Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023)

Rating: 8.4

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem was a whole lot better than it had any right to be! It’s such a blast and completely took me by surprise! Sure, it doesn’t have the most original story in the world, but its incredible and creative animation mixed with the amazing voice cast (love that they cast actual teenagers, the authenticity and chemistry blasted through the screen!) more than makes up for it! The film has laughs and so much heart, the tone and style reminded me a lot of The Mitchells vs. The Machines in all the best ways. The Reznor/Ross score, 90s hip-hop soundtrack and exuberant voice performances give it a youthful vibe to match its teen story of social isolation and yearning for acceptance. Funny and ingeniously animated, it will please both longtime fans and newcomers to the franchise (like myself). It just goes to show that Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is the best thing that’s happened to animation in the history of film!

*** No full review as I am taking a break for the month of August... so please enjoy this extended video review***

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Film Info:

Premise: After years of being sheltered from the human world, the Turtle brothers set out to win the hearts of New Yorkers and be accepted as normal teenagers. Their new friend, April O'Neil, helps them take on a mysterious crime syndicate, but they soon get in over their heads when an army of mutants is unleashed upon them.

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Paramount

Directed by Jeff Rowe

Screenplay by Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Jeff Rowe, Dan Hernandez & Benji Samit

Story by Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Jeff Rowe & Brendan O’Brien

Cast: Micah Abbey, Shamon Brown Jr., Nicolas Cantu, Brady Noon, Ayo Edebiri, Jackie Chan, Paul Rudd, Maya Rudolph, Ice Cube, Seth Rogen, John Cena, Rose Byrne, Natasia Demetriou, Giancarlo Esposito, Post Malone, Hannibal Buress

Runtime: 1hr 39min

Rating: PG

Action, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Sci-Fi

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IMDb Rating: 7.7/10

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%

RT Audience Score: 93%

RT Critic Average: 7.6/10

RT Audience Average: 4.6/5

Metacritic Score: 74

CinemaScore: A

Letterboxd: 3.8/5

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Fun Fact: The filmmakers cited Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), the Jackie Chan martial arts films Police Story (1985) and Hung Fan Kui (1995), the crime drama Chungking Express (1994), the period film Boogie Nights (1997), and the works of cinematographers Emmanuel Lubezki and Spike Jonze as an influence on the visual style of the film.

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Trailer: