Heroes In A Half Shell
Turtles In Film
Before I get started talking about the TMNT Films. I have to say that enjoy all three films! Yes even the third one! It has its moments. The first film is probably remembered the best, and most quoted. I’ll say right now going back and rewatching them as an adult, I misheard so many lines. For example: “Oh a fellow chucker eh?” Which I thought Mikey said, “Oh a foul checker eh” I have NO idea how that made any sense to my 10 year old brain at the time. I saw the first two films in the theaters, and somehow missed seeing the third one in theaters. However when my Uncle Robert had the VHS tape, I do remember nearly tackling him for it in 1993.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
It took four years from the animated series start to get a film! However when I saw the teasers and trailers on TV I was jumping for joy. I remember having the movie novelization book to go along with this, and my Dad even sent me a beach towel with the 87 Turtles on it.
Yes I know the film was meant to reflect the more darker comics and not the 1987 cartoon, hell it even says on the poster, “Hey Dude, This is No Cartoon.” There is still a feel, at least to me that the comedy from the cartoon is in the film. With all the catchphrases and goofing off and stuff. The general plot here is the Origin of the Turtles, Splinter, and Shredder.
It tells the tale of the Turtles, April, and how they met. Plus introduces Casey Jones. I love all the action scenes, and the fighting. What I noticed in rewatching the film, is that the camera angles are very interesting and awesome. There was no error anywhere in the fade ins or outs. I really enjoyed seeing the scene transitions as well, very smooth. Watching this again, I had the same level of enjoyment as a 32 year old, just as I did when I was 10 years old. The film is very solid, and there isn’t much, if anything anyone can complain about.
I love each of the turtles in this, but if I had to pick favorites mine would be Donny and Mikey! I just love the dynamic the two o them have. They seem to be the more comical of the four. Whereas Leo and Raph are both serious and angry. Sure Leo and Raph can crack jokes, but not as much as Donny and Mikey.
Cast
Live actors
David Forman* as Leonardo
Michelan Sisti* as Michaelangelo
Leif Tilden* as Donatello
Michael Turney as Danny Pennington
Jay Patterson as Charles Pennington
Raymond Serra as Chief Sterns
Toshishiro Obata as Tatsu
Sam Rockwell as Head Thug
Voice cast
Brian Tochi as Leonardo
Robbie Rist as Michaelangelo
Corey Feldman as Donatello
Josh Pais‡ as Raphael
David McCharen as The Shredder
Michael McConnohie as Tatsu
All four actors who played the Turtles also appeared in cameos as minor characters, with David Forman (Leonardo) as a gang member, Michelan Sisti (Michaelangelo) as a pizza delivery man, Leif Tilden (Donatello) as a messenger of The Foot and Josh Pais (Raphael) as a passenger in a taxi.
‡ Josh Pais, who portrayed Raphael, is the only actor to portray a Turtle on screen and provide his voice.
The cast is very well done. All seem to fit the TMNT characters very well. The voice cast especially, I found was very well done. Each Turtle has their own unique personality, and having distinct voices is a plus. Very cool. I remember 8 years after this came out when Armageddon was released, I thought HEY that’s April O’Neil. As Judith Hoag was in both films.
Another aspect in this film is the fact that Danny Pennington has teenage issues, and that will appeal to any kids who seem to think their real family doesn’t care about them. So even though this film focuses on the Turtles and their story, I do like that there are other underlying plotlines. From seeing The Shredder in the 87 series, to bringing him to life here in this film. It’s scary and awesome how well Shredder’s costume translates into film.
From beginning to end this is a film anyone can sit down with a bag of popcorn, or whatever snack to you choose, and the time will fly, because you are having so much fun.
Sadly I currently do not have any of the films on DVD or digital media. I will though eventually. I used to have them, and would watch them all the time. I searched on YouTube, just to see if the full movie was there. To my surprise somehow it was.
“I have always liked……Cowabunga.”
“COWABUNGA!!!”
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret Of The Ooze
I don’t remember if there was a movie novelization for this one, but I do remember being in the theater, and for some reason being able to quote the film line for line. This was weird because it was the first time I saw it. I might be remembering it wrong, I’m old damnit get off my lawn.
