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TMNT: Mutant Mayhem Spoiler Review
961 Plays2 years ago
Zuhair and J Scotty give their in-depth and spoiler filled reaction to and analysis of the new TMNT movie!
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Transcript
Introduction & Hosts
00:00:01
Speaker
On another exciting episode of the Animation Deliberation podcast, our four favorite shelled reptiles rise from the sewers in their glorious return to animated form as they belong onto the big screen. We're gonna talk about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, mutant mayhem. Right up to these ads, we have no control over. Cowabunga. Sing along if you know the words. One, two, three, it's time for animation deliberation. A conversation and a celebration of our favorite action animated series.
00:00:30
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Welcome back to another episode of Animation Deliberation, the podcast where we take action animation and cartoon seriously, but not too seriously. We're your hosts. I'm Zuhira Lee. And I'm J. Scottie St. Clair. And Cowabunga is right.
TMNT Movie Expectations
00:00:44
Speaker
Our favorite turtles are back on the big screen. We've been anticipating this for a long time, especially with the hype of the Across the Spider-Man and how well that's been doing, similar animation style. We've got Tether open at the helm.
00:00:57
Speaker
You gave your initial thoughts on another podcast so please be sure to check that out from last week.
00:01:05
Speaker
How you feeling overall? Yeah, so I've had a little over a week to sit with the movie now, and I think I maintain some of the points that I brought up on the podcast. So not to be too cagey for those of you that may not have listened to that, but I really liked the movie. I thought it was a solid entry. I was thoroughly entertained. I thought the animation style worked really well.
00:01:30
Speaker
It obviously took inspiration from Spider-Verse, but did enough to become its own thing. Thought it had a stellar soundtrack, really good voice cast. Some of them might've been a little bit underutilized. And yeah, just overall, it was a nice reboot for the franchise. I do have some issues with it. I think might be a little bit forgettable, but like I said, in the great scheme of things, definitely the best Turtles movie we've gotten in a while because those Michael Bay movies were not it.
Sequel & Industry Context
00:01:58
Speaker
not very memorable yeah i think the only i think the only reason i watched the second one was because i was really into the arrow verse and i love stephen amel so when it was casey jones second i was like i'm watching it for him and everything else is just here
00:02:15
Speaker
But no, I really enjoyed it. I had I had reasonable expectations for it. And I think I text you after that I like really loved it at the first half. And then it was a pretty good movie on the second half. Overall, great animation to have my quirks with it here and there. But I'm very happy with how they did this. And I'm excited that it's going to be carrying on into future movies with this style and these producers as well. Yeah, because Paramount already confirmed that we're getting a sequel that's
00:02:46
Speaker
somewhat in development with all the strikes going on right now. It is animation, so I know the animation guild is usually separate, but I think when it comes to big productions like this, they are part of the writer's guild as well as the voice actors. I'm sure they're part of SAG-AFTRA. But yeah, to know that we're getting more down the line, I think, does help me sit with some of the misgivings I have about maybe
00:03:10
Speaker
Again, it is an origin story. It's kind of a fresh take, a reinterpretation of these characters. But I did find myself missing some hallmarks of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles that kind of like...
00:03:23
Speaker
I don't know. I would have liked to see them, but if I'm going to get them down the line, I'm okay with that. Yeah. Yeah. This was definitely a good building point.
Personal TMNT Experiences
00:03:34
Speaker
And for me, it's like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is one of those things like I kind of watched when it was on, when I was waiting for something else on Cartoon Network to come on.
00:03:45
Speaker
Okay, because Cartoon Network was kind of like my go-to and I would like go to Nickelodeon from time to time so I didn't have too much familiarity with like other characters and villains and stuff like that so pretty much anything that I take is just gonna be like initial impression for me outside of like Bebop and Rocksteady and Shredder which are like the only kind of people I knew
00:04:09
Speaker
Well, they are kind of the main ones. And yeah, as far as I go, like I, you know, I was a product of the nineties. So that late eighties, early nineties cartoon series, it was like my bread and butter in the early days. Like I was watching that right alongside the power Rangers. So I had, you know, a couple of the episodes on VHS. I got a lot, a lot of play. And one of the things I've told you off air and for anyone that's listened to any of the coverage we've done on bad batch,
00:04:39
Speaker
know that I have a type when it comes to my characters. And I do like the techy badasses. So Donatello has always been my favorite, always resonated with him. And that is one thing when you text me after getting out of the theater, we were kind of going back and forth. And I said, I do think that probably my favorite thing about the movie is just how
00:04:59
Speaker
This, more so than some other entries, I think really allows Donatello in particular to shine. And I think he's one of the most well-developed. And I really like the voice actor they got for him. He sounded really unique. And they all sound unique, but he definitely stood out as one of like, this kid's got something. He's really doing something for his performance. So yeah, I was pretty thoroughly pleased with the representation for Donatello. Yeah, it's like he got the high, cracky voice and everything, but he still got some swagger to him. Yeah.
