IMPORTANT NOTE: This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movies being covered here wouldn’t exist.
Released: 7th September
Seen: 13th September
By now the story of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and their creation is well known. From its start as an underground comic designed to parody superheroes to the legendary cartoon series that gave us the theme song that you are inevitably humming right now to the first movie that not only was a defining action film for a lot of childhoods but allowed New Line Cinema to go from a little independent company to one that was big enough that it could eventually make the Lord of the Rings movies. It’s an absolute phenomenon of a franchise that’s had several iterations over the years with various visual styles and tones that range from the dark and serious to the light and comedic. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem leans more towards light and comedic but also might be the best take on the franchise since the 1990 film.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem picks up when the iconic turtles are just 15 years old. Leonardo (Nicolas Cantu), Donatello (Micah Abbey), Michelangelo (Shamon Brown Jr.) and Raphael (Brady Noon) are living their lives in relative seclusion underneath the streets of New York under the watchful eye of their master and father figure Splinter (Jackie Chan) who has warned them to avoid the humans that live above at all costs because the humans will kill any mutants that dare to go above ground, and since they’re the only mutants around that seems like a bad place to go.
Of course, the Turtles still need to go get supplies, pizza, that kind of thing and on one of those trips they end up running into reporter for the local high school newsletter April O’Neil (Ayo Edebiri) who takes a liking to the quartet of quasi-quadrupeds. The meeting makes the turtles realise that there is a chance they could actually live above ground if they can just make the humans like them, so they come up with a plan to take on the biggest local villain possible, a terrifying terrorist named Superfly (Ice Cube). Of course, not only will beating Superfly be a harder job than first expected, it might just prove that the turtles aren’t the only mutants that can be found in New York City.
When I suggest that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is the best iteration on the characters since the original, a large portion of that is down to how well the film embraces the first word of that title. For so many versions of this franchise the characters might be teenagers, but they act more like young adults who have a certain responsibility and only goof off on occasion. This version has the characters as clear and obvious pre-pubescent teens, their voices haven’t even broken yet and they just want to do normal teenager stuff like go see a movie in the park with other people or go to school, stuff that they’ve been denied their whole lives. It makes them a lot more relatable and charming, they really do seem just like any other teenager except they happen to have a shell on their back. It also impacts how they talk to each other, they use fairly accurate modern day lingo, they know all the current references and react the way an actual teenager might to a lot of these situations (which is probably helped by the fact that the kids doing the voices got to ad lib, making a lot of their dialogue feel more natural)
With that locked in place, it turns what could’ve been just a fun action comedy into a coming of age story about a group of kids trying to find a place where they can be accepted for who they are, which is a much more interesting story than “Four turtles kick the ass of a cheese grater with an accent” like a lot of stories the Turtles tend to be used for. Now you have a bunch of kids who want to find other older mutants that they might be able to make a community with, learn from, even hang out with… yes, this is where we point out that you can read Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem as a big old metaphor for LGBTQIA+ teenagers finding their community, a reading that’s slightly helped by at least one bit of background visual that’s shown in the very school the turtles want to attend. It’s subtle, but it’s there and it’ll be fun to see how many video essayists explain this (and also exhausting when some right wing chuds finally notice and do a screaming angry video like they just got asked to put their pronouns into a video game).
It also helps that the sense of humour that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem has is rapid-fire and very clearly aimed at an internet-savvy audience. It throws out everything, from quippy one-liners to physical comedy to references to previous movies (NINJA NINJA RAP!) and even an entire chase sequence that’s gloriously underscored by the He-Man cover of What’s Up. Any film that makes a high-octane car chase that perfectly syncs up to an off-key screaming of “I said hey, what’s going on?” is destined for greatness. It’s just a damn funny film that is able to have you doubling over with laughter right up until the second they actually need to pull an emotional punch and then dammit, it lands that punch. There’s a joke there for just about everyone to enjoy and very little of it really relies on past knowledge of the Turtles, except maybe the Ninja Rap reference but even that still works because that song is hilarious on its own.
Perhaps the biggest surprise, even though it shouldn’t be, is how cool this new interpretation of April is. Sure some chuds are upset she’s not the same redhead bombshell that made them feel a tingle in their pants back in the 90s but she’s a more interesting modern take, one who looks like a real human you might actually meet in the street who has a passion for journalism that fits with the modern day. She’s witty, a little awkward, not a constant damsel in distress and is able to think on her feet. It’s a fun interpretation that hopefully will take the character to new interesting places in the future sequels and series that are going to be made based upon this movie.
If those future sequels and series look as good as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem does then we’re in for a treat because this film might be the most interesting new visual style that’s been used in an animated film since the Into the Spider-Verse movies. It’s a strange blend of 3D, sketches and a sloppy speed paint job that makes it feel like a weird painting came to life and it’s just gorgeous to look at. There are one or two moments when the visual style breaks to show either clips from other movies or cutouts of celebrities and those are kind of jarring but for the most part it’s a truly wonderful style that lets this visually stand apart from all the other adaptations in a way that’s not just a mildly altered character design.
From start to finish, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is just an absolute blast. It’s funny, charming, heartfelt, action packed and creative without ever dropping the ball. It delivers on what we love about the Turtles while also making them accessible and relatable for a new generation. There’s something truly special here that will hopefully be able to carry on for the planned sequel and TV series, but even if those somehow miss, we will still have this film which absolutely oozes with joy.
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