The second film picks up right where the first left off. To begin the film though, everyone in New York City is eating Pizza!! Now we have the Turtles and Splinter living with April. We meet Keno a pizza delivery guy, who catches some guys robbing the local mall? I put a question mark there, because I’m not sure what kind of an outlet it was. It seemed to be a mall to me. Keno goes down there, tries to stop the thieves the best he can. He ends up getting outnumbered, and then the green teens show up. In high fashion. I just love the way they did the title screen shot in this.
In this opening fight scene Mikey and Donny have all the comedic lines!
“You wanna pickle, I’ll give a pickle.” -Mikey
“Combat Coldcuts!” -Mikey
I love how Raph actively attempts to not let Keno see them. You’d think this wouldn’t work because Keno turned when they came in. I can understand that might be a double take moment though. The Turtles wion the battle, Keno is left speechless as Raph sends him off to call the cops. The Turtles tie the thugs up, and abscond with the pizza, but they leave money for it.
Ok so without going beat by beat the entire blog here, the jest of The Secret Of The Ooze is that we get more of the Turtles origin, in that we find out what mutated them. This second film seems to be to be very Donny centric at times. He feels as if they were meant for a higher purpose, or that their origin should have more meaning, then what it actually was. Between Donny and Raph I’d say this is their film. They have the biggest parts in the plot. With Raph trying to infiltrate the Foot Clan, and Donny having all these thoughts and feelings.
I absolutely love the new sewer den, very freakin awesome. I’m not too keen on Tokka and Rahzar, I wish it was Rocksteady and Bebop. Let’s talk about the cast.
Cast
Mark Caso as Leonardo: Leonardo is generally considered the leader of the Turtles within the TMNT franchise. He wears a blue bandana and carries two katana on the back of his shell. He is voiced by Brian Tochi.
Michelan Sisti as Michelangelo: Michaelangelo is one of the four Turtles, and is the most light-hearted of the four in both the film and the TMNT universe. He wears an orange bandana and carries dual nunchaku on each side within his belt. He is voiced by Robbie Rist.
Leif Tilden as Donatello: Donatello is one of the four turtles and is known for his technological expertise within the TMNT franchise. He wears a purple bandana and carries a bo on the back of his shell. He is voiced by Adam Carl.
Kenn Troum as Raphael: Raphael is the more aggressive and rebellious of the four turtles. He wears a red bandana and carries two sai in his belt. He is voiced by Laurie Faso. Troum and Faso replace Josh Pais in this film.
Kevin Clash as Splinter: Splinter is the master and father figure of the turtles, and is a mutant rat.
Paige Turco as April O’Neil: O’Neil is a news reporter, and the human companion of the Turtles and Splinter. Paige Turco replaced Judith Hoag for this film and the following film.[3]
David Warner as Professor Jordan Perry: The professor works for the TGRI company as head scientist. He works with the Turtles to create an antidote for the mutated Tokka and Rahzar.
Ernie Reyes, Jr. as Keno: He is a pizza delivery boy who meets the turtles in the beginning of the film and befriends them.
François Chau as Shredder: Shredder is the main villain in the TMNT franchise. He survived the battle with Splinter from the first film, and wishes to get revenge on Splinter and the Turtles. François Chau replaced James Saito in this film; He is voiced by David McCharen, who also voiced him in the first film.
Kevin Nash as Super Shredder: As a result of using the ooze, Shredder becomes a large behemoth. This is Nash’s film debut; he is best known for his pro wrestling career.
Toshishiro Obata as Tatsu: Tatsu is Shredder’s right-hand man and temporary leader of the Foot Clan in Shredder’s absence. He is voiced by Michael McConnohie.
Mark Ginther as Rahzar: Rahzar is a mutated wolf created by Shredder using a canister of ooze from the TGRI company. He is voiced by Frank Welker.
Kurt Bryant as Tokka: Tokka is a mutated alligator snapping turtle also created by Shredder using the canister of ooze from TGRI. He is voiced by Frank Welker.
Vanilla Ice as himself.