00:05:31
Speaker
Yeah, that's kind of like what our text conversation was. So for me, growing up, I liked Leo because I was just really into
00:05:41
Speaker
swords and the honorable warrior and stuff like that. But I think like as I grew up, I liked Donatello more because I liked the people who are really resourceful, but can still be a badass at the same time. So the fact that he's able to have such a high arsenal of knowledge and tech and all that stuff and still be able to pick up a staff and fight just as well as everybody else. I think that's where I like my love of Donatello started to come from. And I don't feel like he was appreciated enough in earlier content.
00:06:10
Speaker
because a lot of the time it was Mikey being comedic relief and then Ralph and Leo kind of like fighting for that leadership position because they were both like, you know, strong headed and strong willed in their own way. So Donnie was just kind of like the tech guy in the back. So I feel like this was kind of like a love letter to him. It's like everybody knows how these three are. We're going to give him the love that he hasn't gotten all these years.
00:06:32
Speaker
I think that's a fair assessment and I'm down with it.
Plot Details & Spoilers
00:06:35
Speaker
But I don't know for my purposes, I feel like we've danced around spoilers as much as possible. I want to get into the nitty gritty of all the other turtles and mutants that pop up, but we can't do that without a spoiler warning. If for some reason you're listening to this podcast and have not watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and you care about spoilers, this is your time to check out. But do check back in later once you've seen the movie. Yeah, check back in and stay hydrated while you're doing it too. Yeah.
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00:08:45
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00:09:33
Speaker
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Recent Movie Experiences
00:10:02
Speaker
Okay, we did get some feedback for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Mutant Mayhem, but before that, shall we read the synopsis in case anybody is in a similar situation to where I am or maybe they haven't seen the movie in a week or a couple of weeks? Yeah. I've been to four movies in the last two weekends, so definitely a lot of scrambling going on.
00:10:25
Speaker
I'm right there with you. I have been using my A-list. I saw a total tangent here, but I saw Randall Park, who many of us may know as Jimmy Wu from the MCU. He had his directorial debut with a movie called Shortcomings, which was actually, I didn't know until afterwards, I did some research. It was
00:10:42
Speaker
Based on a graphic novel but it was all it was like half the movie was shot in Berkeley and it was crazy like watch cuz I'm here in Berkeley Berkeley California watching the movie in a theater in Berkeley like recognizing like Sights and sounds that are like right outside the theaters. It was pretty wild and it was a good movie I really enjoyed the movie so good on a Randall Park look forward to seeing more
00:11:03
Speaker
from him. That's so cool. Yeah. I finally saw Princess Mononoke last night. Oh yeah. Yeah, nice. It was great. There were some people who definitely like overhyped it, but it did hit a pretty high bar.
00:11:17
Speaker
Interesting, interesting. Or some like super fans that just like would not shut up about it for myself. And they're like, it was a really good movie. Not as good as you hyped up to me, but still a really good movie. Well, you know, Studio Ghibli has that kind of like fervent fandom and Princess Mononoke, for most people it's in there. It's at the top of their list, if not in their top three. And I think I'm included in that. My list kind of shuffles around, but it's definitely in my top three. It's solid and probably the most action packed.
00:11:47
Speaker
I was looking at the board, and my favorite is hitting theaters next, which is The Wind Rises. It's actually the only one I haven't seen, so I'm excited to see that one myself. Check that out in theaters. Also, people, if you guys are on letterboxed, let us know, because me and Scoots are on it, and I hopped on it today to, like, add Princess Monodoka, and you were on my feed because you saw it too, so I was like, oh, cool, I don't have to look it up anymore. Just click that. Yeah.
00:12:11
Speaker
One of these days, I'm going to go back and actually type in a few words and thoughts. But right now, I'm just doing the star thing and whether or not I liked it. I've got a lot of catching up. Yeah, for sure. All right, before I get started. All right, let us delay no longer.
TMNT: Mutant Mayhem Synopsis
00:12:26
Speaker
All right, in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Mutant Mayhem, Techno Cosmic Research Institute, TCRI for short, executive Cynthia Ultron, not to be confused with Ultron, sends a squadron to hunt down rogue scientist, Bacter Stockman, who has created a mutagen to form his own mutant animal family, starting with a housefly.
