I grew up with the Turtles cartoons, the original live action movies, NES games, etc etc, and when I heard Michael Bay was gonna make Teenage Alien Ninja Turtles... That felt like a crowbar getting smashed to my childhood knees. But then I saw the previews (And learned they decided to make the Turtles mutants after all), and it looked pretty good so I figured to give it a chance... I was surprised when the credits rolled and I looked back thinking the movie didn't suck, both myself and my girlfriend had a really good time.
I've seen a lot of reviews and comments pointing out flaws and just really stupid stuff ranging from "The jokes are lame, action scenes are over the top" to "A poster with a building blowing up is offensive as the movie comes out in another country on September 11th." For the first quote.... Come on, you guys! It's something from the 80s/90s called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and you're throwing fits that it's got too much action and these awkward mutants (who grew up in a sewer and love pizza) aren't masters of cracking jokes?! Have you guys seen the original comics, movies, OR cartoons at all? The September 11th thing... You know, I can understand the sensitivity there but at the same time, it's an ad for an action movie... People act like the movie makers are deliberately trying to piss people off. I guess movies like Die Hard and Executive Decision are also bad as, even though their older and didn't come out on Septemper 11th, they still got stuff in common with real life tragic events.
"You guys suck more than our 3rd movie..."
-Raphael
"That scene with Splinter wearing a lampshade was funny!" -Michaelangelo
There were a few things I didn't like... No disrespect to Megan Fox, she was great in Transformers (I thought) but Mary Elizabeth Winstead would've been PERFECT to be April O'Neil...
WARNING!!! WARNING!!! SPOILER ALERT!!!
They also changed the origin story of the Turtles and their master Splinter: In this storyline, they were April's pets when she was a little girl and her father worked in a lab. When there was a disaster, April helped them escape into a sewer drain where Splinter raised the Turtles and taught them Ninjitsu. Shredder and Splinter don't hold the same hated rivalry they had in the cartoons, comics, or original movies... But this story wasn't terrible, they always change stuff a little (Sometimes a LOT) in movie adaptions/reboots but this really wasn't that bad...
There's also this older guy who works with April and keeps trying (horribly) to date her, people went off it's bad the Turtles are lame but he's just as bad if not worse... Well in case you don't remember, Casey Jones really wasn't the most awesome guy either... Thinking a Turtle is a "bald punker wearing green makeup" and dressed in a trench coat... What's wrong with you?
"Don't make me hit you with this hockey stick!"
-Casey Jones
But ultimately I thought the Turtles were humorous, the film had a nostalgic 80s/90s attitude to it (Yes, the Turtles do say "cowabunga!"), fight scenes were pretty badass, CG was done well, and holy crap, the Shredder was nasty in this one!Definitely one of the greatest villians ever...
"Tonight I dine on turtle soup..." -Shredder
It was very enjoyable for the $8 movie ticket and I look forward to buying it on blu-ray. I give Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 5 out 5 old spice commercials...
"Turtle puh puh puh PA-power!" -Terry Crews