Movie Review : TMNT (2014)

My experience with the Ninja Turtles franchise started way back in the mid 2000s (I make it sound like it was a decade ago. Actually, it was!) when me and my buddy used to play the video-game during the summer holidays ('TMNT - The Manhattan project', to be more precise). We beat the game umpteen number of times but we just couldn't get bored of it for some reason. As such, I am a huge fan of the turtles. I've seen all the movies and I've completed almost all the video-games. So when I heard about a "reboot" of sorts, I was very much anticipating it. Many people seem to hate anything that had the name 'Michael Bay' in it, but my mind was open to this movie (produced by MB himself, see the connection?).

We are given a brief introduction of how the turtles came into existence which was okay-ish but not really convincing. But I can live that. After all, this is a movie about 4 talking turtles and a rat who practice ninjutsu (What the shell!?). But the way Splinter learns the art of ninjutsu from a book he finds in the subway - that is just BS, even for a comic book movie. Nobody becomes a Ninja from reading a book! Anyways, the story is pretty decent - good guys kill the bad guy and the world is saved.

The character designs of the turtles themselves were a bit on the creepy side but good nonetheless with the exception of Raph, who looks like the younger brother of Hulk. These guys are supposed to be Ninjas, not friggin' Arnold Schwarzenegger! And that brings me to another thing - these guys are TEENAGE Mutant Ninja Turtles. Not middle- aged. All the turtles look like they are about 40 odd years old. Splinter was often seen in the shadows so I could not make out whether he looked good or bad. Just your average rat-ninja mastah, nothing special! But the character models gradually grew up on me and I started liking them. The voice acting was also very good. And Shredder - *sigh* Looks more like a Transformer than a Shredder. Megan Fox as April got the job done. So no complaints there.

Now the action scenes and the animation were exceptional, I'd say. The action was over-the-top but entertaining as shell! (geddit?) There was one scene in the elevator with all 4 turtles that was funny and very creative. Don't miss that =>

Even with all this said and done, I really enjoyed this movie. I always have a special place in my heart for the Ninja Turtles as they bring back my sweet childhood memories. Perhaps this is my nostalgia talking but as a whole, this movie was good.

Score - 8/10