00:12:47
Speaker
Stockman is interrupted by Ultram's strike force and killed in the resulting explosion while the mutagen falls into the sewers of New York City. Fifteen years later, the Turtle brothers Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael, and Donatello have been raised by their adoptive rat father, Splinter, after the five of them were transformed into humanoid mutants by Ooze, Stockman's mutagen.
00:13:10
Speaker
Being chased away by humans led Splinter to distrust humanity and train his sons in the art of ninjutsu, instructing them only to leave their sewer homes to steal supplies. Now teenagers, the turtles longed to live as normal high schoolers, much to Splinter's dismay. During a supply run, the turtles defeated gang of criminals to recover a stolen moped belonging to a teenager named April O'Neill, revealing themselves and their origins.
00:13:37
Speaker
April, an aspiring journalist struggling to move past an embarrassing viral incident of vomiting on camera, has been investigating a series of robberies of TCRI technology by a criminal known as Superfly. The turtles plan to stop Superfly and through April's reporting with public acceptance as heroes.
00:13:59
Speaker
They intercept a piece of stolen technology and meet Superfly under the Brooklyn Bridge, discovering that he is not only a mutant himself, but leader of a mutant gang. Excited to meet fellow mutants, the turtles bond with Superfly and others as he explains that they were created by Stockman, evading TCRI, and living on an abandoned ship in Staten Island.
00:14:19
Speaker
Like the turtles, they were attacked by society, and an embittered superfly has stolen TCRI technology to weaponize ooze to mutate all wildlife on the planet into the new dominant species and enslave humanity. The turtles try to intervene, but the gang escapes with the equipment, while a tracker allows TCRI to capture the turtles. At TCRI headquarters, the turtles are painfully milked for their mutagen, but April arrives with splinter to rescue them.
00:14:50
Speaker
That was great. At the gang's hideout, Splendor and the Turtles convince them that their plan for domination will make them no better than the worst of humanity, and together they turn on Superfly, destroying his machines. However, the Ooze combines Superfly with other nearby wildlife into a gigantic whale-like kaiju. He attacks the city, and the Turtles and other mutants attempt to stop him, but are assumed by the public to fellow monsters.
00:15:19
Speaker
April overcomes her anxiety and commandeers a news broadcast to explain the mutants' good intentions and the citizens of New York come to their aid. Leonardo finds his voice as a leader utilizing Michelangelo's gift for improvisation, Donatello's intelligence, and Raphael's rage to drop a canister of TCRI retro mutagen into Superfly's blowhole, turning him back into a collection of normal animals. Reconciling with Splinter the Turtles, April and the mutants are celebrated by the city.
00:15:50
Speaker
The mutants soon move into the sewers with them. Splinter and Scumbag fall in love in the Turtles' Enroll at April's High School, where they are all embraced as heroes. In a mid-credits scene, the Turtles enjoy high school life. While the Turtles and April enjoy themselves the prom, they are under surveillance from Ultron, holding the now unmutated Superfly captive, who plans to recapture the Turtles by enlisting the aid of the mysterious Shredder. Shredder. Shredder.
Animation Style & Influences
00:16:20
Speaker
One thing I really need to get out of the way, I love the call outs to anime in this movie and how much Attack on Titan was influencing the actions of these beings. Yeah, that's a great point. Yeah, the fact that Donatella was like an anime buff and that came up with like, yeah, they mentioned it in the synopsis, but you have this moment where all the turtles get to like embody what they're known for, like whether it's
00:16:46
Speaker
Leonardo's bravery and leadership or Donatello, his intelligence and his resourcefulness. And yeah, recognizing that the blowhole is basically that weak spot on the back of a Titan was pretty excellent. It's like, we got to hit him on the nape of the neck. It's like, oh, that's where the blowhole is.
00:17:03
Speaker
And then when Genki's frog like picked them up and was like flipping their tongue around the place, I was like, oh my God, that's the ODM gear. Nice. There you go. Yeah, that's great. That's great. And even like on the bulletin board, when it's like sign up for anime club, it was like Deku's like all my impression face. I was like, this is amazing. Yeah, yeah. I know the director Jeff Rowe.
00:17:26
Speaker
His previous outing was Mitchell's versus the Machine. Have you seen that one yet? I know we- Not yet. I'm flocking on that. Okay. I checked it out at the recommendation of many of our listeners and it's really, really good. Very much like this movie has a lot of references and meta commentary and comedy.
