April O'Neill (Judith Hoag) a reporter for New York City's Channel 3 news is the only one reporting on the "silent crime wave" where a rise in petty thefts are on the rise with only brief glimpses of young teens linking the crimes together. When April is attacked by a group of these emerging crooks, she's saved by unknown saviors who only leave behind one Sai as proof. When April continues her reports into the crime wave and calling attention to stories by Japanese-Americans of similar activities carried out by the Foot Clan in feudal Japan, the clan's leader, Shredder (James Saito), arranges for April to be silenced. April is ambushed by ninjas but is saved by Raphael (Josh Pais), an impulsive and brash mutated humanoid turtle teenager who brings April back to his lair where she meets Raphael's brothers Leonardo (Brian Tochi), Donatello (Corey Feldman), and Michelangelo (Robbie Rist) and their father/ mentor Splinter (Kevin Clash) a rat who learned ninjitsu from his deceased master Hamato Yoshi. April is initially frightened by the group's strange appearances, but when learning that they formed a surrogate family after Splinter rescued the turtles from a radioactive ooze and grew in intelligence becoming protectors of New York City, April forms an alliance with group and along with a sports equipment wielding vigilante named Casey Jones (Elias Koteas) the group team up to topple Shredder's criminal empire.
Created in 1984 by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was initially intended to be a short lived parody of the styling and writing of Frank Miller, notably from his work such on Marvel's Daredevil and the DC miniseries Ronin. The comic exploded in popularity with orders for the second issue dwarfing orders for the first by a considerable margin and lead to interest from multiple groups which lead to the 1987 animated series (that was considerably cleaned up from the comic) and in turn lead to promotional tie ins of toys, video games, clothing, and grocery items turning a no budget indie parody comic into marketing juggernaut. Released in 1990, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was intended to be a more faithful adaptation of the original source comic and separate from the cartoon with even the film's tagline "hey dudes, this is no cartoon" being a major selling point. The movie was rejected distribution by all six major companies meaning the film had to be released by mini major New Line Cinema. There was little faith the film would be a success as the failures of other toy based properties such as Transformers: The Movie, My Little Pony: The Movie, and Masters of the Universe had scared film companies away from major productions of a similar nature. Even Playmates toys which had helped to establish the Turtles franchise was reportedly unhappy towards the idea of the film feeling it's inevitable failure would sour the turtles image and cripple their cash cow. When the film was released it blew past even the most optimistic of expectations becoming the 9th highest grossing film of 1990 and launching a film franchise alongside the successful TV series. The movie is unmistakably a Turtles movie and gives fans what they want, but there's also some rough edges that hold the film back.
The movie looks great. The Turtles costumes made by Jim Henson's Creature Shop are perfectly designed with convincing facial movements and expressions and well incorporated to the stunt work and actions scenes that help make the Turtles a tangible presence in the film. Splinter is also well designed with his matted fur and slender appearance nicely evocative of the "mentor" figure archetype he's inspired by and like the Turtles has expressive features that bring the character to life. The movie also has some really good character elements. The Turtles and Splinter are presented to the audience as an unconventional family and that comes through very well with Splinter's speeches to the Turtles (whom he repeatedly refers to as his sons) and has the best scene in film where he confronts Raphael by himself to try to help him channel and master his anger in a way that's stern but also comforting. Judith Hoag is a great audience proxy for the Turtles with her plucky nice reporter persona and often acerbic sense of humor making her an engaging presence in the film that always plays well against the more youthful exuberance of the Turtles. Elias Koteas is well cast as sports based vigilante Casey Jones, but he doesn't get as much depth or exploration as the other leads (save for a throwaway line where he says he used to play professionally) and feels underdeveloped in comparison to some of the other characters. James Saito is also quite fun as villainess ninja master Oroku Saki "Shredder" with his commanding voice and well designed costume making him a memorable foe.
The story is good for the most part, but there's a few bumps in it that hold it back. The crime wave initiated by Shredder involving corrupting the city's wayward youth and eventually turning them into ninjas at his lair filled with arcade games, pool tables, beer, cigarettes, and stolen consumer electronics is a pretty underwhelming villain plan when you step back and take a look at it, especially in comparison to some of the grander scale plans Shredder had in the TV show. While the movie is more an adaptation of the comic than the TV show and Shredder was basically a crime boss with ninja skills in the comics, the movie's 60/40 split between faithfulness to the comic vs faithfulness to the cartoon keeps Shredder from becoming as threatening as he was in the source comic because it can't go against the brand. This issue unfortunately also extends to the turtles themselves. While the movie is responsible for transitioning Raphael from his sarcastic cartoon interpretation to the more aggressive rebel that's been more commonly associated with the character and is well done, the other Turtles aren't as fortunate and don't get as many opportunities to stand out characterwise. Michelangelo probably is played the second best with his jokey goofball persona kept well in tact and even giving him opportunities for emotional weight such as the group meditation scene, and Leonardo is the no-nonsense leader (but it's not really brought up all that much), Donatello is unfortunately short shifted this time around as his character is no longer the science/tech expert from the cartoon and is instead relegated to being sort of a diet Mikey whose main gimmick is he can't use the lingo as effectively as his brothers. I really disliked the approach to Donatello in the movie because not only did it make the 3/4ths of the turtles stand out less it also diminished Mikey by having his schtick spread across two characters.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a good adaptation of the characters and franchise to live action. While the presentation is lacking in finer polish on some points, there's great passion, energy and skill on display in the execution of an inherently silly concept done with weight and impact. The film is carried by good performances as well as strong puppetry and voicework, and while some characters don't stand out as much as they should there's enough character there to maintain investment.
