Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem - Rethinking the Reptiles I Rejected

By John Kirk

Rating: A-minus

Gotta be honest. I was never a fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in my comic-collecting youth.

The whole reason for the comic in the first place was a parody of the Marvel Superhero team, The X-Men, combined with the fact that every superhero seemed to be a ninja in the 1980s. Hell, there was even a group called the Adolescent Radioactive Black-Belt Hamsters.

I wanted serious comics and I was convinced that my peers felt the same way. In my cultivated conceit, the Turtles were a fad that would pass into obscurity.

Not only did the Turtles persist, but they became one of the hottest comic book properties to emerge in the ‘80s. In 2009 it was reported that the rights to the franchise were sold to Nickelodeon for about $60 million. Their creators, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, are two very happy dudes.

To this day, I'm still not a fan though and I went into this film with those same preconceived notions that I had as a 16-year-old comic reader. But never have I been more wrong. 

The Turtles persisted … and this film’s success is evidence of that.

The story: exiled scientist, Baxter Stockman (Giancarlo Esposito) is in hiding for his work on a mutagenic solution (known as the “Ooze”) that can evolve animals to human intelligence. When his lab is raided by an organization that seeks to subvert his work for their own purposes, his specimens, or children, manage to escape capture.

A sample of the Ooze finds its way into the sewers and onto four infant turtles. Rescued and adopted by a rat called Splinter (Jackie Chan) who is also exposed to the Ooze, he raises them in safety away from human society in the sewers, and teaches them martial arts for their safety.

However, they are lonely and as they become teenagers, they simply want a normal teenage life. But when Stockman’s creations, led by the human-hating SuperFly (Ice Cube), return for vengeance, the Turtles are forced to emerge from the sewers to protect society.

A thoroughly endearing movie that’s difficult to dislike, Teen-Age Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem tackles the basic themes of the characters Eastman and Laird originally instilled in their stories, like acceptance, growing up, or just simply wanting to do the right thing. Augmented by a solid cast, a rocking soundtrack and quick-witted dialogue, the film cleverly emphasizes these themes by bringing the Turtles and other characters in the series out of the 1980s and planting them with relevance in the 2020's. In short, they really didn't change what worked back then.

Of course, this is all bringing back memories of the constant urging and admonishments of my own teen-aged compatriots who tried to convince me to add the book to my monthly comic shop pull lists. They were misunderstood heroes, they’d tell me. It’s a classic super-hero basic storyline. It’s not about being turtles, it was about the turtles’ character.

Plus, they were ninjas.

Yeah, I resisted their criticisms, because I still clung to the notion that the "funny animal" trope couldn't support a good comic story. Maybe I thought they were too immature.

However, I'm reminded of Stephen Fry who said, and I paraphrase, that he would always defend the absolute value of Mozart over Miley Cyrus, but the human cultural jungle should be as varied and plural as the Amazonian rainforest and that we are all richer for the biodiversity.

It’s obvious that the film is targeted to a younger audience. It plays like a YA novel in that the Turtles’ need for acceptance into human society is a relatable motif for high school kids. Even the animation fits the character of the story with its rough edges and scratchy details.

Using actual teen-aged actors to play the roles of Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello and Raphael (Nicolas Cantu, Micah Abbey, Brady Noon, and Shamon Brown Jr.) also reinforces the notion that these aren’t just heroes, but teenagers dealing with parental control and struggling for their own independence. They’re just trying to find their place in the world and it’s impossible to do that cooped up in a sewer. But when they finally meet a friend they can trust, namely high school reporter, April O’Neill (Ayo Edebiri), there’s a possibility for them to break free from these boundaries and go beyond them a little.

At its heart, it’s a story of growing up. Like Spider-Man, the Turtles have that sense of doing the right thing with not just their skills, but their values. It’s that reliance on those basic values that make for a successful super-hero appeal.

So what if they’re turtles?

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. Directed by Jeff Rowe. Starring (voices) Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, Maya Rudolph, Nicolas Cantu, Micah Abbey, Brady Noon, Shamon Brown Jr., Ayo Edebiri, John Cena, Giancarlo Esposito, Ice Cube and Paul Rudd. In theatres August 2.