TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES : OUT OF THE SHADOWS

The best part about TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES : OUT OF THE SHADOWS was getting to listen to the theme song in the closing credits; it reminded me of watching the cartoon as a child. The movie suffered overall from poor performances by the main actors, an unimaginative plot, and little to no character development. The saving grace of the film was its great action scenes and the childish humour of the turtles. It’s silly, childish, and only a little bit of fun. TMNT is a movie that will entertain pre-teens and frustrate everybody else.

The acting of the non-CGI characters lacked emotion, and it seemed as though all the actors were doing the bare minimum to get their paycheck; no one seemed truly interested in the film. This makes sense given it is a movie about giant crime-fighting turtles, which – even by comic book standards – is a little ridiculous. But when the best acting in the film comes from CGI characters, the human acting cast should be ashamed.While the actors are in part to blame for their performances, some certainly lies with the storyline and director. The story offered no character development and tracked along a very familiar plotline – enter big bad guy trying to take over the world (with zero context provided); but, alas, he is thwarted by the good guys. The simplicity of the stories didn’t allow for any significant character development to occur. The turtles suffered from a little bit of poor teamwork (apparently resolved when Raph throws the bad guy’s serum at the wall), but it didn’t seem to impact the outcome of the film whatsoever.

Despite the poor acting and static characterisation, the film did produce some entertaining action scenes which were actually aided by the 3D presentation. While most 3D films seem either obsessed with throwing random objects at the viewer – whether the scene requires it or not – TMNT 2 restrained from overdoing the party tricks and instead used it to enhance the action.

Whether you’re a fan of Michael Bay or not, you can’t deny that he has an eye for action scenes. The last 20 minutes of the film is one long action scene, starting in Manaus (Brazil) and ending in New York City. It is littered with great 3D effects and some good one-liners from the turtles. It’s possibly the only part of the film that seems like it was thought-out and purposeful. It is also, perhaps, the only part of the film which will entertain the young and older alike.

The turtles themselves are worth watching and deliver some witty lines to enjoy; unfortunately, that isn’t enough for the flick to compete in the comic-fuelled film market of today. I wanted to love the film and I’ve been open-minded about both TMNT movies (as a fan in my youth, I thought I owed them that), but I have been disappointed twice now.

Is it worth going to see? If you have an 11-year-old to entertain, and they don’t want to watch anything else, and the bowling alley is closed, then it will be fun for the kid and bearable for you. If you aren’t 11, and aren’t entertaining a child, then save your money and see something else. Wait for it to come out on Netflix.