome’s youthfulness, their merciless rib-rib banter, their pop-culture savvy (Michelangelo likes Beyoncé) and, above all, their eagerness to fit into a world that fears and rejects them on sight.

The film’s coming-of-age bent is unsurprising, given Rogen and Goldberg’s involvement (they’re also credited as producers), though anyone hoping for a terrapin-themed “Superbad” is out of luck. Rather than raunching up its material (aside from some impressive vomit gags), “Mutant Mayhem” has been wittily conceived as a comedy of alienation and assimilation. Splinter, the stern mutant rat who raised the turtles, trained them in martial arts and taught them that “humans are the demon scum of the earth,” is basically every overprotective immigrant father in rodent form. (It helps that he’s voiced with unadulterated Cantonese-dad energy by Jackie Chan.)

The turtles’ individual gifts and personalities haven’t changed — Leo is still the responsible leader, Raph the courageous hothead, Mikey the lovable goofball and Donnie the brains of the outfit — but a poignant longing for acceptance unites them all. It’s that longing that first plants the idea of superheroics in their bandanna-wrapped heads, propelling them into an enjoyably nonsensical plot involving a shady scientific institute and a mutant-critter crime wave. As the turtles race around the city trying to save the day, backed by hip-hop jams and a propulsive Trent Reznor–Atticus Ross score, they join forces with April O’Neil (Ayo Edebiri), a plucky high school journalist who, in this telling, is almost as much of a misfit as they are.

That speaks to the warmly inclusive spirit of “Mutant Mayhem,” which, while not as exhilaratingly free-form as the recent “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” uses its own mercurial visual style to suggest new worlds of representational possibility. And in ways that bring the “X-Men” series (among other properties) to mind, it turns the condition of mutantdom into an effective metaphor for the Other. If that insight verges on obvious by now, the movie nonetheless wears its politics lightly, rarely scoring points with an overworked speech when it can go with a light laugh, a kinetic car chase or a dynamically staged action scene instead.

It’s telling that some of the story’s funniest, sweetest moments involve the turtles’ ostensible enemies. Initially disturbing but ultimately disarming, they’re a motley mutant menagerie voiced by actors including Rogen (warthog), Paul Rudd (gecko), Rose Byrne (alligator), Natasia Demetriou (bat) and John Cena (black rhino). Their leader is the aptly named Superfly (a fearsome Ice Cube), who plays a key role in the movie’s climax — a wonderfully grotesque but coherently mapped-out sequence that tips its hat to Godzilla, David Cronenberg and, finally, the we’re-all-in-this-together spirit of New York itself.

Whether it cries out for a sequel is debatable. But I wouldn’t mind seeing if this latest cycle of “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” turns out to be not just a reboot but a renaissance.

'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem'

Rating: PG, for sequences of violence and action, language and impolite material Running time: 1 hour, 39 minutes Playing: Starts Aug. 4 in general release

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‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem’ Review: Seth Rogen Puts His Comedic Stamp On The Best TMNT Movie Yet

By Pete Hammond

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In a summer where the off-the-boards success of original movies including Barbie and Oppenheimer is all the rage, the seventh-or so feature film iteration of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise wasn’t one with great expectations. Except when you read the credit block and discover the co-writers and producers are none other than Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg and the director is Jeff Rowe, who most recently was an Oscar nominee for the wildly inventive animated hit The Mitchells vs The Machines.

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Rogen’s and longtime partner Goldberg’s script is heavy on pop culture humor in all the best ways but takes a cue as well from the youth emphasis of the Tom Holland Spider-Man as well as the hit animated versions. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is young to its core, virtually reinventing the concept right down to the casting of the voice actors in the four title roles.

Fans will not be disappointed with any of the decisions here, notably the scattershot animation that feels rough around the edges, stylish, visually surprising and satisfying and anti-CGI blandness. The producers said they were going for a look that a high school student might have drawn for fun in their notebook. It is all on the screen here thanks to Owen, his co-director Kyler Spears, production designer Yashar Kassai and the talented team of animators, particularly the character department.

The plot revolves around TMNT veteran April O’Neil (The Bear Emmy nominee Ayo Edebiri ), the reporter in previous versions who here has been aged down considerably to also being a teen with high ambition to become a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter. She gets her chance when she encounters the TMNT quartet, who have been sheltered by adoptive father Splinter (voiced by the great Jackie Chan), the mutated rat who befriended them when they were toddlers and who were the only ones who liked the rat. Oozed into the sewer, they all live down there munching on their beloved pizza but are taught to distrust and hate humans. In April, though, they find one they like, and her plan is to use them to seek out Superfly, do him in and become the basis for a major news scoop that will catapult her — and them — to glory.

This all does lead to the Ninja Turtles’ encounter with Superfly and his gang. The villain actually takes a liking to them at first, thinking that since they became mutants at about the same period 15 years earlier (where the film begins its pre-credits sequence) they actually are cousins. Soon, though, Superfly’s true intentions and dark side takes over, and the battle is on.

I have to say I found this version of the Turtles to be irresistible, each one very specifically and distinctly drawn and voiced with excellent work from the young actors including Nicolas Cantu ( The Fabelmans) as natural leader Leonardo, Shamon Brown Jr. as Michelangelo, Brady Noon as Raphael and Micah Abbey as Donatello. Losing some of the bulk and imposing look of some of the past creations of this foursome, they are all truly believable as excited teens looking to find their way in a world they are just beginning to experience.

Rogen has made his mark on a franchise that still finds new ways to smartly entertain amid all that mayhem.

Title: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem Distributor: Paramount Pictures Release date: August 2, 2023 Director: Jeff Rowe Screenwriters: Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg and Jeff Rowe, Dan Hernandez & Benji Samit Cast: Nicolas Cantu, Shamon Brown Jr. Brady Noon, Micah Abbey, Jackie Chan, Ayo Edebiri, Ice Cube, Seth Rogen, John Cena, Rose Byrne, Post Malone, Paul Rudd, Natasia Demetriou, Hannibal Burgess, Maya Rudolph Rating: PG Running time: 1 hr, 39 min

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles return, rebooted and reinvigorated, for 'Mutant Mayhem'

Stephen Thompson

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is a fun and visually striking animated feature directed by Jeff Rowe. Paramount Pictures hide caption

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is a fun and visually striking animated feature directed by Jeff Rowe.

Rebooting a superhero origin story is a bit like serving up a prequel: We already have the gist of how we got here, so there'd better be a good story to tell along the way.

That's doubly true when the superheroes in question were already known as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a name that does a fair bit of narrative heavy lifting on its own. Any time spent showing how our heroes got to be mutants, ninjas, teenagers or turtles is likely to be time wasted, especially when they're on their seventh theatrically released movie, which is saying nothing of all the TV shows, toys and reams of comic books fans have experienced along the way.

Movie Reviews

Old shells, new 'turtles': tinkering with the insides of a famous franchise.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem , a fun and visually striking animated feature directed by Jeff Rowe (who worked on 2021's fantastic The Mitchells vs. the Machines ) and written by a committee that includes Seth Rogen, offers a full franchise reboot. Which means that too much of its early going gets dedicated to retelling the Turtles' origin story: There's a dastardly corporation that does genetic testing, a rogue scientist who steals the "ooze" that turns creatures into mutants, some misplaced ooze that slips into the sewers, and the four baby turtles who cross its path.

Soon, as the title of every TMNT project suggests, we catch up with them as teenagers Leonardo (Nicolas Cantu), Donatello (Micah Abbey), Michelangelo (Shamon Brown Jr.) and Raphael (Brady Noon). They've been raised by a worrywart mutant rat named Splinter (Jackie Chan), whose fretful-adoptive-father vibe should feel familiar to fans of the mighty Kung Fu Panda trilogy. Splinter raises the Turtles in a New York City sewer, teaches them self-defense and forbids them — with good reason — from interacting with the human world. But these are teenagers, and what they want more than anything is to be embraced by humankind. They dream of high school as they sneak into outdoor movie screenings and otherwise gaze wistfully at humans as they go about their lives.

Mikey, Donnie, Leo and Raph in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. Paramount Pictures. hide caption

Mikey, Donnie, Leo and Raph in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.

Soon, the Turtles' sewer-bound existence is upended when they encounter a high-schooler named April O'Neil (Ayo Edebiri from The Bear ), whom they unwittingly distract as a thief steals her moped. So they give chase, wind up in a lair full of criminals, use a whole bunch of those martial-arts skills and, ultimately, out themselves to April as, well, teenage mutant ninja turtles. They also wake up to a possible gateway to humanity's embrace: They could become superheroes, and possibly even save New York City from the pesky supervillain who's been stealing parts to build a massive bioweapon. (Isn't that always the way?)

That aforementioned supervillain would be Superfly (Ice Cube), a giant mutant housefly with a good point (humanity kinda sucks ... ), a bad plan ( ... so let's unleash a weapon to destroy and/or enslave them) and an army of mutant-animal sidekicks. These include TMNT staples such as Rocksteady (a rhino voiced by John Cena) and Bebop (a warthog voiced by Seth Rogen), among many others. But when our Turtle heroes confront the various villains, they face a fork in the road: Do they join up with bad guys who offer them a sense of mutant community (as seen in a funny bit of bonding at a bowling alley), or help out humans who'd break out the pitchforks if they so much as knew that teenage mutant ninja turtles existed?