00:17:46
Speaker
And I know he also worked on Gravity Falls, and I feel like there was one other one that he was known for that's like escaping me right now, but obviously he's a very good person to have on any animated project because he has, I feel like he just has this appreciation and an understanding of what animation fans are going to relish having referenced in their movies. Yeah, keep it up. I loved every second of it. Yeah.
00:18:15
Speaker
And I noticed when we were going down the synopsis, you got particularly tickled when the milking scene was mentioned. That was holy. The fact that it was such a running thing, I was like, he's going to milk you. But he's making it sound like folklore. He's making it up to make the kids go to bed at night type of thing. And the fact that it actually happened. And the absolute terror, it's like, we're getting milked. They're milking us. And they came up. I was like, I told you we're going to get milked.
00:18:44
Speaker
like that must have been so satisfying for splinter but just I love when they plant seeds like that or it's just like a running joke on and on and on until like it finally happens it's just it's so beautifully done
00:18:56
Speaker
Yeah, that was one of the moments where the comedy really shined. I also think where the comedy really shines is when it allows, and it's one of the best parts of the movie as well. The fact that they did choose to really embrace the fact that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are teenagers. A lot of times I feel like we've seen them as older teenagers, like 17, 18 maybe. They feel like they're 14, 15, maybe 16 for the oldest of them.
00:19:21
Speaker
Yeah, with that in mind, it's the moments where they really just get to like be themselves and be brothers and like have their goofy quirks. So there was the scene where they were talking with April and they started talking about like a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich. And then they just like go through this like two minute thing where they're all just saying like bacon, egg and cheese. I'll take your bacon, egg and cheese, please. And April says something like maybe it's better if the world doesn't see as much of you. Like I'm probably going to have to cut some of this stuff.
00:19:48
Speaker
And then they just immediately go, bacon, egg, and cheese. Let me get bacon, egg, and cheese. Yeah. All the stuff of just like kids being kids was so wholesome and so well done. Yeah. Like when they're all sitting on their bunk beds with their phones, like first off, who's paying for their cell plan? For sure.
00:20:11
Speaker
And I love little things of like them just wanting to go to the movies and get snacks and I'm telling on dad and just, I just love every bit of it. The energy and the vibe of it was just so adorable. Yeah. And when they went to go see the movie, it was Ferris Bueller and it was actual like, they just took the film and put it into the movie. It's like, you've got everything else being so stylized and animated and that's just regular Ferris Bueller. That'd be funny if they animated that.
00:20:42
Speaker
Yeah. I watch at least a little bit of it to see, see if I liked it. With that being said, it kind of reminds me like, so talking about the animation style, it has a very like hand drawn approach to it. Like a bunch of extra like squiggles on the outlines and there's no real like
00:21:04
Speaker
how do I wanna put this? In terms of the way things are skewed and distorted with their perspective, there are rules to the world when it comes to the architecture and the buildings, but when it comes to the human characters, especially outside of April, I feel like they're all depicted in this gross way to where they're almost more gross than the turtles themselves. I know one of the newscaster ladies, she had a weird thing going on with her cheekbone on one side and then the other side of her face was completely flat, so it's very stylized, very exaggerated.
00:21:34
Speaker
But yeah, and then the mutants themselves, we can kind of get into the ones that stood out versus the ones that fell into the background. But Paul Rudd is Mondo Gecko. He's kind of the same thing. One of his eyes is big, the other one's tiny, and he's just such a goofy character.
00:21:54
Speaker
Yeah, at first I thought they were just doing it for like villains and criminals because there was one who's like eyeball was like up in his forehead and the other was like way down. It's kind of like, oh, this lack of symmetry is killing me. Oh, sure. It's not even symmetry. It's just to the extent that it was. I think between that and some of the
00:22:13
Speaker
Action scenes like the it didn't feel that smooth and sometimes like I got a little dizzy trying to like track what was going on I think those were my only Downsides to this animation style. Okay, especially because this is something that we're comparing a lot to Spider-Verse and I felt like with their motions and fluidity. It was both just fluid so I feel like this was lacking a little bit in comparison and that
00:22:40
Speaker
threw me out of it a little bit because I really was like sitting there like I there's just colors and circles right now I have no idea what's going on interesting I didn't really pick up on that but I do the part of what you said that I do kind of gravitate towards is and I don't really think I had like contemplated enough I chalked it up to more of like a story based reason but yeah outside of like the sequence when they're fighting
00:23:05
Speaker
Superfly is like the giant kaiju and they all have to kind of coordinate and come together to make that happen outside of that I didn't find much of the action like super memorable and maybe the points that you're bringing up are a good reason why but I also like within the story it's like So yes, I do like the fact that they're embracing like the younger Teenage side of things but like they really kind of messed with the origin and I understand it's a reboot and a reinterpretation I'm open to new perspectives and whatnot but kind of having a
00:23:35
Speaker
always in the past splinter was like a martial artist or he was like raised by a martial artist. So like he was always.
