Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016)

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nTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016)

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nDirector: Dave Green

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nCast: Megan Fox,  WillnArnett, Stephen Amell, Laura Linney, Tyler Perry, Brian Tee, Stephen Farrelly,nGary Anthony Williams

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nBack when I was an 80’s kid being brought up on a steadyndiet of cartoons, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon that aired circan1987 was required viewing. There was an excitement to that intro song; it stillnrings in my head every time I talk about the turtles. When I first caught anglimpse of how the turtles were going to look on Steve Barron’s Teenage Mutnat Ninja Turtles (1990), I couldn’t believe they had actually brought the turtles to life! Thentalented individuals at Jim Henson Muppet Workshop helped make the first livenaction turtles film a huge success at the box office. The combination ofnanimatronics and actors in suits worked like magic. It’s been more than 25nyears since that first Turtles film and the way films are made have changed inna huge way. Thanks to the advent of computer generated images, any crazy ideanconceived can come to cinematic life, even pulsating alien brains fromndimension X! Want a half warthog half human creature to terrorize your heroes?nNo problem! Anything goes if you can think it up! And this is something thatnthe filmmakers behind Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows takenfull advantage of.
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nThis time around the Turtles have to fight Shredder, the foot clan, mutants and evil aliens who are hell bent on conquering earth! They also havento decide if they want to stay turtles or turn into human beings. Will theynchoose to turn into humans, or will they fight evil as their true selves?

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nOne of the few problems this new film has is that it isn’tnall that original. The idea of the mutants turning into “regular human beings”nhas been played out in the X-Men films. Dimensional portals opening up in thenmiddle of New York City was the blue print for Marvel’s The Avengers (2012), innfact, if we’re going to get right down to it, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Outnof the Shadows (2016) plays with similar themes already seen in Teenage MutantnNinja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (1991). So this one doesn’t get anynextra points in the originality department. One original element the film doesnhave is that it plays with the notion of the Turtles leaving their anonymitynbehind and emerging into the real world, letting everyone know exactly who theynare, but I think that’s about as original as we get here. What it does excel innare the action sequences and the special effects which are top notch in mynbook. The film is designed to keep you entertained for every single secondnscreen time, one cool moment pops up right after the next. There’s this coolnchase sequence down a highway, in which the Turtles are trying to stopnShredders escape which is just awesome. The turtle wagon is freaking sweet.nThere’s a scene with the turtles riding on a plane that’s about to crash on thenAmazon, which was spectacular!  I cannguarantee you won’t be bored for a second, which is probably a good thing ifnyou have that six year old kid with ya. This one is none stop action, thrillsnand jokes. Trust me, the kiddies will be entertained.

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nThe turtles themselves are a huge part of what makes thenwhole thing work because the combination of voice acting and cgi animationnworks like magic, there’s some good computer animation here, I have hand it tonthese guys, the turtles look alive. Computer graphics can make or break a film,nand more so in an effects heavy film like this one. So on that regard you cannrest easy, these turtles breathe and shine!  

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nIn terms of pleasing those die hard Turtle fans out there, Inthink this one did good. I mean, here we get Casey Jones, the turtles humannside kick, we get the introduction of Beebop and Rocksteady and the pulsatingnbrain/robot from Dimension X known as ‘Krang’; the films major villain. Theyneven included the cartoon intro song in the end credits which had me singingnall throughout the end credits. Yet not all is perfect in Turtle Land. Shredder,nthe turtles greates villain plays second fiddle to Krang and thus, Shredderncomes off as absolutely useless this time around. He really doesn’t do much, Inkept wondering why they even bothered to bring him back. I also had an issue with the films climax, the whole thing with the dimensional rift opening up in the New York City skyline was toonsimilar to The Avengers. I’m of the opinion that filmmakers should alwaysnstrive to do something different with their films. If you’re idea resemblesnsome other film visually, then don’t do it. But you know Hollywood, ifnsomething worked on some other film they’ll try and duplicate it to death, andnso the grand finale in The Avengers has been redone and redone to death. Lastntime I saw a dimensional gate way opening up in the sky was in an awful moviencalled R.I.P.D. (2013). It had menrolling my eyes then and it made me roll my eyes in Teenage Mutant NinjanTurtles: Out of the Shadows (2016). But then again, if we get down to it, right from the get go, Ninja Turtles has always been about other dimensions, Krang comes from Dimension X! Whatever, I guess we can chalk it up to the filmmakers knowing the are going up against Marvel movies, so they want to give us something equally spectacular. All I’m saying is they could’ve gone with something visually different with regards to the whole dimensional rift thing. 

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nBut whatever, I was having a blast with the movie and as younguys already know, that’s all I really care about when it comes to SummernBlockbusters. If it wows and entertains then your job as a summer film is done.nAnd in those terms I’d say this one is a success. It’s bigger and morenexpensive than the first film. It’s louder, and more action packed and it’snmore cartoonish, closer to the kind of plotlines we’d get on the cartoon show. Itsntarget audience is nostalgic fans who grew up watching the cartoons and the newngenerations of younglings who are just getting to know them. If I was a 12 yearnold kid, I’d be happy as hell with this here movie, hell, I ain’t no teenagernand I loved it.  So as far as I’mnconcerned, mission accomplished turtles; let’s hope you make a profit at thenbox office so we’ll see a third outing.

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nRating: 4 out of 5

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