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Illustrator Starts Drawing Off The Page, And On Bodies

Once the world-building and scene-setting are out of the way — and it really does take longer than it should — Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem fully takes flight. April O'Neil has taken many forms over the lifespan of the franchise (including a stretch in the Michael Bay reboots where she's played by Megan Fox), but she's smartly conceived here as a plucky high-schooler and aspiring journalist who's got her own journey to worry about. The Turtles themselves, voiced by actual teenagers, are similarly re-envisioned from their early incarnations as fratty catchphrase factories. And it can't be overstated how much juice Ice Cube gives Superfly, as a sort of mutant-housefly variation on Killmonger in the first Black Panther movie: He makes a meal of every line, as anyone who's heard him rap might expect.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem doesn't entirely hit its stride until it shifts into third-act resolution mode — an inversion of so many superhero origin stories, which can become rote as stuff gets flung into buildings — but it's consistently buoyed by its inventive and playful animation. Director Jeff Rowe has talked about a desire to make the film look like it was made by teenagers — to evoke youthful passion and intensity — and he pulls it off, making a film that's always visually in motion. At times, it resembles a kind of hand-drawn claymation; at other points, it evokes sketch books; collectively, it shares a fair bit of creative DNA with the Spider-Verse movies. The fight scenes feel particularly kinetic, thanks in part to a top-notch score (by Oscar winners Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross ) and needle drops that incorporate lots of '90s hip-hop (a smart touch given TMNT's place in that decade's history).

Whether or not Mutant Mayhem breaks through Barbenheimer 's sturdy hammerlock on the summer 2023 box office, it's sure to win over the franchise's fans. And if you've stayed away from TMNT over the years — whether because of "Cowabunga!" or " Ninja Rap " or Michael Bay or whatever — don't be afraid to break out your swords, shout something that sounds cool and leap back into the fray.

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Review: 'Mutant Mayhem' is the 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' movie we always dreamed of

Finally, a “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” movie that really earns a “Cowabunga!”

Since they became pop-culture touchstones in the late 1980s, Michelangelo, Donatello, Raphael and Leonardo – the pizza-loving youngsters, not the Renaissance artists – have starred in a mixed bag of movies and TV series. Particularly lackluster have been the live-action vehicles that have hit the big screen, from the bad 1990s films to the middling 2010s franchise .

Thankfully, the foursome is animated again but also enjoyably inspired, courtesy of the new action comedy “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” (★★★ out of four; rated PG; in theaters now), produced and co-written by Seth Rogen . Director Jeff Rowe (“The Mitchells vs. the Machines”) smartly casts actual teenagers as the main characters, makes them pop via a super-cool comic-book visual style and surrounds these familiar heroes in a half shell with a top-notch supporting cast.

Best of all, it's the kind of zippy, 99-minute adventure bound to satisfy kids and adults alike in the cinematic doldrums of August.

Fifteen years after swimming in some experimental mutagen ooze as baby turtles, Mikey (Shamon Brown Jr.), Donnie (Micah Abbey), Raph (Brady Noon) and Leo (Nicolas Cantu) live in the sewers with overprotective rat dad Splinter (Jackie Chan). They’ve learned martial arts through old karate tapes and YouTube videos, but because he distrusts humans, Splinter forbids his adopted sons from going above ground unless they’re on a grocery run.

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But the isolation, plus checking out the occasional drive-in movie (like “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”), leads the BTS-loving, kung fu-fighting turtles to dream of going to high school and being superheroes that the whole city will love. On one of their rare nights out, they meet aspiring teen journalist April O’Neil (Ayo Edebiri), who’s investigating a crime spree by the mysterious criminal Superfly that threatens her high school prom, and the turtles and April team up to help each other.

The turtles discover that Superfly is actually a mutated housefly (hilariously voiced by Ice Cube) and he runs with a gang of mutant animals. Our heroes' excitement that there are other folks like them in the world soon turns to dismay, however, when the youngsters discover the human-hating Superfly wants to unleash the ooze on a widespread scale and take over the world.

'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles': When does 'Mutant Mayhem' come out? Cast, trailer, what to know

“Mutant Mayhem” is pleasantly goofy, with secret conspiracies and a Godzilla-sized mutant monster terrorizing the Big Apple, and makes up for other forgettable “TMNT” incarnations by being clever with its humor and leaning into the mindset of adolescents. (What teen, turtle or human, doesn’t feel like an outsider or resent being kept from things by their parents?) But there’s a certain level of authenticity that the new movie taps into, much like the recent Tom Holland “Spider-Man” films, rather than being simply kid stuff.

And like the “Spider-Verse” movies, “Mayhem” embraces more stylized animation – reminiscent here of the original “Turtles” comics – that differentiates it from your average super-slick Pixar movie or even past “TMNT” projects. The look of the mutant animals is plenty spiffy, and Rowe went deep into the lore for his A-list voice crew: Rogen and John Cena play the duo of warthog Bebop and rhino Rocksteady, Rose Byrne is toothy Australian gator Leatherhead, Post Malone cameos as silky-singing manta Ray Fillet and Paul Rudd is the scene-stealing Mondo Gecko.

There is a strong nostalgia element with the turtles, considering they were akin to Batman and Superman for those who grew up in the 1980s and '90s. But chances are, most folks don’t know any of the actors voicing the main turtles, and that’s the special sauce in “Mutant Mayhem.” Comical Mikey, super-smart Donnie, hotheaded Raph and leader Leo exude an irrepressible youthfulness and playful spirit that appeal both to hardcore fans who grew up with the old movies (and that terrible Vanilla Ice song ) as well as the kids getting an intro thanks to the best "Turtles" outing in decades.

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem review: a charming reboot

“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem breathes new life into the fan-favorite franchise.”

• An extremely likable voice cast
• An eye-catching, unique animation style
• A refreshingly laidback attitude throughout
• A third act that gets too explosive for its own good
• Several disorienting action sequences
• An unnecessarily saccharine ending

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem takes the “teenage” part of its title extremely seriously. The new film, an animated, Into the Spider-Verse -inspired take on its iconic franchise, is the first big-screen TMNT effort that actually embraces its characters’ adolescent angst. It’s a refreshingly laidback blockbuster, one that isn’t afraid to spend several sustained minutes lettings its half-shell heroes do nothing more than joke around and have fun together. Anyone who goes into Mutant Mayhem expecting a serious samurai film will be sorely disappointed.

That is, for the most part, a good thing. The film, which was produced and co-written by Seth Rogen, is an unpretentious teen comedy that only ever seems tangentially interested in its action elements. The result is an animated romp through a decidedly modern version of New York that doesn’t ever slice and dice as cleanly as some longtime fans may want but still makes it uniquely easy to fall in love with its charming underground world of mutants and teenage longing. It’s the most endearing screen adventure in the TMNT franchise’s history and, like this summer’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse , is the rare piece of IP-driven entertainment that doesn’t wear out its welcome.

There’s a forgivable “yadda yadda yadda” quality to the opening minutes of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem . The film speeds through its clunky prologue, which re-establishes its heroes’ origin story, at such a manic pace that it isn’t long before its teenage turtles are running around on rooftops and watching outdoor movie screenings. Despite their similar senses of humor and shared immaturity, though, Mutant Mayhem effectively distinguishes and separates Leonardo (Nicolas Cantu), Michelangelo (Shamon Brown Jr.), Donatello (Micah Abbey), and Raphael (Brady Noon) from each other without solely relying on the different colors of their respective headbands.

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That’s thanks, in no small part, to the performances given by the film’s endlessly likable voice cast. Its four leads each bring their characters’ various eccentricities and neuroses to life with effortless humor and wit, and director Jeff Rowe surrounds them with actors who match and compliment their youthful energy. The Bear  star Ayo Edebiri makes a particularly lasting impression as April O’Neil, an aspiring journalist who ends up being the first human to befriend Mutant Mayhem ’s turtle heroes, while Paul Rudd steals more than a few scenes as Mondo Gecko, a skateboarding mutant who forms a quick friendship with Brown Jr.’s Michelangelo in the film’s second half. Other performers, like Jackie Chan and Rose Byrne, perfectly fit into their respective roles as Splinter and Leatherhead, respectively.

As charming as the movie’s supporting cast is, Mutant Mayhem never lets its focus wander too far away from its leads. In its engrossing, surprisingly melancholic first act, the film not only explores its heroes’ underground lives but also their collective yearning to go to school and be accepted by the humans that — at the stern instruction of Chan’s shut-in Splinter — they spend so much time hiding from. When Edibiri’s April tells them about New Yorkers’ growing fear of a mutant criminal known as Superfly (Ice Cube), Leo, Mikey, Donnie, and Raph decide to try to win over humanity’s affection by taking down Superfly with April’s help. In doing so, they eventually uncover Superfly’s plan to take over the Earth by turning every animal on the planet into humanoid mutants like them.

