TMNT Mutant Mayhem

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (TMNT) is a 2023 animated film that pushes the boundary for what an animated film can look like and be. It’s based on the Popular Brand/Property of the Teenage Mutant ninja turtles created in 1983 by Cartoonists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. The film is directed by Jeff Rowe and Kyler Spears, it is Produced by Seth Rogen. The film is about acceptance and battling a world that is actively battling you. 

ARTWORK

Its artwork is similar to its animated predecessors, “Into The Spiderverse,” and “Across the Spider Verse,” and “ Puss and Boots the Last Wish.” In its visual style breaking the medium with its distinctive sketchbook: New York style. The good thing is that the story doesn’t fall behind. The story itself is about acceptance and being different from society, and this message is actually very heartwarming in the film itself.  With Leonardo, Michalangelo, Donatello and Raphael (voiced by: Nicholas Cantu, Shamon Brown Jr, Micah Abbey and Brady Noon) wanting to experience the human world, a world that doesn’t want to accept them. Another great thing about this film is the Versions of these characters we get. 

VOICE CAST and STORY

Since TMNT is based on a brand that has existed for many decades now, there is room for new interpretations of these characters. For example, the famed TEENAGE mutant ninja turtles are actually Teenagers,  And are voiced by real teenagers which is better than a 30 year old adult mimicking a child voice. The film also uses many of the casts ad libbing in the film which makes it feel more authentic. Another character with new interpretation is the turtles’ adoptive dad, Splinter. In other TMNT Media, Splinter is a Wise Ninja Master. And while he is still good at ninjutsu, he is more of an old, overprotective dad than a cold ninja master. The ninja aspect of this story isn’t really focused on though. While the film is still good, of course there are still issues holding it back from being perfect or spectacular.

For starters, the human antagonists are barely essential to the film or plot, the mutants are the REAL antagonists. The humans do provide a couple conflicts that are sort of necessary, but with enough erasing and rewriting you could probably cut the human antagonists out entirely. Which is a shame since the film uses Maya Rudolph for the villain on the Evil human side. My guess is that since this film is getting a sequel and a TV show the human villains (and Maya Rudolphas the boss) will return and be more prominent.

CELEBRITY CASTING

 Another thing I was disappointed by ,but not surprised by, was the amount of celebrity voice casting. While I was not surprised because so many animated films nowadays use all star celebrity voices, I was still disappointed MOSTLY because almost all of the voice actors are used for cameos or are voicing characters with little to no lines. For example, Giancarlo Esposito,known for his spectacularly acted roles in Breaking bad, better call saul and the mandalorian, has a small voice role at the beginning of the film as Baxter Stockman, the scientist who created the mutants in order to have a family that will feel accepted.casting only in the first 5 minutes. He is a top billing actor and I thought especially with all the promotional material would have a much bigger role, which was really disappointing.  The film also uses comedic voices from the likes of John Cena, Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd and Rose Byrne, however I let these ones slide because they feel like Seth Rogen casting his comedy friends for fun. 

In conclusion, the film is a Great time!! It Has a lot of heart, spectacular animation, great comedy and an air of teenage authenticity that we don’t get often in films. Overall, I would give it an 8/10!