Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2007)

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Summary:
After defeating Shredder, the turtles in a half shell are separated, with Leonardo going to South America to learn better how to be a leader. Meanwhile, the turtles are forbidden to fight until Leonardo returns, and Rapheal spends his nights as the Nightwatcher, a superhero who fights crime.
Meanwhile, Max Winters is collecting 13 beasts to send through a portal that arrives once every 3000 years, in an effort to absolve the guilt of using it for immortality last time around. His stone statue henchman have other plans.

Review:
What the turtles require after that abysmal third installment of the motion picture series is a big shot in the arm, and a complete makeover. Now, almost 15 years later, they are back in CGI animated form. That's a great idea! An animated feature of the ninja turtles is the first step into the right direction!
I happen to like the animation style of this feature. It's got great color, and stays somewhat comical AND cartoony at the same time. Nice balance. It has a slightly Disney/Pixar appearance, while also going somewhat into the blocky look of those shitty Nickelodeon pictures without hurting my head of its ugliness.
April O'Neil is a fellow martial arts asskicker, still dating Casey Jones and also knows a lot about South American artifacts. That's good for this movie, since her knowledge should come in handy, right? I was satisfied with the voice acting of most of the cast, minus Mako as Master Splinter and Zhang Ziyi as the female lead of the Foot Clan. Mako's voice is too soft for what I'd like Splinter to sound like; the dude should have a somewhat rhaspy sound to it, and he doesn't. Zhang Ziyi's english is definetely improving, and with an animated feature she should have plenty of time to work out those tough syllables. The downside is that her inflection is inferior, making the tone of her line delivery off-kilter.

I had a pretty fun time watching TMNT. I tried to imagine myself as a ten year old boy, and I was helped along by the quick pace and occasional turtle humor. The action scenes were also well choreographed. I especially enjoyed the rage-filled dual between Rapheal and Leonardo. You could see how the anger took over Rapheal's sensibilities. The tone turns slightly dark in some parts, but seeing as how it is still a family-oriented feature, it didn't get so dark that it turned forboding. I would love to see this as a PG-13 presentation! Man, I'd SO be all over that shit!

I always liked the turtles, even though in my younger days I was a little apprehensive about accepting the cartoon series at first. I eventually came to accept that it really WAS fun to watch. This movie is a worthy addition to the TMNT franchise. There's no Shredder, but of course, if you kill him off like the turtles really believe him to be, it's never a gaurantee that he won't be back in a future installment. If there IS a future installment. I sure hope there will be, because this was a pretty decent time at the movies!

GRADE: B-

TRIVIA:
Kevin Smith is the voice of the chef at the restaurant that gets invaded with that small, devilish monster.

Reviewed 4/18/07