Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem hits theaters on August 2.
By Elazar Abrahams
After years of living sheltered lives in the sewers of Manhattan, everyone’s favorite teenage anthropomorphic amphibians Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Donatello are ready to live among the real world. But will humans ever accept them? That’s the crux of the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie Mutant Mayhem, a fun, fast-paced family flick that firmly updates the franchise for a new audience.
Producing team Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg have succeeded in forging a fresh take on the Turtles that both honors the iterations that have come before but still paves a new path with a relaunch that will reach a diverse audience. This version of the brothers is very Gen-Z; the boys say things like “rizz,” listen to BTS, and in particularly surreal moments, quote straight from your TikTok’s For You Page. The budding heroes really feel like kids, and it is nice to see the script lean into the “Teenage” part of the title, sometimes even over the “Ninja.”
It’s not just the titular quartet that’s different. Master Splinter’s design and attitude lean into the adoptive father nature of the character instead of the typical sage sensei 90s kids may expect. April, the human woman who befriends the Turtles, is decidedly uncool and a far cry from the “bombshell” Megan Fox portrayed in the most recent TMNT movies.
What really sticks out about Mutant Mayhem is its unique animation style. This is Jeff Rowe’s directorial debut, but having worked on Sony’s stellar Mitchells vs. the Machines, he’s well-versed in the art of stylized cartooning. The movie looks like a mix of Mitchells and Spider-Verse, creating a truly unique viewing experience. It sometimes feels like you’re watching a sketchbook, with some objects misshapen or not fully penciled in. It lends an invaluable sense of lightness to the film’s atmosphere.
The voice acting is also superb. The Turtles are voiced by actual children, all newcomers to acting. Each has a distinct sound and great chemistry with the rest of the gang. Celebs round out the rest of the cast — Ice Cube is hilarious as the villain Superfly, with Rogen, John Cena, Paul Rudd, and other surprises among his crew. Ayo Edebiri seems to be in everything these days, and she kills it here, doing her bumbling shtick as April. Jackie Chan is a great pick for Splinter, getting a fantastic third-act moment.
Mutant Mayhem is also our favorite kind of movie here at TVandCity.com — a love letter to New York! The Big Apple setting is crucial to the story and upbringing of the heroes in a half-shell. The aforementioned animation style makes this all the cooler, with locales like the Brooklyn Bridge, State Island sidestreet, and centerpiece Time Square brawl popping off the screen.
There are gripes to be had, though. The script is very referential, with a pop culture quip a minute. It’s a constant barrage of one-liners about Attack on Titan, Avengers: Endgame, and many more. Some scenes feel deliberately engineered to go viral, like a BTS sing-a-long that fans of the K-Pop supergroup are sure to retweet into oblivion.
Mutant Mayhem isn’t laugh-out-loud funny, but every joke that doesn’t land is made up for with a heartfelt message of love and acceptance. The movie doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it’s better than it needed to be and has a real creative vision. In a time when studios are churning out soulless cash grabs, that’s worth praising.
I give Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem a B+.
TV and City 