00:23:44
Speaker
Martial arts was always part of his life and he instilled that in his sons from a young age. And this one, it's kind of like they just kind of like more so happen upon it. It's like born out of necessity to protect themselves. So they just like absorb everything from watching Kung Fu movies and YouTube and stuff like that. So in that sense, their skills kind of seem unrefined. And I don't mind watching, you know, a story where their skills become more refined over time.
00:24:10
Speaker
It definitely emphasized the teenage aspect and not so much the ninja aspect. And the mutant aspect was obviously because it's called mutant mayhem. Yeah. Yeah.
Action Sequences & Themes
00:24:21
Speaker
On to that point, one of the lines that I thought was really important in this is when they got into their first fight. And I think it was Donatello who just like screamed out of fear at one point where it's like, we've been training, but we've never actually had to use our skills before. Like,
00:24:38
Speaker
Right. I don't know if the confidence is there in that regard. And it brings me back to like what somebody from our martial arts school said. He's like, I'm a black belt in two different arts and really highly ranked in the third. But when I did my first MMA fight, I was a white boat again.
00:24:57
Speaker
Because yes, I have this technique and foundation fundamentals and stuff like that. But the technique of actually causing harm to one other person in the setting was a whole new experience. So I like that they like address that in a way to where it's like, sure, we've been training all our lives, but we never actually had to fight bad guys. Yeah. The whole vigilante thing didn't even start until this movie. So sure.
00:25:22
Speaker
While I didn't, I wasn't sure what their origins were. I didn't realize that this was something much different than that. I do appreciate it. Like from that aspect that Splinter gave them this out of necessity to protect themselves. And they always had the confidence to be sneaky and protect themselves, but never actually had to go out and look for fight. And they were actually scared when they were confronting somebody for the first time.
00:25:52
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's a legitimate explanation and I buy that and yeah, it was definitely a part of the story even if they didn't necessarily hang a lantern on it. Yeah, I do recall that line of dialogue from, I'm pretty sure it was Donatello. Which that actually led up to my favorite fight scene in the movie.
00:26:11
Speaker
Oh, okay. Because that was kind of like the hallway look like everything was just going from left to right. And they were like, you know, fighting guys and taking turns and going down. You see the big smiles coming off their faces because they have the confidence now that like, Oh, we can do this. Right. And I think that's why I enjoyed it because it was just going in one line. It was a lot easier to track. It was when they started like trying to pan the camera all over the place that I was like, Okay, okay.
00:26:41
Speaker
I know we do have some feedback, but before we get to that, per se, I kind of wanted to talk about the turtles individually a little bit. I feel like we've talked at length about Donatello.
00:26:57
Speaker
But I said this on my initial kind of reaction last week, but as I've had more time to sit with it and spend with it, I do kind of stick to the point that I think this is a great voice cast, great young voice cast. It's nice to have these characters actually voiced by teenagers.
00:27:17
Speaker
nothing against the performer's performance per se, but I do just feel like Michelangelo was miscast. Even if we're seeing a young Michelangelo and he's not yet the party dude that he is to become, they make all these illusions that he's like the funny one or he's like good at improvisation, like he's supposed to be the heart of the team. And I just feel like
00:27:46
Speaker
the voice is too calm and too subdued. It just did not at any point ever feel like Michelangelo to me. And I can't say that about any of the other turtles. I thought all of the other turtles, while we were seeing the beginnings of their personalities, which may develop and become stronger over time, at least there was still something there for me to recognize and glom onto. And I hate to say I didn't feel that with Michelangelo.
00:28:14
Speaker
So you feel that it was a performance thing because I thought it was a direction thing. Well, that's what I'm saying. Like I, it's probably more of a direction thing because something went wrong with Mikey. Well, it's, yeah, it's just like, I think I'm trying to think about some of his lines that's, that stood out to me. And it's like, you know, you have the line in the trailer where.