Created in 1984 by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was initially intended to be a short lived parody of the styling and writing of Frank Miller, notably from his work such on Marvel's Daredevil and the DC miniseries Ronin. The comic exploded in popularity with orders for the second issue dwarfing orders for the first by a considerable margin and lead to interest from multiple groups which lead to the 1987 animated series (that was considerably cleaned up from the comic) and in turn lead to promotional tie ins of toys, video games, clothing, and grocery items turning a no budget indie parody comic into marketing juggernaut. Released in 1990, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was intended to be a more faithful adaptation of the original source comic and separate from the cartoon with even the film's tagline "hey dudes, this is no cartoon" being a major selling point. The movie was rejected distribution by all six major companies meaning the film had to be released by mini major New Line Cinema. There was little faith the film would be a success as the failures of other toy based properties such as Transformers: The Movie, My Little Pony: The Movie, and Masters of the Universe had scared film companies away from major productions of a similar nature. Even Playmates toys which had helped to establish the Turtles franchise was reportedly unhappy towards the idea of the film feeling it's inevitable failure would sour the turtles image and cripple their cash cow. When the film was released it blew past even the most optimistic of expectations becoming the 9th highest grossing film of 1990 and launching a film franchise alongside the successful TV series. The movie is unmistakably a Turtles movie and gives fans what they want, but there's also some rough edges that hold the film back.
The movie looks great. The Turtles costumes made by Jim Henson's Creature Shop are perfectly designed with convincing facial movements and expressions and well incorporated to the stunt work and actions scenes that help make the Turtles a tangible presence in the film. Splinter is also well designed with his matted fur and slender appearance nicely evocative of the "mentor" figure archetype he's inspired by and like the Turtles has expressive features that bring the character to life. The movie also has some really good character elements. The Turtles and Splinter are presented to the audience as an unconventional family and that comes through very well with Splinter's speeches to the Turtles (whom he repeatedly refers to as his sons) and has the best scene in film where he confronts Raphael by himself to try to help him channel and master his anger in a way that's stern but also comforting. Judith Hoag is a great audience proxy for the Turtles with her plucky nice reporter persona and often acerbic sense of humor making her an engaging presence in the film that always plays well against the more youthful exuberance of the Turtles. Elias Koteas is well cast as sports based vigilante Casey Jones, but he doesn't get as much depth or exploration as the other leads (save for a throwaway line where he says he used to play professionally) and feels underdeveloped in comparison to some of the other characters. James Saito is also quite fun as villainess ninja master Oroku Saki "Shredder" with his commanding voice and well designed costume making him a memorable foe.
The story is good for the most part, but there's a few bumps in it that hold it back. The crime wave initiated by Shredder involving corrupting the city's wayward youth and eventually turning them into ninjas at his lair filled with arcade games, pool tables, beer, cigarettes, and stolen consumer electronics is a pretty underwhelming villain plan when you step back and take a look at it, especially in comparison to some of the grander scale plans Shredder had in the TV show. While the movie is more an adaptation of the comic than the TV show and Shredder was basically a crime boss with ninja skills in the comics, the movie's 60/40 split between faithfulness to the comic vs faithfulness to the cartoon keeps Shredder from becoming as threatening as he was in the source comic because it can't go against the brand. This issue unfortunately also extends to the turtles themselves. While the movie is responsible for transitioning Raphael from his sarcastic cartoon interpretation to the more aggressive rebel that's been more commonly associated with the character and is well done, the other Turtles aren't as fortunate and don't get as many opportunities to stand out characterwise. Michelangelo probably is played the second best with his jokey goofball persona kept well in tact and even giving him opportunities for emotional weight such as the group meditation scene, and Leonardo is the no-nonsense leader (but it's not really brought up all that much), Donatello is unfortunately short shifted this time around as his character is no longer the science/tech expert from the cartoon and is instead relegated to being sort of a diet Mikey whose main gimmick is he can't use the lingo as effectively as his brothers. I really disliked the approach to Donatello in the movie because not only did it make the 3/4ths of the turtles stand out less it also diminished Mikey by having his schtick spread across two characters.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a good adaptation of the characters and franchise to live action. While the presentation is lacking in finer polish on some points, there's great passion, energy and skill on display in the execution of an inherently silly concept done with weight and impact. The film is carried by good performances as well as strong puppetry and voicework, and while some characters don't stand out as much as they should there's enough character there to maintain investment.