5.5/10

The heroes in a half shell are back with yet another origins story that comes full circle with a battle against their arch nemesis, The Shredder. Michael Bay’s producer credits in this felt more like a directorial shadow as many of his cliche’s are seen throughout the film. TMNT isn’t a perfect film by any means what so ever. It’s not even close to being the best of the Turtles series, but it’s far from being the worst as well. Considering the reviews that this film has been getting, it could’ve been a lot worse. The film stars Megan Fox (Michael Bay’s apparent #1 crush) as April O Neill as she exposes Shredder’s Foot Clan prompting the Turtles to rise from the sewers and into the public light. I absolutely hated the casting of Megan Fox in this film, and it is as bad as i thought it was going to be. Her terrible capturing for human emotion is what really weighs the film down. April is a character who is smart, but also knows how to handle herself. Megan Fox plays the character almost as a frightened child who is there only as eye candy for the audience. I personally would’ve cast Amy Adams as April, but that’s a discussion for another day. Another problem i had with the film was the origins story in general. After 5 Turtles films, i don’t think the world needs another origins story. They should’ve just went with a basic Turtles story without going through all of the basics that even the youngest fans already know from the TV show. The problem also with telling the origins story is that in this case it is so much different from anything we know about these characters from the comics, to the TV show, to the feature films. Many plot holes make this version scarce from anything else in the series that makes sense. The characters are played off well enough, but they seem to be trapped in a movie that has nothing to do with getting to know them closer. If the movie would just stop and slow down for a minute, it could build some great character chemistry. That’s one thing i loved about the 90’s films; they built the friendship between April and the turtles. In this film, it seems like they are put together for the common enemy. I also didn’t care too much about the voice acting most notably from Johnny Knoxville and Tony Shaloub. When you voice act, it’s best to try to use a voice that fans don’t recognize you with. Take for instance Bradley Cooper in Guardians of the Galaxy. In TMNT, these voices aren’t that of teenage boys, they are those of grown Hollywood actors who make no effort what so ever to earn the paychecks they are cashing. The look of the Shredder was pretty cool, but was i the only person under the impression that William Fichtner was playing him? He doesn’t, infact for those of you who like Batman Returns, Fichtner plays a character similar to that of Max Schreck. With all of this said, you may be asking what i liked about this movie to even give it a 5.5 out of 10. The movie is a fun sit with great comedic timing from Michaelangelo. You won’t be bored by watching this film, but you might not enjoy it at the same time. I also enjoyed some of the eye popping CGI that i felt improved on what was started in the TMNT animated movie in 2007. The turtles are a little big and overpowering at times, but i can accept that since this is a new telling of a childhood favorite. The fighting scenes are good, but the quick edits ruin this film like it did the latest Die Hard movie that was released last year. It’s all too quick to register who is fighting who and what is happening. Overall, i actually would recommend this film to Turtles fans who are even remotely curious about it. I think it’s the faithful fans who have to see it for themselves to make an opinion. What is mine you ask? Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is far from the best movie in the Turtles series, but it’s far from the worst as well. It stays on the safe side of reboots and i can at least remotely appreciate that.