Mutant Mayhem loses itself a little in its third act when Superfly’s plan ends up reaching explosive heights that stand in stark contrast to the film’s otherwise scaled-down, lightly comedic tone and scope. Like a lot of contemporary blockbusters, the movie stretches its climactic set piece too far and tries to pack in too many character beats for its own good, most of which don’t land as well as those that occur throughout its first two acts. In any other movie, the missteps Mutant Mayhem makes in its final third might not be so apparent, but it’s a testament to how beautifully the film pulls off its quieter moments that so many of its loudest ones ultimately feel out of place.

The presence of Cynthia Utrom (Maya Rudolph), a paper-thin secondary villain, only makes the weaknesses of Mutant Mayhem ’s comic book storytelling elements all the more obvious. Her role in setting up the film’s inevitable sequel isn’t, however, nearly as frustrating or eye-roll-inducing as one might think. That’s due largely to how nonchalantly Mutant Mayhem handles its most comic book-y moments, all of which are unveiled so plainly that it’s impossible to take them too seriously. The film doesn’t feel the need to play up its many Easter eggs or references, which makes all of them considerably easier to swallow than they might have been otherwise.

It doesn’t hurt that Mutant Mayhem looks consistently stunning throughout its 99-minute runtime. While clearly indebted to the hand-drawn, comic book panel style of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse , Mutant Mayhem looks unlike any other mainstream animated film that has been released in recent memory. The film embraces a rough, punk rock animation style that turns its version of New York City into an eye-catching collage of grimy paint streaks, untidy sketch lines, and neon clouds of light. At times, its characters feel perfectly at home in its artistic visual world. In other instances, they look like stop-motion figures that have been dropped into its realm of 3D digital animation. It’s one of the most visually distinct and dynamic films that moviegoers will likely see this year.

In its attempt to capture a real, modern teen spirit, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem doesn’t pull everything off with flying colors. The film’s third-act issues aside, its endless pop culture references are only partly successful (a nod to Ferris Bueller’s Day Off works beautifully, a minor detour centered around The Hulk’s role in Avengers: Endgame  less so). Its pitch-perfect cast and undeniably striking animation style prevent the film’s flaws from outweighing its successes, though. The movie is an infectiously funny coming-of-age adventure that, more than anything else, manages to make the prospect of spending more time with its turtle heroes a genuinely welcome one. It’s nice, isn’t it, when a blockbuster actually reminds you why anyone fell in love with its characters in the first place?

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is now playing in theaters.

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In the last four decades, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have had six movies. But the upcoming seventh film, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, is the first movie to actually portray the TMNT as teenagers. Of course, this is a reboot, so forget everything you saw in the previous movies. In their latest incarnation, Leonardo (Nicolas Cantu), Donatello (Micah Abbey), Michelangelo (Shamon Brown Jr.), and Raphael (Brady Noon) may have been raised by Master Splinter (Jackie Chan), but they're clearly obsessed with social media. It's all they know about being kids, and it's no longer enough for them to hide in the sewers.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem | Official Trailer (2023 Movie) - Seth Rogen

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are back in the first teaser trailer for the new animated movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. The footage depicts the crimefighting turtles as teenagers trying to find their place in New York City.

Four young actors voice the four turtles: The Walking Dead: World Beyond's Nicolas Cantu (Leonardo), Cousins for Life's Micah Abbey (Donatello), The Chi's Shamon Brown Jr. (Michelangelo), and The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers' Brady Noon (Raphael).

Murder mysteries with a sense of humor are back in vogue lately, with projects like Knives Out, Death on the Nile, and Only Murders in the Building enjoying success as their protagonists -- sometimes brilliant, sometimes bumbling -- navigate cases crowded with colorful suspects. Given all of that positive buzz, you don't need a trail of clues to deduce why Confess, Fletch is reintroducing audiences to Irwin "Fletch" Fletcher, novelist Gregory Mcdonald's snarky, crime-solving investigative journalist.

Directed by Greg Mottola (Superbad, Adventureland) from a script he co-wrote with Zev Borow, and based on Mcdonald's 1976 novel of the same name, Confess, Fletch casts Jon Hamm as the titular tenacious reporter, who finds himself embroiled in yet another murder while investigating an international art theft. Hamm takes over the role from Chevy Chase, who portrayed Fletcher in the 1985 film Fletch and its 1989 sequel, Fletch Lives.

What it's like taking your son to see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem when you have always been a mega fan

perspective What it's like taking your son to see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem when you have always been a mega fan

When I took my young son to see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, we turned up early to the already early 10:30am session.

The cinema was smattered with young kids and other parents who also design their weekends around maximising the number of hours in a day.

My son wore a plastic turtle half shell on his back and a blue bandana over his eyes (Leonardo inspiring the leaders of tomorrow). I managed to talk him out of bringing his ninja sword, but he won the argument over the throwing disc.

We sat down on our oversized comfy seats, popcorn and token healthy snacks at hand. The new Paw Patrol movie trailer came on and he got excited.

This was only his third ever trip to the cinema.

Teenagers, mutant, ninja and they're turtles?

Growing up, there were two TV shows I loved above all others: The Transformers and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

I watched the shows, had the toys (not enough of them, I say), collected the trading cards (had the full set) and read the comics (but preferred the cartoons).

In the latter half of the 2000s, Michael Bay took it upon himself to revive both these franchises with big-budget, live-action adaptations — but somehow made them both darker and blander at the same time.

But Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem promised to be a departure. It would bring back the colour and the fun. It would emphasise the "Teenage" in the title. And it would be a cartoon once more.

There is a simple version of this story where I take my son to see the movie and we both love it so much and we have a great time bonding over the Turtles. We'll recall our favourite parts for the next few days and he will become a Turtles fan for life. The end.

But I couldn't completely give myself to this movie-going experience. I wanted to like the film so badly and I really wanted my son to like it, too.

I kept looking to check if he was enjoying himself. And every time I laughed I would question it: was that bit actually funny or was I just laughing loudly to convey to him (and perhaps to myself) that I was really having fun?

The origin story: 1990

Picture a young lanky boy, standing mouth agape in front of a large format poster on a comic book store window.

It depicts New York City at night, with skyscrapers towering over a half-open sewer manhole cover. And peeking from underneath are four green faces, each wearing a different coloured bandana over their face. Orange. Blue. Purple. Red. On the top of the poster are four words, in big capital letters: TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES.

These were pre-internet days when we found out about new movies from comic-book-store windows. And the idea that we were getting a live action Ninja Turtles movie was mind-blowing to kid me.

The original Turtles movie was great. Ignore the reviews. It's kinda my favourite movie, and I only say "kinda" for fear of public judgement. I still rewatch it every few years and it never disappoints.

Look, there are some things that haven't aged well.

If you watch it for the first time today, for instance, the first thing you might notice is the lips. The Turtles — played by sweaty people in animatronic rubber costumes — were the creation of the late, great puppeteer, Jim Henson. They look believable for their time, but to a generation used to seeing CGI, their lip movements leave a lot to be desired.

It's also cheesy in the way everyone thought all comic book/cartoon adaptations needed to be cheesy in that era, and there's some casual racism and gender stereotyping.

On the other hand, the fighting choreography is an entertaining mix of martial arts and slapstick comedy popularised by Jackie Chan and Hong Kong cinema of that era.

And for a movie built around puppets, it's got a strong emotional core and the chemistry between the turtles feels more real than many CGI films can manage today.

Then there's the theme song.

Turtle Power by Partners in Kryme (KRYME stands for Keep Rhythm Your Motivating Element, of course) is a supercharged motivational anthem in the tradition of other movie-based motivational anthems, such as Rocky's Eye of the Tiger and 8 Mile's Lose Yourself.

Take a listen for yourself.

Fast forward: 2023

On the way out of the cinema, another kid points out my son's turtle shell to his dad. He's wearing a Turtles T-shirt. The two kids acknowledge each other and exchange meek waves and hellos. Us dads acknowledge each other, too.

Overall, it was a good movie, but it did feel a little too deliberate to me — like they designed the film in a lab to please young kids and the people around the age group of their parents who grew up on the original cartoons.

But it was fun, funny, a little gnarly and had real heart: everything I could ask for in a Turtles adventure.

I loved the chemistry between these four turtles who acted like actual kids (for once). And the fight sequence played to No Diggity was a real moment. My son didn't get the significance of that song, so I tried to explain in the cinema how important that Blackstreet song was in the late 90s, but I didn't get anywhere.

My son also enjoyed the movie. He said he liked the bit where the turtles met the bad guys for the first time because it was funny, but he didn't like the scary bit at the end (spoilers). From the three movies he's seen at the cinema, he rates it below Super Mario Bros, but ahead of Disney's Elemental.

He also then said that he's looking forward to seeing the new PAW Patrol movie. Of course he is. PAW Patrol is to him what Ninja Turtles were to me.

You might think I'd be disappointed afterwards, considering how much I hyped up the movie going into it. But we both had a great morning seeing a fun movie. And it just made me want to rewatch the original again.

Right now, my son is a PAW Patrol kid and that's OK, too. Besides, I already got him onto Transformers. You should see how many bots he's got.

