After defeating Shredder, the Turtles return to do battle with him once again. But Shredder has now formed an alliance with an even more powerful villain from another dimension.
The decision to turn popular lines of toys into feature film franchises was a genius decision. With five ‘Transformers’ movies and sixth on the way, Michael Bay has now taken his talent for creating blockbusters to produce another mega film franchise based on an existing cartoon/ toy: ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’.
However, like the ‘Transformers’ films, Bay has focused on creating dazzling visuals which will leave many children’s jaws hitting the floor, but not enough on anything with substance.
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After saving New York from the clutches of Shredder (Brian Tee) and his Foot Clan, the Turtles have returned to hiding from humans (who wouldn’t understand them), letting cameraman Vern Fenwick (Will Arnett) take credit for their heroism from the first film.
Meanwhile, the Turtles and April O’Neil (Megan Fox) are following the movements of scientist Dr Baxter Stockman (Tyler Perry), believing him to be hatching a plan to free Shredder. It’s not long before Shredder does escape, thanks to the help of new villain Krang (voiced by Brad Garrett). April and the Turtles team up with police officer/ hockey enthusiast Casey Jones (Stephen Amell) to stop Shredder and Krang before it’s too late.
As was the case with the ‘Transformers’ franchise, a lot of work has been put into the visuals. When the first film was released, there was a lot of criticism about the Turtles looking grotesque. But this does have its appeal, especially giving each Turtle their own, individual, physical characteristics rather than having the colour of their bandana to tell them apart: Raphael is a mass of muscle, while Donatello is the scrawniest of the four.
The interpretation of Krang is also impressive, with his sliming tentacles mixing really well with his robotic body. A scene where his Death-Star-esque ship is being assembled on Earth piece-by-piece shows that a film based on ‘Tetris’ could look spectacular.
L-R: Stephen Amell and Will Arnett at the Melbourne fan screening of 'TMNT 2', 30 May
It’s unfortunate that most of the time was spent on effects rather than the script. Much of the dialogue and exposition lacks intelligence. There are many pieces of dialogue which feel utterly dumb. A scene where police chiefs don’t believe Casey Jones’ story of being ambushed by ninjas while escorting Shredder to a new facility leaves one wondering about the police force in this alternate New York, especially since the last film established ninja attacks as being inside the realms of possibility.
The smartest moment in the film is when new villain Rocksteady (voiced by wrestler Sheamus) begins firing a machine gun inside of a plane and destroying the cockpit. He quips upon realising his error, “My bad!” It’s scenes like this which lead you to conclude that the story is only there to service the action and explosions, and not the other way around.
Bear in mind, this is a film aimed at children. They don’t want to have to think about huge concepts – they want explosions and funny-talking animals. Although, the running time might be too much for them; even I felt tired by the halfway point.
‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ is just big and dumb, and will be a good way of keeping the kids occupied for two hours.
★★☆☆☆
'TMNT 2' hits cinemas 9 June.
