Movie Title: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/10)
Year: 2007
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle official site: http://tmnt.warnerbros.com/
I remember how I used to glue my butt on the sofa and sit still there waiting for cartoon time. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) is one of my favourites alongside Voltron, Baja Hitam, Thundercats. Now that they have Powerpuff Girls, Dexter, Samurai Jack… all those old cartoons seems just incomparable.
It has been a good old 14 years since I last saw TMNT the movie. Back in those days, it was purely live action movie. Trust me when I say I have vague memory of how the previous few movies are about. I really don’t remember anything except the fact that they look like running mascots on the street. Then again, I couldn’t bother much to re-watch the previous 3 TMNT movies to ensure I get the flow correctly. I was pretty much stuck up with work.
Little do I know this movie was the first CGI generated TMNT movie. I always though of this as one of those live action movie… continuing from their good old days but no… they decided to make it to a purely animated movie which honestly, upsets me. What happen to the good old days? It makes the turtles less soulful… we are in year 2007.
Spoiler begins here.
———————————————————————————————————————–
TMNT begins it’s story by introducing the villain in this 4th TMNT movie. Back in ancient times, an ancient group of warrior headed by their brave general went on conquering the world and would stop for nothing. They are being feared by many as they are unstoppable.
The brave general found a great big stone which acts as a time portal. Every three thousand years, the stars and planet would align to a straight constellation and this would open the time portal. With this, the general would gain immortality. But little does he know the consequences. His other faithful brotherhoods was turned into stones while the portal releases 13 monsters to the earth. Shocked and upset with that he had done, the general went missing and never been heard since then.
Back in present year, villagers who live in a rural jungle was often bullied by this big bully who takes all their food and asked the villagers to pay for protection money. Little does the bully know the jungle is protected by this so called “ghost”. Before reaching to destination they intended to go, the bullies were beaten up and the truck with the food the bullies took from the villagers were sent back to them.
After hearing so many stories about the “ghost”, April (Sarah Michelle Gellar) decides to drop by from retrieving ancient artefacts for Max Winters (Patrick Stewart). She quickly notices that the “ghost” is actually Leonardo (James Arnold Taylor). Leonardo was sent to training by Master Splinter (Mako Iwamatsu) after their defeat of their old nemesis, The Shredder. However, Leonardo refuses to go back after the training thinking he is still a poor leader.
April then tell Leonardo what has happened to the family. Donatello (Mitchell Whitfield) has became an information technology consultant whereby he tries to solve computer related problems through phone. One can actually see he hardly fits the job as he gets a little impatient at times. Michelangelo (Mikey Kelley) takes up a job as a mascots for birthday party known as the “Cowabunga Carl”. He is often bullied by the kids. It cause him to have birthday nightmares. On the other hand, no one knows what Raphael (Nolan North) is up to. He seems to sleep the whole day. However, without anyone knowing, Raphael has been watching the city trying to keep it safe at night. He is being known as the Nightwatcher and help the police with crime.
Leonardo still refuse to return to New York after hearing what happen to the family. April have to go back to deliver the artefacts to his client, Max Winters. Casey (Chris Evans), April’s boyfriend was suppose to send a truck to deliver the artefacts to Max’s place. They then deliver the artefact to Max place only to notice this was the last of all pieces. It was noticeable that Max was up to something after collecting all of the statues.
It is true that Max is actually the great immortal general. By collecting all the statues, his brothers all reunite and he is all ready for his new plan. Max hires Karai (Zhang Zhiyi), one of Shredder’s follower. She gained leadership of the Foot Clan and in this task is to help capture the 13 monsters.
The time has come and Leonardo returns to the city only to know everyone was great and happy that he is home, except for Raphael. Master Splinter then appoint Leonardo as leader of the group which makes Raphael unhappy as he believes he is the one who should be the leader. Master Splinter then asked them to go on a practice and forbids them from fighting crime until they could bond together as a team.
While out scouting, the turtles stumble upon Karai and the Foot Clans fighting this huge monster. Trying to help out, the turtles got in to the fight when Raphael decides to act as hero. However they lost badly and have to retreat when the police arrive. Max’s general on the other hand capture the monster and send it back to Max.
Figuring what happened and how the monster came about, they all secretly trying to figure out without Master Splinter notice as they weren’t allow to fight until he approves so. Master Splinter got to know of their act from the news and grounded Leonardo. Raphael on the other hand kept arguing with Leonardo and tries to prove he is the true leader of the group. He takes of by himself trying to keep the city safe as the Nightwatcher.
While at the rooftop looking at the city, Casey came disgust in a mask and confronts the Nightwatcher. They both know who each other was but still got in some fights until they saw something interesting. They saw how Max’s generals capture other monsters. The generals then notice Raphael and Casey witnessed what they did and send a men to finish them off.
Raphael and Casey then hide at a room on the rooftop. As the general tries to break in they both panic. Worst when Raphael was shot with jabs. A police helicopter flew by and manage to scare the general away. Casey then help Raphael to his place and called the other turtles to take a look at Raphael.