• X (formerly Twitter)

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem review – gloriously anarchic reboot

With its refreshingly glitchy animation style and superb hip-hop soundtrack, the reptilian superheroes’s latest outing is a fizzing treat

P erhaps it’s the Spider-Verse effect, but mainstream animation for kids seems to be going through a period of rare visual creativity. The latest revamp of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, directed by Jeff Rowe, is a case in point. The story is a fairly generic origin tale-meets-mutant-apocalypse: the turtles are chafing against the overprotective love of their humanoid-rat father figure, Master Splinter (voiced by Jackie Chan), but have yet to find a way to win the approval of the human world. The animation style, however, is gloriously anarchic: a scratchy, glitchy, scrawling onslaught that has more in common with the Biro’d graffiti on a high school bathroom door than it does with the immaculate 3D realism that has, until recently, been the norm for big-budget animation.

There’s a pleasing messiness to it all, a sense of barely controlled chaos that is matched by the jostling, overlapping voice performances. The nostalgic 80s and 90s hip-hop soundtrack is sublime, and while the action sequences can be hard to follow, there’s no faulting the film’s fizzing energy.

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

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Content Caution

In Theaters

• August 2, 2023
• Nicolas Cantu as Leonardo; Brady Noon as Raphael; Micah Abbey as Donatello; Shamon Brown Jr. as Michelangelo; Ayo Edebiri as April O’Neil; Jackie Chan as Master Splinter; Ice Cube as Superfly; Seth Rogan as Bebop; John Cena as Rocksteady; Natasia Demetriou as Wingnut; Paul Rudd as Mondo Gecko; Rose Byrne as Leatherhead; Giancarlo Esposito as Baxter Stockman; Maya Rudolph as Cynthia Utrom; Post Malone as Ray Fillet; Hannibal Buress as Genghis Frog

Home Release Date

• September 1, 2023
• Jeff Rowe; Kyler Spears

Distributor

• Paramount Pictures

Movie Review

“Humans are the demon scum of the earth; avoid them, don’t say ‘hi.’ They lust to murder that which is different from them; to interact with them is to die.”

That’s what Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo and Raphael, four mutant turtles, have been taught by their adoptive rat father, Master Splinter, as far back as they can remember. And yeah, he’s got good reason to think that: The few times he’s tried to peaceably reveal himself to the general public, they’ve chased Splinter off the street with attempts on his life. As it turns out, humans don’t take too well to mutant animals—which is why Master Splinter has trained the boys up in the art of ninjitsu.

That ominous, rhyming phrase kept the four brothers scared enough to stay in the sewers for a decade or so. But it’s been 15 years since that strange green ooze that fell into the sewer turned them into their humanoid forms. Despite the constant warnings, they’ve fallen in love with the human world. And more than anything, the quartet of teens wants to be accepted by it.

But then one day as the teens are goofing off during one of their secretive errands in the human world, they distract a girl named April when they unintentionally embed a ninja throwing star in her bike helmet. It distracts her long enough to let someone steal her bike. And that’s when the turtles spring into action, swiftly taking out a gang’s worth of criminals in order to return it to her.

Despite their turtle features, April’s not afraid of them.

“The reason I’m not scared of you is because you helped me,” she tells them. And that’s when the Ninja Turtles hatch an idea.

“What if everyone saw us as heroes?” Donatello wonders.

How will they manage that? It’ll be easy! They’ll just capture Superfly, the criminal mastermind behind a recent string of deadly thefts that has the city running scared. Once they turn him in, people will realize that the Turtles aren’t monsters—they’re heroes!

But hold your cowabungas , because there’s a problem: Superfly isn’t just the criminal’s name. It’s also a descriptor.

You see, Superfly is their mutant cousin.

Positive Elements

Mutant Mayhem is an animated coming-of-age origin story for the Turtles. Not only do they step into their collective crime-fighting role as a superhero team, but they also grow more confident individually.

Leonardo is the most responsible of the four, but it takes him some time to grow into his role as the group’s leader. He often compels the other Turtles to act when someone commits a crime (because a couple of them are more inclined to avoid conflict). Each Turtle brings his own unique attribute to a fight, and they work best when they work together.

Their heroism is ultimately realized in their fight against Superfly. The villain ultimately wants to kill as many people as he can and subjugate the rest. But even though the Turtles haven’t been treated well by humans, they still fight to protect them.

Superfly, we learn, wants to carry out his evil plan because humans violently rejected him when he attempted to peacefully assimilate into society. That’s exactly what happened to Master Splinter, who was chased off the street during his own attempt. The two characters are juxtaposed against each other. So when Master Splinter hears Superfly try to rationalize his actions using an argument that Master Splinter once used, he realizes that his overstrict protection of the Turtles has caused more harm than good.

Master Splinter voluntarily adopts the four Turtle boys and raises them as his own. April commits to helping the quartet become accepted by society. Plenty of people—both humans and mutants—risk their lives to protect others and stop evil.

Spiritual Elements

In order to instill fear of humanity into the Turtles, Master Splinter has forced the quartet to memorize a lesson, part of which states that “humans are the demon scum of the earth.” One Turtle thinks that an Adele concert was “transcendent.” After a fight, Superfly says, “See you in hell, Turtles.”

Sexual Content

When the Turtles enter a high school, they stop by a bulletin board. On it, we see multiple posters, including “LGBTQ+ History Month” and “Pride Awareness” flyers as well as a transgender flag. At an outdoor movie screening, two guys sharing popcorn look like they could be on a date together.

Master Splinter tells the Turtles that he checks every day to see if there are any mutant ladies around. Later, he meets a mutated cockroach woman whom he says he’s very attracted to, and he passionately kisses the cockroach woman.

When Leonardo first sees April, he is visibly struck by her beauty. One Turtle jokingly thinks “all of [Leonardo’s] hormones just kicked in at once.” On a couple of occasions, Michelangelo twerks. When we’re first introduced to the mutant warthog Bebop, the camera pans across his pierced nipples.

Part of Superfly’s plan to subjugate humanity includes “fat-booty boy races.” A running joke throughout the film is Master Splinter’s fear that if the humans catch them, they’re going to milk them. The Turtles object to this odd fear, pointing out that they don’t even have nipples.

Violent Content

Well, Master Splinter’s fears are realized: when the boys are captured by a human, they’re strapped to a “Mega Milker 2000.” We don’t see how the process works—they’re just strapped to the machine’s side—but they say that it hurts, and green ooze is extracted out of them.

Superfly has no qualms about killing people, and he succeeds in doing so at times. We’re told that he’s the cause of some “deadly thefts.” And at one point, he kills a few men in a van—we don’t see them die, but we hear their screams get cut off as the van violently shakes. Later, we’re told that Superfly did, in fact, kill them. He also recounts how he beat a man to the edge of death, and how he turned on his attackers and killed them.

We don’t see characters bleed, but they do get bruised in many fight scenes. Most adversaries seemingly get knocked out in those fights. The Turtles’ signature weapons, though some are sharp, tend to stun opponents rather than cut them (in keeping with the PG rating). However, after some chemicals explode, we’re told that it caused the death of a man, and plenty of other guards stay motionless on the ground, though it’s unclear if they’re dead or just unconscious. Also, though the man is likely intended to be unconscious, one attacker’s stun stick looks to be impaled in his face from the viewer’s angle. Someone’s leg is broken after being thrown through the air.

The Turtles get shocked severely, and Donatello is accidentally stuck with one of Raphael’s sai swords. Master Splinter’s non-mutant cockroach friend is stepped on and killed, and Master Splinter eats her. A mutated gecko’s severed tail is pulled from rubble, but the mutant runs off in the distance, saying it’s OK because his tail grows back.

Car chases result in crashes. Some mutants are thrown out the front windshield when a car slams on its brakes; they’re annoyed but otherwise unharmed. A baby Superfly attacks his father’s assailants, dragging them around a room and seemingly knocking them out.

[ Spoiler Warning ] Superfly gets transformed into a massive mutated amalgamation of animals, and he storms into the city like Godzilla, destroying countless buildings (presumably some with people inside).

Crude or Profane Language

We hear at least seven instances of “h—” and three of “d–n.” We also hear a couple uses of “crap” and “bloody,” as well as one use of “p-ss.” God’s name is used in vain at least 16 times. And, because this film is for kids, we’ll also point out some less crude language, such as “This sucks,” “dang” and “screw this up.”

Drug and Alcohol Content

A man chugs alcohol.

Other Negative Elements

The Turtles steal groceries. Because Leonardo wants to respect Master Splinter’s wishes, the other Turtles mock him, saying his head is “up dad’s butt.” An extended gag shows April vomiting due to stage fright. April comments on seeing a cockroach floating on a piece of excrement. A mutant frequently covers others with her goopy saliva.

The crime-fighting turtles are back. And as far as origin stories for these reptilian adolescent vigilantes go, Mutant Mayhem does fairly well. Prospective viewers won’t need prior knowledge of about these characters, who’ve been around for almost 40 years now. That makes this animated film a newbie-friendly entrance into the lore of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise.

There are other boons that help the film, too: The Turtles not only act like teens, but they’re also voiced by them as well. And their humorous crime-fighting banter is exactly how we’d imagine a group of somewhat reckless 15-year-old fighters to behave. We also get positive messages about standing up against evil on behalf of others—even when those others might still reject you after the fact. And the fact that it’s rated PG will certainly draw some families.