So Donatello has a different voice, it’s ok, it works for this film. However I miss Corey Feldman as the voice. Glad that Robbie Rist reprises mikey. I’m not too keen on the recasting of April. Paige Turco is a decent actress, but I like Judith Hoag’s performance better. Years after seeing this and then seeing Batman The Animated series, it finally dwned on me that Professor Jordan Perry was played by David Warner, who also voiced Ras’ Al Ghul in BTAS. I think the casting of a wrestler as Super Shredder is awesome, very cool seeing Kevin Nash.
From beginning to end I can say I really enjoyed watching TMNT II. It has great lines, great action, awesome battles, and with the Shredder having mutants adds a new aspect to the film series. I love The Shredder’s new design in this film. It’s even more menacing then the first film costume.
TMNT II is a fun film, that sees both the Turtles and Shredder having to do new things, and not rely on what was done in the first film. I do miss Casey Jones though, Keno is no Casey damnit. Having Vanilla Ice do the “theme” song of the film was pretty cool back in the 90s when Ice was on top. Seeing him in the film was great too.
“And remember, go ninja go ninja go! I made another funny!”
Again to my surprise the full film of TMNT II: the Secret Of The Ooze was on YouTube.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III
Yes I know this film is bad. And yes I have several issues with it. However at the same time I still enjoy it, because it continues the Turtles adventures. The movie starts out in Fuedal Japan in 1603. We see that there is a war going on. We then flash to the present day, where we see the Turtles and Splinter in the new lair from TMNT II.
The basic plot here is that April gets sent back to 1603 and Lord Norinaga’s son gets sent to the present day. The Turtles go back to save April, and Norinaga’s honor guard get sent to the present day. In the present day Casey Jones babysits the honor guards, and in the past The Turtles need to save the day, and create peace amongst the people.
Even though I enjoy this film, I can honestly say it should have been a different plot. They should have used something else from the comics, or bring in the Rat king or something. It’s not that the plot is bad, but it needs work. A lot of work. I hate the recasting of Splinter’s voice. This version of Splinter does not sound wise at all, he’s just high pitched. I am glad that Corey Feldman returned to voicing Donny.
Cast
Live actors
Paige Turco as April O’Neil
Elias Koteas as Casey Jones / Whit
Mark Caso as Leonardo
David Fraser as Michaelangelo
Jim Raposa as Donatello
Matt Hill as Raphael
James Murray as Splinter
Stuart Wilson as Walker
John Aylward as Niles
Sab Shimono as Lord Norinaga
Vivian Wu as Mitsu
Henry Hayashi as Kenshin
Travis A. Moon as Yoshi
Voice cast
Brian Tochi as Leonardo
Robbie Rist as Michaelangelo
Corey Feldman as Donatello
Tim Kelleher as Raphael
James Murray as Splinter
Rist and Tochi (who did the voices of Michaelangelo and Leonardo, respectively) are the only two voice actors to voice the same character throughout all three live-action TMNT movies. However, Feldman voiced Donatello in both this and the first movie.
The actual live action cast is great. I’m glad that Elias Koteas had dual roles in Whit and Casey, I thought that was very cool. Stuart Wilson is a guy I thought I recognized! He was the villain Jack Travis in Lethal Weapon 3. I like Tim Kelleher’s voice for Raph, but nothing beats the voice for Raph in the first film.
“Pizza see, oowww or frisbee zing!” -Mikey
“Hey who frisbeed me in the face? Why I oughta!” -Donny
Watching this again I felt like I needed breaks every 20 minutes. The movie is too gimmicky, and for me doesn’t flow as well as the previous films.
Again I can’t believe I found the full movie on YouTube
Final Thoughts:
Overall I love the film franchise. I was horrified to find out after the third film they attempted a TV Series. The Next Mutation should NEVER be watched again. It’s sooo cliched and bad, plus a female Turtle? That did not work at all!!!! I personally will never review TMNT The Next Mutation. Anyways the film franchise is awesome in general. Minus the issues I have with TMNT III, I enjoy everything about the films. Even though Michael Bay’s production company is involved with the new film coming, I’m cautiously optimistic. Be sure to check out my other blog here on TMNT Week 2012. Turtles Get Animated.
I think betwen both the blogs I have done during GCRN’s TMNT Week 2012, that COWABUNGA says it all.