Leonardo was shocked to see Raphael at the state. There, they found clues that leads to Max Winters. It seems whatever weird thing that have been happening in the town was somewhat related to him and the sculptures which April gather for him.
On the other side, Max is busy gathering all the 13 monsters to return them to where they belong when the portal opens. Max tries to be a normal mortal human being and tries to set his brothers free. His brothers doesn’t see eye to eye with Max’s decision. They wanted to remain as immortal and conquer the world. They soon starts to betray Max and tries to find a substitute to the 13th creature.
Back to the turtles, they were trying hard to figure out what is happening and after listening to April regarding the myth about the stone generals… they started to do a little research. Raphael believes he work better alone as the Nightwatcher and continues his solo act. One day, Leonardo manages to catch up with Nightwatcher and they both had a fight on the rooftop.
Raphael’s identity as the Nightwatcher was exposed. He then challenge Leonardo to a fight thinking he is a more suitable candidate to be the leader. The heated battle continues on the rooftop. The battle ended when Raphael pins Leonardo down with his sai after breaking Leonardo’s ninjaken.
After realizing what he done could have killed Leonardo, Raphael run away. Right after Raphael left, Leonardo was ambushed by the Stone Generals. He was shot and left defend less when Raphael broken his pair of ninjaken from the fight before. The Stone Generals tries to capture Leonardo to fool Max that it is one of the 13 monsters.
While Raphael was running away, he heard Leonardo’s painful scream and tries to run back to save him but he was too late. Raphael ran home being angry with himself and consulted Master Splinter for advice. Raphael finally understand why Leonardo is chosen over him to be the leader. Master Splinter then explain to Raphael that, even if Raphael is not his favourite student… it does not mean he is his least favourite student.
Master Splinter then told the 3 turtle brothers that their hiding time is over. They will have to get together as a family and save Leonardo. Together, the turtles, Master Splinter, April and Casey is all set to save Leornado from Max’s office.
Knowing that the day for the stars to align and open the portal, Max ordered Karai and her Foot Clan to stay guard outside and forbid anyone to enter. The turtles defeat the Foot Clan and manages to enter the office building. At that point of time, the stars has aligned and the portal has been opened.
Max finally notice one of the monsters is a fake one as what supposedly happen fail to happen. The turtles then free Leonardo out from the cage. Raphael then pass a new set of katana to Leornado and ask him to lead the turtles as they needed his leadership.
All this while, the turtles thought of Max as some villain trying to cause more trouble. However his intentions weren’t all bad. He actually tries to return the 13 monsters to where they belong and restore the generals and his own mortality. The Generals then stood up stating that they wish to be immortal and continue conquer the world.
This left the turtles no choice but to fight with the Stone Generals while Casey, April and the Foot Clan go search for the 13th monster. They finally found the 13th monster in the nick of time before the portal closes and things worked as planned. The monsters were sent back to where they belong together with the Stone Generals while Max gained his mortality back.
After the fight, Karai told the turtles that even though they help them this time, they will return for revenge with the help of a familiar face… indicating the return of Shredder. The turtles look at each other with astonishment while Karai and the Foot Clan disappear.
Max then thanked April and the turtles for helping him regain his mortality. Max then starts disappearing in to the thin air leaving behind his helmet. Back at the turtles home, Master Splinter puts the helmet on a shelf along with other helmets and artefacts from the Turtles adventures. Raphael then walks in and asked Master Splinter if there is any space for him to place his Nightwatcher helmet. Michelangelo then walks in and ask Master Splinter if he have any space to put his Cowabunga Carl mask as well. The movie then ended with the turtles jumping from rooftop to rooftop.
———————————————————————————————————————–
Spoiler ends here.
Probably to many it is a much enjoyed movie but I somewhat felt it was rather disappointing. Firstly, it didn’t much re-cap what happen beforehand. We are talking about a good old 14 years here and I think a little re-cap would do good for viewers out there.
Honestly speaking, I felt the whole movie in 3D was rather fake. The texture for the turtles are weird. The human figures look pretty much like Blythe… which is too cartoony and at some point weird as it doesn’t match with the rest of the characters.
What disappoints me the most is when the storyline goes jumping up and down with no continuity. In the first place, let’s talk about the 13 monsters being released to earth 3000 years ago. They then zoom back to present world.. the monsters seems to have not caused any trouble. But when Max decides to gather them, one by one starts to pop up in New York and cause trouble. Shouldn’t the monsters be scattered by now? Be in across the world. And why come out now after all those years? I really can’t figure.
Then there is this red little monster which seems to be portrayed as the 13th monster. No evidence shows that it have been capture and everyone thought this is the monster they are looking for. But no… the last monster came running in to the office hall was this HUGE gigantic monster and it makes the whole movie seems just so weird.
Sigh… and I thought it would be good after 14 years… *sigh* They didn’t even play the TMNT theme song 😥