But that PG rating misleads a bit, too. It belies the film’s surprising quantity of crude language that many parents may not want their kids hearing. Some sexual content is played for jokes, and a couple violent moments can get pretty intense. (See the relevant sections for details.)

At times, Mutant Mayhem has some pretty dark moments (roughly comparable to a Spiderverse movie) that may frighten or upset young viewers. After all, hearing a creepy mutant horsefly declare his desire to devour a bunch of humans may cause the youngest in the family to hide in their shells.

But, then again, despite the film’s dark moments, I spoke with one parent at the prescreening whose 10-year-old boy described Mutant Mayhem as “cool” and didn’t think it was scary. And in terms of an overall story, Mutant Mayhem ’s is funny, enjoyable and bombastic.

So, where does that leave us with these crime-fighting teens? Well, I’d counsel caution here. I think Mutant Mayhem ’s PG rating might invite some families to let their guard down too much in terms of content. Because even though that 10-year-old thought the movie was cool, his father was, like me, a bit surprised by some of the darker moments, too.

With that in mind, while we’d always recommend reading our reviews before taking the family to a flick, that’s especially true here. Because although the Ninja Turtles might be fighting crimes on the street instead of in the sewer, there’s still a bit of stink that might surprise families.

Kennedy Unthank

Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”

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‘Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ Review: More Turtle Power

This continuation of the half-shelled foursome’s saga is rendered in snappy and brightly-colored animation.

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By Claire Shaffer

“Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie” won’t convert any new fans to the heroes in a half-shell, unless they’re under the age of 10. Still, it may pleasantly surprise parents looking for an afternoon cartoon movie to watch with their kids.

From Netflix and Nickelodeon, “Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” ties into the animated series of the same name, which ran for two seasons between 2018 and 2020. The four reptilian brothers — Leonardo (voiced by Ben Schwartz), Raphael (Omar Benson Miller), Donatello (Josh Brener) and Michelangelo (Brandon Mychal Smith) — have been given more distinctive character designs to better reflect their individual personalities.

April O’Neil (Kat Graham), formerly a redheaded television reporter (and, often, damsel-in-distress) in the 1980s cartoon, is now a Black university student with a more varied skill set for helping the turtles get out of a jam. Together with their rodent mentor Splinter (Eric Bauza), they face their biggest challenge yet when Leo’s future student Casey Jones (Haley Joel Osment) time-travels back to New York circa 2022 to ask the turtles’ help in defeating the Krang, a half-robotic alien species set on — what else? — taking over the world.

Directed by Ant Ward and Andy Suriano, the film keeps the plot streamlined to better focus on the swashbuckling action and heartfelt (if emotionally simplistic) relationship between the four turtles, particularly Leo and his overbearing older brother Raph. The animation style is snappy and brightly-colored, providing a nice change of pace from the slate-colored blockbusters currently dominating theater screens. And there’s even some good humor to be found here, including a few location-specific jokes that’ll make New Yorkers chuckle. All in all, “Rise” is as dependable as a Manhattan slice: not mind-blowing in the slightest, but just delightfully cheesy enough to keep kids and adults alike satisfied.

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 22 minutes. Watch on Netflix.

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'Turtles All The Way Down' Is A Moving Portrayal Of Life With A Mental Illness

Guest Writer

Molly Turpin first read John Green ’s young adult novel, “ Turtles All the Way Down ,” in 2018 when she was in an inpatient psych ward for treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder. It was an emotional read because of how strongly she related to the novel’s protagonist, Aza, and her struggles with OCD and anxiety.

“[I] was so moved by John Green’s portrayal of OCD because it was the most accurate portrayal I’ve seen in media,” Turpin, now 27, said.

For many fans, like Turpin, Green’s novel feels personal. Whether they have a mental illness themselves or love someone with one, Aza’s story makes them feel seen and understood. This sentiment isn’t unique to “Turtles All the Way Down.” Green is known for writing stories — including “Looking for Alaska” and “The Fault in Our Stars” — about young adult characters grappling with a very specific scenario. In “Turtles All the Way Down,” Aza is searching for a missing billionaire who happens to be the dad of her crush, which ultimately leads to an internal revelation that touches at the very core of what it means to be human and to grow up. The love people have for these coming-of-age stories has resulted in a passionate fan base of readers who see themselves in the grace that Green’s books offer.

This is especially true for fans of “Turtles All the Way Down,” with many pointing to the text as a key event in their mental health journeys. The deep attachment those fans have felt to the book has increased expectations for its new movie adaptation, which is directed by Hannah Marks from a screenplay by Elizabeth Berger and Isaac Aptaker and stars Isabela Merced as Aza. But can the movie really be as good as the book? Can it do justice to Aza and every reader who has felt like her or loved someone like her?

The overwhelming consensus from fans is yes. The “Turtles All the Way Down” movie is a moving, accurate portrayal of what it feels like to live with a mental illness.

Shannon Parry was diagnosed with OCD in the second grade. Like Turpin, Parry, now 34, was really struggling when she first read “Turtles All the Way Down.” In 2017, she was in therapy, and she credits Green’s novel with helping her as much as therapy did.

“ It was a matter of understanding that there were people out there in the world [like me] and [giving] me a language to be able to describe my OCD to the people around me,” Parry said.

A large reason for that was the imagery and language that Green uses in the book to describe Aza’s thought spirals, which are a series of negative thoughts, feelings or actions that can escalate and become overwhelming.

The trademark orange spiral on the cover, the allusion to a Raymond Pettibon painting of a spiral and the descriptions of Aza’s illogical but inescapable thought patterns all helped Parry.

“I was able to describe thought spirals and point to certain imagery in the book and say that is what it feels like when I’m going down a thought spiral or I can’t get out of a series of thoughts,” Parry said.

Patrick McGrath , the chief clinical officer for NOCD , an online platform that Green is partnering with because of its commitment to make exposure and response prevention therapy (the gold standard of OCD treatment) more accessible, said that everyone has intrusive thoughts, images or urges that interrupt their daily lives.

For example, everyone could drive over a bridge and think to themselves, “I wonder what would happen if I drove off of it,” but “ the difference between people with and without OCD is that people without OCD can go, ‘Oh, that was weird’ and move on, and people with OCD can get caught in a thought spiral ... then they do some kind of compulsion … to neutralize the intrusive thought or image,” McGrath said. He said this compulsion makes people with OCD feel safe, and they think that if they had not done that neutralization, something terrible would have happened.

In “Turtles All the Way Down,” Aza’s intrusive thoughts are usually about germs, bacteria and her microbiome because she is terrified of getting an infection and dying. One of the ways she neutralizes this obsession is by fixating on the calloused pad of her finger: putting a band-aid on it, picking at it until it bleeds and cleaning it with soap or hand sanitizer.

When Parry first saw Aza’s flashing, interrupting thoughts about microbes in the movie trailer for “Turtles All the Way Down,” she cried. On May 2, the day the film was released on Max, she woke up in the middle of the night to watch it and cried again.

“The scene where I knew this movie fully understood and represented me was the first time Aza thought spirals about her cut,” Parry said. “The way the germs flash and she can’t stop thinking about the bandage. I go through something similar with my dermatillomania, or skin picking.”

Because most depictions of OCD focus on people’s compulsions, McGrath, who has seen the film twice, believes it is especially important that the movie shows “the mental stuff” because “finally people will understand that internal torture that occurs with obsessive-compulsive disorder.”

Kayla Miller, a 21-year-old college senior living in Indianapolis (where the film takes place), doesn’t have a mental illness herself, but she also thinks the movie can help people understand the challenges of supporting someone with one. She appreciates the way it shows Aza’s complicated relationships with Daisy (Cree), her best friend, Davis (Felix Mallard), her crush, and her mom (Judy Reyes).

“People are affected by the mental and physical health of others that they love, too,” Miller said. She found the film to be affirming of the experiences that she’s been through with family members who deal with depression, anxiety and addiction.

Parry said the book helped her parents “to understand in a very tangible way how I experience the world” and thinks the movie can do the same. As soon as she finished watching it, she tweeted, “…Texted my parents that, though my OCD is different than Aza’s, they should watch the movie to understand how I experience OCD.” Shortly after posting, Green retweeted her, saying, “This is our dream for the movie — that it can help not only people feel seen but also be a window for those who love and support people living with OCD and/or anxiety. (Plus, it’s funny.)”

When Green retweeted Parry, she felt like it made her leap to be vulnerable — she wouldn’t normally tweet something like that — worth it. It also emphasized that while the book and movie are a form of entertainment, they are also part of a bigger movement that Green has led to destigmatize mental illness.

Green has been very open about his own struggles with OCD and how a particularly rough period in his life inspired “Turtles All the Way Down.” Every fan interviewed for this article referenced Green’s openness about his mental health, saying it was inspiring and a contributing factor in why they were comfortable sharing their stories for this piece. And all of them hope that, like Green, they can use their experiences to help others know they aren’t alone and work to normalize broader conversations about mental illness.

