I’m pretty sure you could ask ChatGPT to write a TMNT script in the style of Seth Rogen and get something just as funny. (The fight scenes are pretty awesome as well, mixing the toon’s unusual look with some very dynamic virtual camera moves.) Less effective is the thing that Rogen and Goldberg have made their signature, but which now feels more like shtick: namely, all the “teenage” stuff, which is neither relatable nor especially original. The movie works best when its creators allow themselves to get truly, unapologetically weird. The Turtles intervene, resulting in a singalong (to 4 Non Blondes’ “What’s Going On”) that mutates into a surreal car chase - easily this absurdist comedy’s most memorable scene. TMNT fans know what the name “Utrom” means, though that twist will have to wait for a sequel or TV spin-off (both of which are coming, per a recent Nick announcement).įor now, the film focuses on the mutant fly, which Stockman’s research swole into a jive-talking blaxploitation hulk who calls himself “Super Fly.” His plan is to mass-produce the ooze and release it into world, turning all creatures into freakazoid versions of themselves. The bickering and bonding tickles more than the main story, which involves a mutant fly (Ice Cube) and a handful of other critters we see being experimented upon by mad scientist Baxter Stockman (Giancarlo Esposito) when the villainous Cynthia Utrom (Maya Rudolph) and her stooges from the Techno Cosmic Research Institute burst in. “Mutant Mayhem” can be a blast at times, and exhausting at others, as the four guys jabber on top of each other, as in the movie’s thowaway “bacon, egg and cheese” gag. “If you think about that, it couldn’t make more sense,” Chan quips, essentially acknowledging that everything about the Turtles’ origins is ridiculous - but that doesn’t mean the movie can’t have a sense of humor about itself. With a welcome dose of self-deprecation, the script by Rowe, Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit recaps the reptiles’ backstory, the waits a beat. They’re teenagers, after all, itching to get out of their shells … and the sewer where they’ve been raised by rodent sensei Splinter (voiced by Jackie Chan). Instead of being shredded martial arts pros, the foursome - named, as you know, after Renaissance painters, but barely distinguishable beyond their preference of weapons and eyewear - are presented as endearingly immature and understandably hormonal. And it couldn’t be more different from the darker vibe and photorealistic textures seen in the Turtles’ last two theatrical outing. It’s a radical choice - in both the strategic and surfer-speak senses of the word - given how same-samey most big-budget computer-animated movies look these days (Pixar’s “Onward,” Netflix’s “The Sea Beast” and DreamWorks’ “Ruby Gillman” may as well have been made by the same studio). the Machines” (which he co-directed) and pushes it even further here, such that every frame has a scribbled, street-art aesthetic. Behind the scenes, helmer Jeff Rowe takes the loose, pseudo-hand-drawn style of “The Mitchells vs.
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