00:28:36
Speaker
Splinter catches them as they come back from like watching the movie and they were supposed to be getting supplies, but they were gone for a long time. And then Leo says, Oh, the guys wanted to get pizza. I'm sorry. And then Michael Andrews was like, you ratted us out. And, and then Splinter gets onto him and he says, sorry, dad. And it's just, he's not animated or anything. He's very, there's a lot of restraint. He's very subdued. He's like, I said it in my initial reaction, but he feels like the calmest.
00:29:05
Speaker
of all the turtles and that's not Michelangelo. Yeah. I think they, they threw a little more of that routiness into Ralph. Well, I mean, Ralph is supposed to be rowdy, but Michelangelo is like right there alongside him. They're the knuckleheads. I agree that they were lacking. And one thing that really stood out to me that I wasn't happy with is they only use cowabunga once in the movie and it was slow mode.
00:29:32
Speaker
like he finally has a moment that's on him. It took me a second to be like, what is he saying? So yeah, while I feel like Donatello was intentionally getting more attention, Mikey definitely was just kind of like, no pun intended to fly on the wall. Hmm. Yeah.
00:29:54
Speaker
Yeah, and I don't mean to be overly negative. Like I said, I really don't fault the performer. I do think it was just an instance of like, maybe Shimon Brown Jr., maybe he could have gotten there with better direction, but I just kind of keep going back to like, if I was the casting director, I think I just would have cast somebody with
00:30:13
Speaker
I wouldn't reverse roles or anything like that, but I almost feel like the energy that Micah Abbey brought to Donatello is more of what I was expecting from Michelangelo, more upbeat, more energetic, less restraint. That's Michelangelo. Michelangelo is the one to put his foot in his mouth. He's the one to make mistakes. He's the one that the rest of the brothers have to look after.
00:30:37
Speaker
Again, I'm open to new interpretations, but I just really felt like Michelangelo was the furthest removed from who he was supposed to be. But I don't want this to turn into a loop of me just bagging on Michelangelo. No, that's all fair remarks. I'm with you on that. Okay. So hopefully you just take notes and find a way to do better within the next one. Yeah. Maybe I'm alone. Maybe I'm on an island when it comes to that because I know I did read Andre Sparks feedback and he kind of
00:31:05
Speaker
pushed back at some of the things I brought up. But with your familiarity of this universe and the villains and this and that, were you thrown off, like I know it was in the trailer and in the title, how did you feel about all these mutants making their appearance in the very first movie?
Character Dynamics & Future Conflicts
00:31:26
Speaker
That's a good question. I really liked getting to see some of them.
00:31:33
Speaker
But I do think it was an instance where less could have been more like we had so many like I feel like some were like Post Malone's character Ray Fillet like all he was like he got like three or four lines and everyone he's just singing like okay it's good for a gag it's good for a joke but
00:31:51
Speaker
There were some characters that were a little more obscure and like side characters that I wasn't as exposed to. And Ray Fillet was actually one of those. I actually was not familiar with Mondo Gecko, Paul Rudd's character, but I did do some research to find out what his origins were and how long he's been a part of the franchise. But the Bat Wingnut was one that I was definitely familiar with. Of course, Bebop and Rocksteady.
00:32:17
Speaker
Again, it's one of those situations, it was nice to see all these characters, but Bebop and Rocksteady especially, their characters were there, they were who they are. But how many lines did each of them get? You've got John Cena and Seth Rogen, and I can't remember a single line.
00:32:35
Speaker
that either one of them had. Again, I hate to delve into the side of negativity so much, but this is where I feel like I sang the praises of the movie so much at the front. I did say I have issues, and these are where some of the issues are coming to a head. I have a reason that I asked because you brought up Seth Rogen. I do have to say that I was laughing whenever he did speak because
00:32:57
Speaker
he was a warthog and he was Pumbaa on the live action quote-unquote live action Lion King so whenever he spoke I was just like what is it with D-wood warthogs right now okay you were just like yeah I'm already warmed up to this one give me that roll that's the one that I'll take with this yeah but the reason that I asked is I was gonna do a Seth Rogen I will not be doing anything different to my voice I was born to play pigs
00:33:26
Speaker
So the reason that I ask is because like for someone who's not as familiar with everybody, I thought it was weird that like if this is something that they I don't feel like they're gonna stop it too, right? Like this is something that seems like they're gonna have multiple movies for sure. So it was interesting to me that it's like with Rocksteady and Bebop being like
00:33:45
Speaker
two villain faces for them and all these other mutants to be friends with the turtles now and living with them in the sewers. Like it makes you wonder how much of a threat is Shredder actually going to be when you have like 15 mutants living together.