This is the reason that Ellie Bridges Greenfield read “Turtles All the Way Down” in the first place. It was a summer reading assignment before her sophomore year of high school, included as part of a larger initiative to destigmatize mental illness. When she first read the book, Greenfield didn’t know about her own mental health issues. She could empathize with Aza, but she couldn’t understand her yet. It wasn’t until a few years later, during her first year of college, that Greenfield received a diagnosis of anxiety and began therapy, leading to her empathizing with Aza more deeply.

Like Aza, Greenfield feels like she is still at the beginning of a long journey. Her symptoms have been worse this spring, and she just started medication for the first time. She hasn’t even told her closest family or friends how bad things have been because she’s still learning to accept and manage her anxiety for herself.

For some, like Greenfield, the movie wasn’t an enjoyable watch because the thought spirals were triggering. While she thought it did a good job of depicting what it’s like to have a thought spiral, she was uncomfortable during those scenes because she knows how upsetting it is to experience something like that.

Although Greenfield thinks she will only watch “Turtles All the Way Down” once, she appreciates how hopeful its ending is.

“There is this element of acceptance that we see at the end of the movie that I think is so true,” she said. “Your thoughts are there, but they don’t control you ... and that’s something I always have to remind myself. At the end of the day, I have to remember I have mental authority.”

Without spoiling anything, the ending doesn’t downplay or sugarcoat Aza’s reality as someone with OCD or the challenges it may pose for her in the future. Instead, it reflects something McGrath hopes his patients can learn: mental illness will always be a “constant companion” for the rest of your life, but you can learn to live with it and it can be managed.

The final scene was also Turpin’s favorite part of the movie.

“[When] Daisy is telling Aza that she can be successful and she can build her life, and there will be times when it will be unbuilt but she’ll build it back up … I have found that is accurate in my own life,” she said.

Miller also loves the movie ending with this lesson, finding it hopeful and applicable to everyone — whether they have a mental illness or are supporting someone through one.

She also thinks the film, like the book, is comforting, saying that it’s “a safe place to land, to know that you’re going to struggle and you are going to face some hard things, but in the end there is still love, hope and people to support you through that.”

For these fans, the “Turtles All the Way Down” movie successfully captures the lived realities of being a teen and having a mental illness. But, most importantly, it is a testament to the larger impact of Green’s openness surrounding his own journey with OCD and anxiety.

For Parry, Green has created a world “where it is OK to do something like have an interview like this and share about your own mental health, and it’s OK to have OCD [and be a] skin picker. It doesn’t make you less than or unworthy … and that in fact, by coming forward, you’re probably helping someone else.”

Taken this way, “Turtles All the Way Down” begins to take on a new meaning. Maybe intrusive thoughts and anxieties do beget another turtle that’s sitting on the back of another turtle to create an infinite spiral. But maybe the way the movie and Green’s personal experience inspire fans to share their stories has a similar impact. Maybe self-acceptance and honesty can beget turtles all the way down, too.

“Turtles All The Way Down” is streaming on Max.

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Teenage mutant ninja turtles, common sense media reviewers.

Reboot offers impressive action, distracting innuendo.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Teamwork and brotherhood are paramount to the stor

Master Splinter is a wonderful father figure to th

Written and directed by four White men, the film c

Flashback to a fire that kills a scientist and nea

April is frequently ogled and sexualized (for more

Insults include "freak," "idiot," "jackass," "stup

Featured brands include Skype, YouTube, Victoria's

Adults briefly drink at a dinner gala.

Parents need to know that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is an edgier live-action take on the legendary talking reptiles who emerge from the New York sewers to defend the city. The sometimes-explosive violence includes a lot of weapons fighting, especially with the Turtle heroes' franchise weapons of the katana…

Positive Messages

Teamwork and brotherhood are paramount to the story of the Turtles, who love and protect one another even though they don't always agree and occasionally fight.

Positive Role Models

Master Splinter is a wonderful father figure to the four Turtles, and he'll do anything to protect and defend his "sons." The four Ninja Turtles are young and occasionally misguided, but they also want to be brave, help one another, and defend the city against Shredder. April O'Neil is brave and believes in herself, even when no one else does. Villains like Shredder, Sacks, and the Foot Clan are two-dimensionally evil.

Diverse Representations

Written and directed by four White men, the film casts main characters (the Turtles, April, and villain Sacks) with mostly White actors, but Splinter is played by Lebanese-Maronite American Tony Shalhoub. Secondary villains Shredder and his right-hand woman, Karai, are Japanese, played by Japanese Americans Tohoru Masamune and Minae Noji, respectively. The film exotifies Japanese culture: April refers to the common word "家" (meaning "house") as "an ancient Japanese symbol," and having Splinter referred to as sensei -- and the Turtles using ninjutsu -- feels gimmicky when they're all voiced by non-Asian actors. Lack of cultural authenticity is emphasized by Japanese language dialogue being spoken with unconvincing accents. On the plus side, April is a brave and compassionate journalist with plenty of screen time. But she's tokenized as the only female character among a male ensemble and objectified by Michelangelo and Vern (they refer to her as "hot chick," "pretty girl," call "dibs," and say "she's so hot I can feel my shell tightening"). In a minor role, Black actor Whoopi Goldberg plays April's dismissive boss, who fires her.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

Flashback to a fire that kills a scientist and nearly kills the Turtles and Splinter. Battles leave people injured and possibly unconscious but not necessarily dead. Buildings and cars explode. A deadly toxin is nearly released into the city. Characters are tortured and bled by tubes until rescue arrives. Main characters are under constant peril; some moments temporarily make it seem like they've died -- e.g., falling off a cliff (no one is ever seriously injured). Villains carry and shoot guns, never hitting anyone. Male characters leer at April and use sexually aggressive language to describe her, sometimes to her face: "She's so hot I can feel my shell tightening," "hot chick," "pretty girl." A character calls "dibs" on her. Vern constantly comes on to April though she never reciprocates; during a life-and-death situation, he still finds time to stare at her butt.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

April is frequently ogled and sexualized (for more details, see Violence & Scariness). The Turtles climb a Victoria's Secret billboard; to avoid being seen, they attach themselves to the sign right over the model's bra and hang on, one Turtle on each breast -- they giggle at each other.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Insults include "freak," "idiot," "jackass," "stupid," "shut up," etc. Sexual innuendo such as "she's so hot I can feel my shell tightening."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Featured brands include Skype, YouTube, Victoria's Secret, Dunkin' Donuts, Toshiba, and Ford. The New York Police Department is referenced in the plot a few times. Characters make pop culture nods to Batman and the TV show Lost , dance to a music video of Gwen Stefani's "Hollaback Girl," and lovingly eat Pizza Hut (Splinter entices the Turtles by describing its cheese ingredients). There's also a huge merchandise campaign to tie in the Turtles with toys, video games, home decor, apparel, books, and more. Celebrity trainer Harley Pasternak briefly appears early in the film.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

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Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is an edgier live-action take on the legendary talking reptiles who emerge from the New York sewers to defend the city. The sometimes-explosive violence includes a lot of weapons fighting, especially with the Turtle heroes' franchise weapons of the katana, bo staff, nunchakus, and sai. Villains carry and shoot guns (no one is ever shot), there's a flashback to a devastating fire, and characters get tortured and frequently come close to death. Insults include "freak," "stupid," and "idiot," plus several sexual comments about April O'Neil ( Megan Fox ). (Characters call her a "hot chick" and "pretty girl," one Turtle jokes that his "shell is tightening" around her, and another man leers at her butt.) There's tons of tie-in merchandise for this popular franchise, as well as references to brands like Pizza Hut, Dunkin' Donuts, Victoria's Secret, and more. There isn't much diversity: Filmmakers are all White men, main characters are played by nearly all White voice actors, and Japanese culture is exotified. But April does make for a positive role model as a brave and compassionate journalist, and the Turtles care about teamwork and brotherhood in their fight against evil. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Community Reviews

• Parents say (27)
• Kids say (57)

Based on 27 parent reviews

Not the right rating. Should be rated PG 13 at least.

Not for young kids, what's the story.

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES -- yet another incarnation of the legendary sewer-dwelling, pizza-loving reptiles -- takes place in New York City, where a crime wave is unleashed by the evil Shredder (Tohoru Masamune) and his gang of baddies, the Foot Clan. Investigating a mysterious vigilante standing up to the Foot Clan, TV reporter April O'Neil ( Megan Fox ) runs into not one crime fighter but four: masked talking turtles named Leonardo (performed by Pete Ploszek, voiced by Johnny Knoxville ), Michelangelo (Noel Fisher), Donatello (Jeremy Howard), and Raphael ( Alan Ritchson ). At first, they make April faint, but later they remind her of an old lab experiment conducted by her dead father and Eric Sacks ( William Fichtner ), a well-known scientist in the city. As April connects the dots, she agrees to help the Turtles (and break a story about the underground heroes), but they all fall prey to Shredder's master plan to control the city. The only way to save New York is to work together.

Is It Any Good?

Tweens and teens are likely to enjoy this fun live-action reboot. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles combines producer Michael Bay 's signature explosive thrills (and obsession with objectifying Fox ) with the realistic Turtles, thanks to Industrial Light & Magic's performance-capture technology (similar to WETA's tech for Rise of the Planet of the Apes ). Younger viewers are unlikely to quibble or care about the various ridiculous plot points or unintentionally funny one-liners -- or the many ways that April is reduced from an all-around awesome character to the object of lust for both the Turtles (specifically Mikey) and her trusted cameraman, Vern ( Will Arnett ).

