TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: OUT OF THE SHADOWS Review

From the opening cityscape shot of New York City accompanied by Steve Jablonsky's pulsing score new director Dave Green (Earth to Echo) establishes a fresh, but familiar tone with this sequel to 2014's "surprisingly" successful reboot of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle live action series. With Michael Bay producing, a hired hand director, and a string of production issues it is something of a wonder that first film came off as well as it did. In more or less accomplishing what it intended to be for the audience it intended to target Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles qualified as a success. And if that opinion is to be shared it is also highly likely one would agree with the fact this sequel, subtitled Out of the Shadows, is even more successful in its end goals as the story is more coherent, the characters more in tune with their distinctive personalities, and the whole affair in general being a lot more fun. That isn't to say Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows is a great film as it certainly has no aspirations to be groundbreaking and seems to only hope to fall in line with the rules rather than to be an exception, but in doing little more than fully embracing its source material in the most cartoony and goofy of ways it gets so many things right it parlays itself into a pleasantly entertaining time at the movies. It would be easy to pick apart a film such as this for the gaps in logic, the idea that Megan Fox's April O'Neil could so easily break into as high profile a lab as Dr. Baxter Stockman's (Tyler Perry), or that Hollywood should be ashamed of itself for wasting the talent of actors like Laura Linney in this type of disposable entertainment, but what would be the point? TMNT has been around long enough at this point that there is some respect due to the series for being as endearing as it has continued to be. The fact that it centers around four genetically mutated reptiles who listen to a giant rat and have a sexy news reporter and a guy with a hockey mask on their team is easy ammo if one cares to criticize such openly ridiculous material, but that Green and screenwriters Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec choose to embrace such absurdities rather than attempt to play them down (ahem...Fantastic Four) makes it easier for the audience to do the same.

New Trailer for TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: OUT OF THE SHADOWS

I feel like one of the few folks in my generation who didn't mind 2014’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I grew up loving the Turtles, but never cared as much about the mythology or technicalities as I did simply enjoying their personalities and having a good time. I mean, should anyone get overly protective about kung-fu fighting turtles? Anyway, that the 2014 film turned out to be something of a surprising box office success and a pleasing film in its own right for the audience it was made for ultimately only meant one thing moving forward: we'd be getting more turtles. Taking away from the film an appreciation for the new character designs, the PG-13 skirting sense of humor, Will Arnett’s dumb performance and the overall look of the product I was anxious to see what future films might do with some of my favorite childhood characters that also inhabited the world of TMNT. In this Dave Green (Earth to Echo) directed sequel we seem to be getting as many homages to the original property as possible. Whether that be in Casey Jones, more Shredder, Bebop and Rocksteady, Krang and the Technodrome, or simply the turtle’s mode of transportation-it's all here. This is a series unafraid to embrace its roots and in a day and age where the cool thing to do is ground as much of your fantastical world in reality one has to appreciate what this franchise is doing for the fan base it needs to serve. This new trailer looks silly as all get out and I can’t imagine it not being as enjoyable as this makes it seem. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows stars Alan Ritchson, Megan Fox, Stephen Amell, Laura Linney, William Fichtner, Brian Tee, Will Arnett, Noel Fisher, Tyler Perry, Johnny Knoxville, Jane Wu, Jeremy Howard, Tony Shalhoub, Gary Anthony Williams, Pete Ploszek, Stephen Farrelly, and opens on June 3, 2016.

First Trailer for TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: OUT OF THE SHADOWS

2014’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot was something of a surprising box office success and a fine enough film in its own right for the audience it was made for. As a fan of the turtles since their heyday of the late 80’s/early 90’s I was cautiously optimistic about what we might get with this new live-action film. I was of the age when the original trilogy of live action films debuted that I found each of them more fun than the next (yes, even the one where they go to Japan) and so there was a special place in my heart for the turtles and seeing them on the big screen again. I ended up having a pretty good time with 2014’s TMNT and even enjoyed the new character designs, the sense of humor, Will Arnett’s dumb performance and the overall look of the product. In this Dave Green (Earth to Echo) directed sequel, we seem to be getting all of that again, but this time with as many homages to the original property as possible. Whether that be in Casey Jones, more Shredder, Bebop and Rocksteady or simply the turtle’s mode of transportation-it's all here. This is a series unafraid to embrace its roots and in a day and age where the cool thing to do is ground as much of your fantastical world in reality one has to appreciate what this franchise is doing. This looks silly as all get out, but I can’t imagine it not being mostly enjoyable. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows stars Alan Ritchson, Megan Fox, Stephen Amell, Laura Linney, William Fichtner, Brian Tee, Will Arnett, Noel Fisher, Tyler Perry, Johnny Knoxville, Jane Wu, Jeremy Howard, Tony Shalhoub, Gary Anthony Williams, Pete Ploszek, Stephen Farrelly, and opens on June 3, 2016.