00:34:04
Speaker
as opposed to just the turtles right because there's no way they're gonna be like hey thanks for saving us and reforming us and giving us a home to live but we're not going to fight with you when this you know murderous ninja comes up yeah no that's that's a good point so to that end they kind of like they did
00:34:23
Speaker
skews some of the origins of some of these characters and like yeah bebop and rocksteady there are long-standing foes of the turtles so now having them be allies like this early on in the franchise is just going to change the dynamic and maybe they'll have a falling out uh somewhere down the line but you bring up shredder and i absolutely agree like i i wonder what this version of shredder is going to look like is it going to be a completely different take
00:34:45
Speaker
given the world that we're set in now, the fact that this TCRI company and Maya Rudolph's character, Cynthia, is the one that's like calling him in, like kind of makes him seem like more like a bounty hunter, which is not really his shtick in the animated series. He's got the foot clan. I'm wondering, are we even going to see the foot clan? Because that was, you know, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, they have a part of their origin was that it was kind of a
00:35:12
Speaker
They were the creators. Kevin Laird and Peter Eastman were very much inspired by Frank Miller and his like the Dark Knight Rises and his Daredevil especially. So Daredevil had the Foot Clan.
00:35:24
Speaker
Excuse me, the hand. Hand. Yeah, so the foot clan was born right out of that. Allegedly the same ooze that made Daredevil blind was the one that went down the drain right after. Exactly, exactly. Like I said, I'm excited for the future and getting the name dropped with Shredder and kind of seeing the over the shoulder a la Thanos and Avengers.
Turtles' New High School Life
00:35:50
Speaker
But yeah, with this whole new world we've got and the fact that the, the turtles are going to school as well now too. Like that was never a part of the animated series. Like they never commingled with like the real world and had socialized like that. Like April was always there. One connection to the liaison. Yeah, liaison. Yeah, exactly. So yeah.
00:36:13
Speaker
That's that's all I was curious about your thoughts on that. Like overall, it was a really fun movie. Great. Yeah. But like I said, like I thought the first part was like incredible and the emotions that they were building up to. And then it just like I try not to think about.
00:36:31
Speaker
things like that. Sure. Like during the movie, but it has been something I was like, man, this this movie really gave me a lot of questions. And they're not necessarily bad questions. It's just more of like, I'm just I'm overthinking the direction. And yeah, I get answers to it for like a year. It's not like, oh, my God, like they set this and this up. Like, how is this going to happen? This actually isn't making sense to me right now.
00:36:53
Speaker
Well, and yeah, I also think it's worth like bringing up the point like we say on this podcast all the time animation is not just for kids, but sometimes animation is for kids like it's marketed directly for kids and I do think this is a kids movie much like the Super Mario Brothers movie and
00:37:10
Speaker
I'm willing to accept that I might not have been the target audience for this movie. I think they were targeting a younger audience. I think had I been a father with kids in the age range to watch this movie, I enjoyed the movie, but my enjoyment probably would have been enhanced if it was like, oh, I love the turtles when I was growing up. Now I get to pass this down to my kids. I think that's what the movie is for. Hopefully, that's the reason that it's resonating with people and
00:37:41
Speaker
I don't have the box office numbers right in front of me, but it had a pretty decent outing, especially with the competition. It was going up against, I think, the only newcomer that outgrossed it other than, you know, the Mainstays, Barbie and Oppenheimer was the Meg 2. So opening at fourth when the competition at the box office is this heated, which is crazy for August, bodes pretty well for the movie.
00:38:09
Speaker
animated project grossed around 51 million from movie theaters across the planet giving a solid advantage as the summer movie season approaches this conclusion. 43 million out of that came from the US and Canada alone. Yeah, it's not bad. And if it's anything like elemental, elemental
00:38:30
Speaker
had kind of a weak start for a Pixar movie, but it's just been that little movie that could, like it's just been quietly in the background continuing to make more and more money. So not the disappointment that people initially thought it was. And I think nobody's saying that about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at this point, but I think it could probably benefit from a similar scenario and viewing behavior.
Audience & Reception
00:38:56
Speaker
So this is for a smaller audience. I'm wondering how many kids are going to want to watch Attack on Titan right after. And a whole new generation is born. Did you have more that you want to get into specifically before we move on to feedback or where are you at right now? I'm good. Okay. Let's talk about Mr. Andre Sparks feedback. Do you want to tackle that? Yeah.
