UNTYPICAL TEENAGERS: Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo in “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.” Photo: Paramount Pictures/UIP
No “Barbie”, and indeed no “Spider-Man”. Sweet nonetheless.
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ANIMATED FILM / FAMILY COMEDY
«Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem»
USA. 9 years. Directed by: Jeff Rowe, Kyler Spears
ENGELSKE STEMMER: Rose Byrne, Maya Rudolph, Ice T, Seth Rogen, John Cena, Jackie Chan, Paul Rudd, Post Malone
NORWEGIAN VOICES: Oskar Fjeldstad-Bergheim, Birk Leander Haug, Matthew Henriksen, William Høyem Ribe, Maria Agwumaro, Trond Teigen, Jakob Oftebro, Yosef Wolde-Mariam
The most boring consequence of “Barbie’s” deserved success is that whoever owns the rights to “intellectual property” – to toy and cartoon characters, old TV shows or whatever – will be lining up to entertain us for the foreseeable future .
The trend is certainly not new. We’ve already survived 20 years of superheroes, “Transformers” and the somehow-ironic “Baywatch”-reboots. But it will increase in strength, at the expense of new ideas.
“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” was indeed launched long before “Barbie” won the summer. And it benefits from the fact that the starting point – Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird’s cartoon – is so unique:
KAMPKLARE: Scene fra «Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem». Foto: Paramount Pictures / UIP
It’s about four mutant turtles who grow up in the sewer system under Manhattan, and are trained in Japanese martial arts by an aging single dad rat, sensei Splinter.
The turtles’ commercial golden age was the early 1990s. The people behind “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” must have thought a lot about who this new film should be for: Nostalgists in their 40s or a new generation of children and young people? They have landed somewhere in the middle, and tried to make a film with something for everyone.
This means, among other things, that “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” is an origin story, which reminds us of how the four turtles mutated and were adopted by Splinter to begin with.
That narrative is sweet, not least because of Jackie Chan’s good-natured voice as Splinter, and the flirtatious and hormonal, but fundamentally likable dynamic between the four teenagers.
A GOOD PERSON: April O’Neil in «Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem». Photo: Paramount Pictures / UIP
The turtles, like “The Little Mermaid”, are deeply curious about what life is like up there on ground level among humans. A species like Splinter, wise from injury, instills in them that they are not to be trusted.
Their link becomes April O’Neil, a young investigative journalist who, in the corpse with the turtles, feels an outsider (she is called “the spy girl” by her schoolmates). Together they must fight a common enemy named Superfly. Which is much more comical than scary, despite Ice Cube’s extremely authoritative voice.
What “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” is basically about is tolerance and friendship. The importance of being able to show trust in people, and mutant turtles, which we perceive at first glance as different. A nice message, which can easily be repeated. “Mutant Mayhem” never becomes dramatic or even exciting. But cosy it sure is.
COWABUNGA!: Scene fra «Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem». Foto: Paramount Pictures / UIP
It’s a good thing that the animation is brilliant, albeit a few divisions below the incredible display we got in “Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse». The line is rough as in an old comic book, the environments are teeming and alive. Especially the scenes that take place in the dark are something for the eyes.
The screenwriters and producers (counting the actor Seth Rogen) has spent much of the budget on hits from the 1990s, especially hip hop, so that father and mother will also feel more or less at home. The original score, by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, is excellent.
“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” feels rather thin, rather tame. But it is heartwarming and nice to look at.
The reviewer has seen the English language version. The film will also be staged with Norwegian voices.
Published:
Published: 02.08.23 at 15:00
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2023-08-02 13:00:00
#Teenage #Mutant #Ninja #Turtles #Mutant #Mayhem #Movie #Review #Thin #cozy
