TMNT

Oh sure, TMNT is marketed to kids, but I was a kid once, and back then I loved these damn turtles. When watching a kid-friendly action movie though, you have to be prepared for a few things that will seriously detract from the experience: situations that call for brutal bloody violence never result in anything more than standard cartoon violence, most of the dialogue is really lame, and there's always a scene about two thirds of the way through that recaps the plot in case slow children can't figure out what's going on.

Those elements were all present, and the plot was kind of stupid. But I still enjoyed it, because the animation was fantastic. It was nicely stylized without losing the feel of the characters, the action scenes were extremely well choreographed, and the camera movements were active and complimented the action without being disorienting. And one scene featured some of the best looking CGI rain I think I've ever seen. The one problem, I think, is that unless you're a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle fan (or a kid), the cool animation isn't going to be enough.

Quite a few celebrities lent their voices to the film. Sarah Michelle Gellar as April O'Neil (more on her later), Patrick Stewart as Winters, Zhang Ziyi as the leader of the Foot Clan, the great Mako voiced Splinter before he died last year, and Lawrence Fishburne and Kevin Smith make brief appearances as well. I had also thought Michael Clark Duncan was involved, but it turned out to be Kevin Michael Richardson from Knights of Prosperity.

Two things struck me as odd, though, both about the April character. Slightly more plot discussion here, so I'll hide it. Highlight the text to reveal spoilers:

First, no mention of April as either a reporter (as she had been in the cartoon and in the live action movies) or a computer tech (as she had been in the comics). She appeared to be some kind of archaeologist in the Lara Croft mold, but there was really no explanation of how any of that happened.

The other odd thing was that she was kicked some serious ass. I'm cool with the idea that female characters shouldn't have to be damsels in distress, but it was a little out of hand. They had a few scenes early on to indicate that she'd been training to fight, which I guess I appreciated because it wasn't totally out of left field, but in one of the action scenes late in the film, she was mowing down Foot Soldiers as fast as any of the turtles. I realize that the Foot Soldiers are like Stormtroopers from Star Wars, and that they're supposed to look badass but only serve to get beaten down by everyone, but in theory these are highly skilled ninjas who only look bad because the turtles are that much more skilled, plus they have the whole "mutant turtle" thing going that gives them an extra edge. But April seems to have only picked up the martial arts stuff recently, and is also a tiny girl. They draw her like she weighs about 90 lbs. I wasn't expecting realism or perfect consistency or anything, and maybe they were just under pressure to add a little "grrrl power" to a mostly male cast, but it seemed weird.

But as I said, anyone who isn't already a fan will almost certainly not like TMNT. And any fanboy type who would spend the whole movie nitpicking about the fact that it's not 100% true to the original comics will probably also not like it. But fans who just want to see their beloved Turtles on screen again (looking considerably cooler than they've ever looked) should definitely check it out.