But adults may wonder what the point is of rebooting this franchise for a younger generation when the animated series is still popular on television and the movie focuses so much more on April's "hotness" than on the funny, sweet relationship between the four Renaissance-named brothers. Sure, there's just enough about the Turtles to get that Mikey's the one who's got a crush on April, and Donnie's the smart one who can hack or fix or engineer any piece of electronics, but there's no real soul in this installment. Still, the action scenes are cool enough, and the Turtles' movements are fun to watch. And maybe that's enough. But a "totally tubular" reboot this isn't, and it's sad how much of it relies on April being a babe.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the popularity of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series. Do you think you have to watch the show or be familiar with the comics to fully appreciate the movie? What are some comparisons?

Who is the movie's intended audience? Is it today's kids (and, if so, what age group?), or grown-ups who were kids when the toys were first popular in the 1980s?

Why do you think male characters talk about April in a sexual way so frequently? Is it funny, or unnecessary? Is April more than her looks?

How do the characters in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles demonstrate teamwork ? Why is this an important character strength ?

If you aren't familiar with the TV show or the comics, does the movie make you want to check them out?

Movie Details

• In theaters : August 8, 2014
• On DVD or streaming : December 16, 2014
• Cast : Megan Fox , Will Arnett , William Fichtner
• Director : Jonathan Liebesman
• Inclusion Information : Female actors, Bisexual actors
• Studio : Paramount Pictures
• Genre : Action/Adventure
• Topics : Sports and Martial Arts , Superheroes
• Character Strengths : Teamwork
• Run time : 101 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG-13
• MPAA explanation : sci-fi action violence
• Last updated : October 4, 2023

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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TMNT Just Found the Perfect Way to Reinvent Raphael (Better Than Being the Last Ronin)

• Raphael is reinvented in a new gritty storyline, starting in prison, with more narrative potential than if he were the Last Ronin.
• The Last Ronin focuses on sorrow, while Raphael's rage and fight for survival in prison make for a thrilling story.
• Raphael's character shines best when faced with adversity, making his prison storyline a perfect fit for the new dark and gritty TMNT era.

Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Vol. 2 #1! The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are on the precipice of a total overhaul, with the Road to 150 having come to a close. The next time readers see the Turtles in action, they will be helmed by writer Jason Aaron, who promises to bring the Turtles back to their gritty roots. And it’s in that vein that TMNT just found the perfect way to reinvent Raphael for this new chapter in Turtles lore - and it will be better than if Raphael had been the Last Ronin .

In a preview shared by The Hollywood Reporter for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 by Jason Aaron and Joëlle Jones (which will be a Raphael solo adventure), readers are shown where Raphael ended up after riding away from his family on his motorcycle in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #144. As it turns out, Raphael somehow landed himself in prison . But not just that, Raphael is the only mutant in a totally human prison, meaning he has a massive target on his back.

The preview isn’t colored and has no dialogue/narration, but Jones’ artwork truly does speak for itself, and what it says is viciously hardcore. The preview shows Raphael getting mean glares from practically everyone around him as he’s trying to eat his lunch, before cutting to a scene where Raph is lying down in his prison cell only to be disturbed by something that isn’t shown on-panel. The preview ends with Raphael back in the sewers, presumably after a prison escape, where he fights some of his fellow inmates that try to attack him.

Putting Raphael in Prison Offers Way More Narrative Potential than the Apocalypse

When there was still a shroud of mystery surrounding the identity of the one surviving Turtle that became the Last Ronin, fans speculated that it was Raphael. At the time, it made sense - and still does - as Raphael is famously the most hardcore out of his brothers, and would seemingly thrive in a post-apocalyptic landscape. While the story ended up being infinitely better with Michelangelo as the Last Ronin (as it showed how far even a ‘party dude’ like him could fall), there are still some fans out there that wish it had been Raphael - but now, there needn’t be.

Throwing Raphael into an all-new solo story that starts with him in prison offers far more narrative potential than if he were the Last Ronin. Raphael is filled with rage, and his standoffish personality makes him perfect for a storyline where he’s being targeted by dangerous criminals while locked up in prison. Raphael’s been fighting his whole life, and now he’s in a situation where he has to fight for his life every second of every day - and that is the perfect starting point for this new ‘dark and gritty’ TMNT era.

While it may seem like the same would be true if Raphael was the Last Ronin, nothing could be further from the truth, and The Last Ronin itself confirms why.

Raphael Can Thrive in a Story That Taps Into His Rage, & That Isnt The Last Ronin

The Last Ronin may have moments of elevated violence and brutal action, but at its core, The Last Ronin isn’t filled with gritty rage, but utter sorrow. The Last Ronin was a sad, lonely tale that had action in it, sure, but the violence was hollow, not exciting. When Michelangelo killed his enemies, his brothers were still dead, and his world was still ruined. He even died as a result of his quest for vengeance, leaving an emptiness in readers’ hearts, knowing that they were saying goodbye to the last of the original Turtles in such a tragic way.

Michelangelo being the Last Ronin added to the tragedy of the entire story due to the contrast between his character in the main continuity and what he became. Raphael would have been wasted in that role, as he’s at his best when his back’s against the wall, not when he’s thrown into a pit of untold despair. And that’s exactly how fans are about to see him at the start of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ’ new era, as the series just found the perfect way to reinvent Raphael that is way better than if he was the Last Ronin.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a 1987 animated series based on the characters from the comic series and centers on a group of teenage anthropomorphic turtle brothers who fight crime in New York City. Joined by allies such as reporter April O' Neil and their master, Splinter, the Turtles battle against the likes of Bebop, Rocksteady, and their ultimate nemesis, Shredder.

Screen Rant

Tmnt: michelangelo is a famous tv star in new ninja turtle relaunch (exclusive).

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"It's an Endlessly Malleable Property": Why TMNT Is Still Relevant After 40 Years, Explained by Its New Creative Team

Tmnt just found the perfect way to reinvent raphael (better than being the last ronin), into the turtle-verse: tmnt's cartoon & comics versions unite in official multiversal crossover.

• Screen Rant is pleased to share an exclusive first look at the synopsis for IDW's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #2, along with some first look cover art from a collection of all-star creators.
• The latest Ninja Turtles ongoing series, written by Jason Aaron, starts with the brothers separated, with each of the first four issues acclimating readers to the characters' new status quos – including Michelangelo's unexpected role as a television star.
• After starring in the gritty alternate timeline story The Last Ronin , Michelangelo – who was previously the traditional comic relief among the four brothers – continues to be pushed in fresh new directions with the latest TMNT comic series.

The start of the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles relaunch will position Michelangelo in an unexpected role, establishing him as a TV star who has left his escapades as a ninja – and his brothers – behind . IDW's new Ninja Turtles series, by writer Jason Aaron, is set to bring some new, unexpected dynamics to the franchise, as revealed by the solicitation for early issues.

Screen Rant is pleased to share an exclusive first look at covers for the second issue of the relaunch from series artist Rafael Albuqueque, as well as Geoff Shaw and J. Gonzo. Fans will be thrilled to know that Ninja Turtles co-creator Kevin Eastman is also contributing a variant cover for the debut issue, which will be revealed closer to the release. Danny Earls, Darick Robertson, and Dike Ruan will also produce limited edition variants for the issue.

The pre-order for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #2 is July 29, 2024. The issue will be released on September 11, 2024.

A new era for TMNT comics has arrived, bringing with it a slew of exciting new ideas, and a roster of some of the most talented creators in the comic book industry, ready to realize the full potential of the franchise on the page.

The latest Ninja Turtles ongoing series promises major changes for its iconic characters, and already the advanced material for the series has prompted a great deal of intrigue and anticipation among readers – especially with the revelation of what Michelangelo is up to at the beginning of the story.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have maintained their relevance in pop culture for 40 years, and its latest creative team recently explained why.

IDW's "Ninja Turtles" Takes Michelangelo On Another Unexpected Journey

From last ronin to celebrity status.

Famously, "Mikey" was the protagonist of the gritty Last Ronin series, a storyline that was pivotal to ushering in the contemporary era of Ninja Turtles comics, which the new ongoing series will build on in unique, exciting ways.

According to IDW's synopsis for the issue:

Michelangelo is living in Tokyo, where he’s become a big TV star. It’s a pretty cool life, full of fame and fortune, but if he’s being honest, Mikey misses his brothers and the sense of purpose they had together. Well, in a classic case of “be careful what you wish for,” that old life looks like it’s coming to find him when ninjas show up in his apartment armed to the teeth! Continuing the all-new ongoing series from writer Jason Aaron ( Action Comics, Thor ), this time joined by Detective Comics and American Vampire artist Rafael Albuquerque, this spotlight story on everyone’s favorite jokester puts the second piece of the puzzle together for the future of TMNT.

