The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are a lot of things.
They are masters of the martial arts, pizza lovers, but most importantly they are teenagers.
Previous films seem to forget this fact but Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem brings it to centre stage.
The film feels exactly like a 2023 adaptation of the Ninja Turtles should.
Only a movie released in 2023 would have the Turtles making references to Drake and BTS.
The references might become outdated in years to come, but they make for a good laugh now.
The actors playing the Ninja Turtles are 15 to 19-year-olds and, thanks to encouragement from producer Seth Rogan, they improvised a large majority of their lines.
This improvisation leads to a sway of pop culture references and jokes that may not stand the test of time but hit the spot right now.
To channel this energy, directors Jeff Rowe and Kyler Spears jammed all four turtle voice actors, Nicolas Cantu (Leonardo), Micah Abbey (Donatello), Brady Noon (Raphael), Shamon Brown Jun (Michelangelo) into a recording booth together and allowed them to mess around with each other.
The art style is what really sold me on the film.
It looks like a drawing out of a 10-year-old’s maths book and the colours really bring the turtles and New York to life.
Any movie that has baby turtles in it can be sold to me relatively easily, especially if they are ninja turtles.
Be sure to give this movie a watch. At only 99 minutes it is quick and entertaining.
