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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Secret of the Ooze 2

  
        Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is one of the strangest things to have lasting power. I have a good friend who remembers them nostalgically from childhood as do I, and we’re eight years apart! For such a bizarre idea, who’d have thought it would still be around today. But Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows is in theatres and everyone’s favourite pizza-eating foot-clan fighting mutants are back. They haven’t had more than one good feature film, and after this one, that’s still kinda the case.
          During a transfer between prisons, Shredder with the help of a mad scientist called Baxter Stockman manages to escape and Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo go after him.  Eventually they discover that not only has Stockman manufactured a substance that mutates humans (and could have reverse effects on the turtles), but two new mutants called Bebop and Rocksteady are gathering pieces of technology that will open a rift uniting Shredder with a powerful alien villain from another dimension called Krang. The turtles must stop them before Krang comes through and enslaves the world.
          What makes this movie enjoyable are the Turtles themselves! Whatever incarnation you’re familiar with, you’ll recognize these guys. You could argue their personalities are a little clichéd, but they always have been and this film delivers on them in fun ways. Raph is still abrasive, Leo’s insecure, Donny’s the geek, and Mikey’s got the jokes but here is also the dreamer it seems. Their interactions off each other are really good and you buy their brotherhood even if the conflict concerning that relationship has been seen before (how many times now have Raph and Leo been at odds?) They each get some good action sequences too, and I like how each have different feelings about being outsiders of society.
          This movie has plenty of fan service, but as cool as it can be to some, to others it’s pretty alienating. The double-edged sword of fan service is that a portion of your audience will always be unaware and in this case it’s not only the references that won’t connect or make sense to anyone unfamiliar with the series. The story is pretty poorly paced, some developments have no set-up and there are a bunch plot holes. You can’t quite settle into the situation because the film is attempting to appease so many fans by including Bebop and Rocksteady, Krang, and numerous other references that the story winds up being unfocussed. If one villain took centre stage like Krang or even Stockman it might have worked, but as is it’s too crowded. There is far too much exposition to relate a lot of the story points, to the point the film at times comes off as condescending. The ooze that may promise a better life for the Turtles is one of a few threads that’s really underdeveloped, and said climax feels way too uninspired and underwhelming, especially in how Shredder is insultingly sidelined. And this film also demonstrates that not everything from a cartoon translates well to film. It’s hard enough to buy Bebop and Rocksteady (who are okay, but have an irritating catchphrase) in this seemingly real world, but Krang in particular sticks out as impossible to take seriously in a live-action film. His scenes are often awkward. And the writing isn’t very good, to the degree even the Turtles suffer. A good chunk of Mikey’s jokes fall flat.
          And Megan Fox is still as bad as ever, only this time her April O’Neal is joined by Casey Jones played by Stephen Amell who’s only a little bit better. His character’s in the movie purely because Casey Jones should appear in a Ninja Turtles movie, and adds nothing to the plot. Tyler Perry is a little enjoyably corny as Baxter Stockman but he’s often just doing stereotypical nerd-mad scientist things that aren’t all that interesting despite his putting his all in. Laura Linney’s in the movie for some reason, desperately trying to take seriously a campy script, and for reasons unbeknownst to anyone, Will Arnett was invited back.
          I get the feeling though this film is aiming at a younger demographic. It’s target audience are kid,s and those nostalgic for the previous versions of the Turtles, particularly the original 1987 series. And those people will most likely be pleased. The personalities of the Turtles may win over non-fans but not much else in this film will. As a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, it’s not bad. As a movie overall though it may be like the ninja brothers themselves, best left in the shadows.

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