“I made a funny!”

It was really neat seeing this in theaters for the first time. I have a lot of nostalgia for this movie and the Ninja Turtles in general, so of course I enjoyed it. The practical effects make this movie pretty much timeless, and I honestly kind of hope that if The Last Ronin movie does actually happen, they use this adaptation of the group. This includes going back to the practical effects and costumes as well.

What really makes this movie special is the rapport between the team and their sensei, Splinter. They’re charming and hilarious right out of the gate, and their dynamic with one another adds a surprising emotional element to the story. It’s really what holds the movie together. Also, even though this is obviously accurate to the comics and stuff, I’m so glad that each one of them is so incredibly different from one another that it is pretty much impossible to mix any of them up.

The only character of the four turtles that probably doesn’t get his due in this movie overall is Donatello. There weren’t many moments that showed off his wits and all. The other three definitely stand out quite a bit however. Michaelangelo is the funny and immature one, Raphael is the angry and impulsive one, and Leonardo is the most wise-minded, which is why he is the leader. On the other hand, when it comes to Splinter, he’s just great. He doesn’t have a ton of screen time, but you just can’t help but love him for his care and love that he has for his sons. He also had the funniest line in my opinion at the very end of the movie.

The relationship between April O’Neil and Casey Jones definitely would have benefited from the movie being longer, but I guess it’s good enough, if pretty cliche. I really like both of them as characters too, especially Casey. April’s important to the movie because she is the one that adds an emotional human layer to the turtles. If she weren’t in the movie, it would definitely be pretty shallow. Casey is definitely not as important for the story, but his presence adds so much fun to it that it just wouldn’t be the same without him. He gets some of the best moments in the film.

Now, my favorite thing about this whole movie has got to be the soundtrack. It screams 80s/90s and I love it so much. My favorite would probably be the theme for the Foot Clan/Shredder. It’s epic to say the least and makes them really intimidating when they otherwise would definitely have not been because of the writing. I also love the main theme though of course, and every single action scene has the perfect music to match the mood and feel of what’s happening. Goosebumps.

The shortcomings that I have already mentioned and will get to mention all revolve around the same thing - the runtime. I understand of course that it’s short because of budgetary constraints, but this would have easily gone from good to great if it were just even twenty minutes longer. There are hints of a pretty compelling arc for Raph at the beginning, but it doesn’t go anywhere really unfortunately. What makes that hurt the most though is that no one else really gets a character arc. The only character who gets one is a kid. It’s not a bad arc, but he’s definitely not the character that me or most anyone would have chosen to get one over any of the other main characters.

And then there is Shredder. Every scene he is in he’s imposing as a villain and they did a perfect job designing him. The only problem is that he is quite easily the biggest victim of the short runtime. Yeah, all of his scenes are great, but there are very few of them. This eventually leads to a third act that shocked me on this viewing with how anticlimactic and underwhelming it was. It’s not a terrible way to end the movie, but it’s certainly odd and feels like a whole section was just straight up cut out entirely.

There are lots of things to criticize about the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but overall it just has that special flair and feel to it that no other movie has. Also, nostalgia helps quite a bit.