This builds on what fans already know about Jason Aaron's TMNT relaunch – that each of the first four issues will reintroduce the individual brothers, before bringing them together once more as the heroic, and often hilarious, hero team they are destined to be. As the synopsis for the new series' debut issue put it: " The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have all left New York to pursue their own interests, but there are forces gathering that will pull them back together. "

While the first issue will focus on Raphael, the second will catch readers up with Michelangelo, who has once more been thrust into an unexpected role . Famously, "Mikey" was the protagonist of the gritty Last Ronin series, a storyline that was pivotal to ushering in the contemporary era of Ninja Turtles comics, which the new ongoing series will build on in unique, exciting ways. That includes a very different arc for Michelangelo. Readers can only speculate, for now, what leads to the separation of the Turtle brothers, and how Mikey ends up as a TV star.

Jason Aaron and the creative team behind IDW's latest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ongoing series have the opportunity to strike the ideal [character] balance for Michelangelo.

The "Turtles" Relaunch Can Find The Perfect Balance For Michelangelo

Teenage mutant ninja turtles #2 – written by jason aaron; art by rafael albuquerque; color by marcelo maiolo.

For much of the character's history, Michaelangelo functioned as Ninja Turtles ' primary comic relief. The Last Ronin recast him as a brutal warrior on an unrelenting quest for vengeance. Now, Jason Aaron and the creative team behind IDW's latest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ongoing series have the opportunity to strike the ideal balance for the character, landing him in the 'Goldilocks zone' between the two extremes of his comical nature and his capacity for violence. Based on the teases released so far, the latest incarnation of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles seems poised to take the franchise to new heights.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 will be available September 11, 2024 from IDW.

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) is a multi-media franchise that began with Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird’s comics in the 1980s. Throughout the years, their comic books expanded to movies, TV shows, video games, and toys. Most notably, the animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ran for nearly a decade and has become a nostalgic staple of the ‘80s and ‘90s. Several other movies have featured the four anthropomorphic turtle brothers (Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael), including the trilogy of live-action films in the ‘90s and the more recent movies Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and its sequel Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows.

Failed TMNT Movie Franchise Gets Official Sequel

in Movies & TV

A failed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) film series has been given a new sequel.

When someone says “TMNT film series,” it’s impossible to know which one they might be talking about. The original live-action series that’s made up of three movies? The 2014 Michael Bay-produced reboot and its 2016 sequel? Or the brand-new Mutant Mayhem series? Over the decades, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have been no strangers to the silver screen, but they span all forms of media, including, of course, comic books.

Earlier this year, IDW renewed its licensing deal with Paramount to continue releasing “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” comic books . So, as part of the TMNT franchise’s 40th anniversary this year, several new stories are underway, with Marvel Comics and DC Comics writer Jason Aaron spearheading the launch , taking over from Sophie Campbell following her exit after “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Road to 150” (2024), the 150th issue in the IDW run.

Now, we can expect several new “individual” comics featuring our favorite half-shell heroes, Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael, with stories Aaron previously described as “grungy and raw,” harkening back to the early days of TMNT comics in the ’80s when co-creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird were creating them under Mirage Comics. And among the new run is an ongoing series titled “TMNT: Nightwatcher” (2024).

Related: R-Rated ‘TMNT’ Movie Everything We Know: Plot, Cast, Trailer, Release Date, and More

What Is “TMNT: Nightwatcher” About?

Any diehard TMNT fan will recall the “Nightwatcher” persona from the IMAGI Studios 3D-animated theatrical film TMNT (2007) in which Raphael becomes the metal-clad vigilante after he and his four brothers have gone their separate ways and “the world’s most fearsome fighting team” is no more. Eager to continue battling New York City criminals, Raphael creates the anti-hero alias but winds up locking blades with his own brother, Leonardo, over it.

While TMNT has become something of a cult classic within the fandom, it received mixed reviews from critics at the time and grossed only $95.6M worldwide against its $34M budget. Though sequels were planned, when Nickelodeon acquired the TMNT franchise in 2009, they were canceled in favor of a new series of live-action films, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016).

But after Out of the Shadows bombed at the box office ($245.6M over $135M), the Michael Bay-produced series was canceled, too, and TMNT has now reverted to 3D animation with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023) , which grossed $180.5M worldwide against $70M last year. Several Mutant Mayhem sequels are now in development , and there’s also a live-action R-rated movie adaptation of the popular IDW comic book series “The Last Ronin” (2020) in the works.

So it’s fair to say that 2007’s TMNT is well and truly buried in the past beneath what will soon be three   Ninja Turtles film series (the Michael Bay movies, Mutant Mayhem , and The Last Ronin ). However, “TMNT: Nightwatcher” acts as a sequel of sorts to TMNT (2007), reintroducing the titular vigilante but this time with their identity shrouded in mystery.

Related: Will One of These Actresses Play April O’Neil In the Live-Action ‘Ninja Turtles’ Reboot?!

By the end of the 2007 film, the Ninja Turtles are reestablished and Raphael abandons his solo vigilantism, so in the “Nightwatcher” comics, we don’t know who’s behind the mask.

The fact it’s being kept a mystery suggests it’s another Turtle this time. But who? Leonardo, Donatello, or Michelangelo? It’s unlikely to be Mikey because he has his own series of comics with “The Last Ronin,” but there are other Turtle characters besides the iconic four .

There’s Slash, Venus de Milo, Jennika, Odyn, Yi, Moja, Uno, and Donatello’s daughter Lita . Who’s the new Nightwatcher? We’ll just have to wait and see.

Here’s the description for the first issue of “TMNT: Nightwatcher”:

“After making a dark debut in the Free Comic Book Day special, fans have one burning question: Who is the Nightwatcher? Violence and discrimination against mutants is running wild, and a new vigilante will rise up to combat it… but who is this fearsome armored fighter standing bravely against the criminals who wish to harm mutants? From the brilliant mind of writer Juni Ba and astonishing artist Fero Pe comes an action-packed ongoing series that spins out of the pages of TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES to delve into the grim reality of New York City after the Mutagen Bomb and unveil the secrets behind the mask.”

“TMNT: Nightwatcher” #1 is written by Juni Ba, illustrated by Pe, colored by Luis Antonio Delago, and lettered by Nathan Widick.

In a recent interview with SuperHeroHype , Ba said of the new series, “With Mutant Town being exposed to the larger world, there’s a greater need for this burgeoning new kind of people to have someone who can help them against a world that would use or discard them. And that’s what Nightwatcher could be. Part vigilante, part folk hero. I’m excited for you to see this character distribute helping hands and bruised-up fists!”

SuperHeroHype has shared an exclusive look at two new variant covers for the comic book from Jon Lankry and Eric Talbot.

“TMNT: Nightwatcher” #1 releases on August 14, 2024 with a preorder deadline of July 8, 2024.

Will you be picking up “TMNT: Nightwatcher”? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!

‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ Get Deluxe Animated Series Set From Mezco Toyz

The heroes in a halfshell are celebrating their 40th anniversary this year.

The Big Picture

• Celebrate 40 years of TMNT with Mezco Toyz Deluxe Animated Series set.
• The TMNT franchise continues to evolve with new films, TV series, and merchandise.
• Don't miss out on the TMNT figures with 28 points of articulation and Turtle-Power accessories.

When it comes to pop culture, there are few franchises as recognizable as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles . 2024 marks the 40th anniversary of the comic book series which would be turned into the iconic 1987 animated series that defined the word “Cowabunga” for a whole generation of kids. Now, to celebrate the series that turned the Turtles into a household name, Mezco Toyz has unveiled their new Deluxe TMNT animated series set .

The One:12 Collective set features all four turtles; Leonardo , Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael . Each figure stands at around 17 centimeters tall and has 28 points of articulation. There’s an endless amount of “Turtle-Power” accessories too, including three interchange heads for each turtle, each of the hero’s specific weapon, shell grapples with climbing ropes, climbing claws, eight shuriken, Turtle Communicators, and a pizza box just to name a few. The figures will also come with their own display bases featuring the TMNT logo and display posts for maximum posing.

‘TMNT’ is Getting More Popular With Age

Since TMNT ’s darker comic debut in 1984, the franchise has seen many different iterations throughout the decade. Whether you grew up in the 80s with the original cartoon that would then span the cult classic 1990 live-action film or are growing up now with the universe that spawned with last summer’s hit animated adventure Mutant Mayhem , there’s been a great Turtles story for every generation. Also outside the comics, animation, and films, the franchise has seen an endless ooze trail of video games and merchandise. The Playmates line of toys, which is still going strong today , was a big factor in the original series’ successful 10-year run . Like its 80s counterpart, Transformers , this helped the franchise stay relevant in the 21st century alongside the new TMNT films and TV series . The future of the franchise is very bright with Mutant Mayhem ’s spin-off series Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles debuting on Paramount+ this summer. The film is also getting a sequel in 2026 . If that was enough, TMNT is returning to live-action with a film adaptation of the popular adult Last Ronin storyline.

The original TMNT series is currently streaming alongside Mutant Mayhem on Paramount+ . While fans wait for Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to debut on the streamer , you can order your Mezco Toyz Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Deluxe Animated Series set on their website for $400 USD. The figures can be previewed above.

Teenage mutant ninja turtles: mutant mayhem.

The film follows the Turtle brothers as they work to earn the love of New York City while facing down an army of mutants.

Watch on Paramount+