Visually Gorgeous, But Adolescent ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem’ Opens to $43M Domestically [Review] — World of Reel
  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • Lists
    • Yearly Top Tens
    • Trailers
    • Contact
    • Hire Me
    • About
Menu

World of Reel

Street Address
City, State, Zip
Phone Number
Home
Sylvain Chomet’s Next Film is ‘Triplets of Belleville’ Sequel
IMG_5431.jpg
Kathryn Bigelow Involved in A24’s ‘Near Dark’ Remake Series
IMG_5428.jpg
‘Die, My Love’ Elevated by Jennifer Lawrence’s Extraordinary Performance [Cannes]
IMG_5425.jpg
‘Nouvelle Vague’: Linklater’s Homage to Godard’s New Wave is A Playful Hangout Movie [Cannes]
IMG_5421.jpg
Ang Lee “Struggling” to Make ‘Bruce Lee’ Biopic Due To Budget Concerns
Featured
Capture.PNG
Aug 19, 2019
3-Hour ‘Midsommar' Director's Cut Screened in NYC
Aug 19, 2019

This year’s 12th edition of the Scary Movies festival at Film at Lincoln Center premiered Ari Aster’s extended version of “Midsommar” this past Saturday.

Aug 19, 2019

World of Reel

  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • Lists
  • More
    • Yearly Top Tens
    • Trailers
  • About
    • Contact
    • Hire Me
    • About

Visually Gorgeous, But Adolescent ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem’ Opens to $43M Domestically [Review]

August 6, 2023 Jordan Ruimy

Jolted by positive reviews, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” exceeded expectations with a $43 million opening at the weekend box-office.

It was widely praised at the Annecy Animation Film Festival last month. I was out of town the week it had its first press screening, and, sadly, again, missed the second one. I finally bought a ticket for the damn thing on Thursday.

I don’t know if it’s because this movie is coming off the back of “Across the Spider-Verse,” but, although it looks visually pleasing, I found the story rather childish. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ score is groovy though.

This is meant to be an origin story, with the turtles sheltered from the human world, and meeting their first human friend, April O’Neil, in the gritty streets of New York. A mysterious crime syndicate gets uncovered, ditto some hijinks at April’s high school. This leads to some erratic action sequences that, although gorgeously visual, felt too chaotic and choppy.

None other than Seth Rogen wrote the film, and there is a TON of pop culture references, but none of the dialogue really has any comedic bite to it. It’s very safe. It skews young and that’s alright, the kiddos will probably love this one.

It is, however, animated in this sort of inventively crepuscular fashion, which easily reminds you of the ‘Spider-Verse’ films, but less trippy. In fact, visually speaking, this should count as the first full-on major studio ‘Spider-Verse’ rip-off. We’re going to be seeing a lot more of these in the coming years.

The turtles themselves, save for the pop culture obsessed Michaelangelo, all seem to have similarly dull personalities. Also, if you’re a purist, and want a retro TMNT, you won’t be getting it here. The voice actors do not nail any of the personal traits of the original characters. This is quite literally Rogan setting up TMNT for the Tik Tok generation.

I seem to be in the minority when it comes to the critical consensus, but, I don’t know, maybe also our readers liked it more than I did. Who else watched ‘Mutant Mayhem’ this weekend?

← Ira Sachs’ ‘Passages’ Earned the Highest Per Screen Average this Weekend‘Sound of Freedom’ Smeared by Media After One of its 6,678 Crowdfunders is Arrested →

FOLLOW US!


Trending

Featured
IMG_5403.jpg
Ari Aster’s ‘Eddington’ POLARIZES; Starts as Satire, Ends in Horror — Not Everyone’s Buying It [Cannes]
IMG_5383.jpg
‘Sirat’ Screens — Surreal, Chaotic and Unsettling [Cannes]
IMG_5352.jpg
‘Mission: Impossible 8’ Review Embargo Breaks — It’s A Mess [Cannes]
IMG_5328.jpg
‘Sound of Falling’ Gets Bogged Down by Heavy Symbolism [Cannes]
IMG_4571.jpg
David Fincher & Brad Pitt Reunite for ‘The Continuing Adventures of Cliff Booth' + Plot Details

Critics Polls

Featured
Capture.PNG
Critics Poll: ‘Vertigo’ Named Best Film of the 1950s, Over 120 Participants
B16BAC21-5652-44F6-9E83-A1A5C5DF61D7.jpeg
Critics Poll: Kubrick’s ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ Tops Our 1960s Critics Poll
Capture.PNG
Critics Poll: ‘The Godfather’ Named Best Movie of the 1970s
public.jpeg
Critics Poll: ‘Do the Right Thing' Named Best Movie of the 1980s
Critics Poll: ‘Mulholland Drive' Named Best Film of the 2000s
g4.jpg
Critics' Poll: ‘Goodfellas' Named Best Movie of the 1990s
Critics Poll: ‘Mad Max: Fury Road' Named Best Movie of the 2010s
World of Reel tagline.PNG
 

Content

Contribute

Hire me

 

Support

Advertise

Donate

 

About

Team

Contact

Privacy Policy

Site designed by Jordan Ruimy © 2023