Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (Spoiler-Free Review)
Over the weekend, we had the pleasure to see an early release viewing of the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Teenagers: Mayhem Movie, where I’m sure, like many fans, were very hyped after seeing the trailer four months back. It shared an incredible cast who have breakout moments, significantly more than others, but we’ll get to that later in our first-ever spoiler-free review of our new movie review series called Cinema At The Beach.
Director Jeff Rowe, who’s known for writing on the TV animated series, “Gravity Falls” & his first co-directional debut on “The Mitchells vs. the Machines” is the leading director for this movie, working closely with Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen, Dan Hernandez & Benji Samit on co-writing the screenplay. The movie’s animated direction is impressive, duplicating the unique shift in artistic expression that Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse did but not mimicking the style, instead creating something prominently different on a creative scale. The movie is met with an exciting reaction throughout, sharing a bit of sentiment for those who have been huge fans of the TMNT series and are now embarking on the opportunity to enjoy it with their children, sharing a bit of generational joy. The comedy is probably the best these movies have seen from any of the predecessors before it; I am not saying they don’t have any, but this standout film shares a bit more jokes that adults and kids can relate more to in this era of social media trends & ebonics with having heart into it that can break through your turtle shell to know just how impactful acceptance mean to someone or even a mutant.
Micah Abbey, Shamon Brown, Nicolas Cantu & Brady Noon lead the film’s heroes and do a superb job welcoming them into this era to be a tad group of naive, adventurous & curious bunch that are genuinely meant to be heroic while having fun in the mix. As attached as I am to the animated series & the live-action movies, I can now dub these talented actors as the new faces of the characters that I’m sure kids can relate better to and see themselves in the animated quartet. Other cast members include Jackie Chan as Master Splinter, Ayo Edebiri as April O’Neil, John Cena as Rocksteady, Seth Rogen as Beebop, Paul Rudd as Mondo Gecko & much, much more. Ice Cube, as Super Fly, had a highlighted performance in the movie. His voice brought comedy, fear & violence to the character, which definitely made standout moments throughout. It doesn’t take away the fact that the whole cast had standout moments throughout the movie that carried for more than one scene. They deserve every accolade I know they will get for their roles. They made fans with us and those in attendance for the evening, and next week will guarantee a lot more will follow. I could not end the review without sharing my praise for Atticus Ross & Trent Reznor, who are known to be masters in their craft; where their reputation continues to follow them here in movies, bringing classic records, especially in the hip-hop genre, to the artistic world of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles universe and making something so dope that you can only have one word to describe it: Cowabunga, dude.
The movie is tremendous, something you & your family can enjoy that has a lot of laughs, emotions & nostalgia in it. We highly recommend to get your tickets now and enjoy the cinematic experience. To sign off on our first spoiler-free review, we’ll say how many waves will give it. Not to be corny on the first review, but it’s well deserved to be a five-wave movie, but you’ll see for yourself on August 2nd.