00:39:21
Speaker
So, Andre says, hey guys, so for the new TMNT movie, my son and I loved it. There we go. All the turtles in April are so young and aren't experienced like we are used to. I think that makes sense for what they are trying to do. Michelangelo was funny, but not the party dude yet. That makes sense because he hasn't been in any parties. Leonardo is the leader, but he hasn't really experienced what truly means
00:39:43
Speaker
Yeah, so I loved how at the end he really started that leadership role. I liked how he was the one in love with April. That was different. Usually it's Mike or Donnie. Donatello was smart, but not the super smart one. We know he will be in the future. I did like how he was the driver, though.
00:40:00
Speaker
Rafael was more excited about fighting. He's not the angry moody one yet. He really didn't have a lot to be mad about besides the not being on the surface. April being in high school and scared of the camera was great. Throwing up had me rolling. But again, by the end she was approaching her news reporter in anchor roots. So I think in time they will get there. There is room to grow in this movie series.
00:40:23
Speaker
As for Harley Quinn, this show is crazy as ever. The whole Bat Family arc is going deeper than I thought it would, but it's still Harley focused. Keep up the good work, guys. It's really interesting to think that the next movie is just going to be like a puberty one.
00:40:38
Speaker
Yeah, mutant puberty. Donnie's going to be stuck on his phone. Raphael's going to be having like outbursts of like, dad, what do you mean I can't go out? Mikey's going to be hungry as ever and the party boy, apparently. Right. Leo could probably be stressing over tests. Yeah, I do think their school participation and attendance is going to factor in heavily to some of the conflicts we see them engage in and in a future outing here.
00:41:08
Speaker
But yeah, I want to thank Andre for...
00:41:11
Speaker
your feedback. And also I want to let you know I did get the other piece of feedback you sent in regards to the kind of experimental nature of last week's episode. So that's not one for reading on air per se, but I did get that feedback and it's being duly considered. So thank you. And yeah, this just kind of goes right to my point. Andre saw this, saw this with his kids or his son specifically, and they had an absolute great time with it. I do think he brings up some good points about like, yes, this is an origin story.
00:41:40
Speaker
We see the beginnings of some of these strong personalities, but not all the way there. But the one thing I push back on is he says Michelangelo is funny, but not a party dude yet. And I just have to say, is he? Is he though? Like, think back. Who had the funniest lines? I don't think it was Michelangelo, for me anyway.
00:42:00
Speaker
It was the weeb. Yeah, yeah. This is Donatello's movie. And Splinter. I think we didn't really talk about Jackie Chan as Splinter, but he definitely had some excellent moments. And I would be remiss if I did. I feel like on my initial reaction, I did not give enough praise to Ayo Edebiri as April. But yeah, her whole vomiting thing was great and definitely one of the laugh out loud moments for me in the theater.
00:42:30
Speaker
I forgot another laugh out loud moment is the way that they reacted to their new stepmom. Oh, yes, I love you too. Yeah, yeah. As much as Splinter is like a stern father in this and some of his phobias are what hold them back so much, he is not a serious character at all.
Splinter's New Portrayal & Show Updates
00:42:57
Speaker
Which is a departure from the way Splinter is usually depicted. Oh, and he tried throwing a little party for everybody. It's like, what do you want to do, guys? Let me bring the world down here. What can I do to make it more comfortable for it? I'm like, aw. He's like, I've got menus. You can have anything you want as long as it's pizza. Can I take your order? So cute. All right. Well, anything else you want to say about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mutant Mayhem?
00:43:25
Speaker
That man's a good movie. I'm looking forward to the next one and hopefully whatever quirks we had it, it gets fixed time. Yeah. Take your kids to see it. I think they'll have an absolute blast with it. Um, anything you want to let the people know about otherwise. And then too much is just a lot of different things going on with this show. We have my adventures with Superman. We're covering like three episodes at a time. We've got Jujutsu Kaisen coverage going on.
00:43:54
Speaker
me and Haley Hobbs are going to be doing a rebels recap slash primer for the Ahsoka series. Yeah, basically I, we have like five subs shows within the show. That's a lot of content. Yeah. And if you appreciate all that content, we would appreciate a little support. So if you like what we're doing here, give us a review, share us, like, and subscribe.
00:44:22
Speaker
All of those things are beneficial to the algorithm. As for myself, I'm here on Animation Deliberation. Also catch me over at Multiverse News and check out Stranded Panda for a whole host of excellent podcasts. All right, so that'll do it for me. Thank you for listening and keep tuning in. That's T-double-O-N-I-N. And as always, stay well.
00:45:18
Speaker
Stay well and