It was more than two decades ago when the third part of the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" trilogy was released. Well, there was that animated feature film released in 2007, but let's pretend that never happened.
In the reboot of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series, you learn far more than you've ever known about the connection between all the main characters. April O'Neil (Megan Fox) has a much deeper connection to the turtles than you ever imagined.
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O'Neil plays a desperate reporter trying to break through at her news station. In her efforts to get the big story, she dooms the turtles by giving away they actually exist. So, instead of hunting their nemesis Shredder's evil gang, the Foot Clan, the turtles become the hunted. Why? Because Shredder has much bigger plans for the world, and learning the turtles survived a tragic lab fire puts his plans on the fast track.
The movie is short on substance but makes up for it with action and wisecracks. Much of the plot is predictable but you forget about that when Leonardo, Donatello, Rafael and Michelangelo hit the scene.
It doesn't take long to see what the fighting turtles look like. As a matter of fact, that was probably the most exciting part of the first 20 minutes of the movie. It starts really slow, but things picks up.
The biggest difference you'll notice from the original movies is the distinction between the turtles. The brothers really have their own distinct look besides the colors and weapons that separate them. It's impossible not to fall in love with Michelangelo. His character carries this film.
Shredder is more beastly than I've ever imagined him, which makes him a fine villain. The least impressive character in this reboot is probably Splinter.
It's tough to compare to the original TMNT movies, but I think you'll like the twist in the story. I think it's definitely set up for a sequel which could possibly be better than this film, which doesn't always happen.
Rating: 3.8 turtle shells out of 5
SPOILER ALERT: Vanilla Ice does not make a cameo