This animated reboot is better than anyone could have realistically expected – from the co-director of the superb The Mitchells vs The Machines, and from the writers of Superbad, it focuses on the comedy and characters as much as the action, and is all the better for it.

Premise: Four mutant teenage turtles live their lives hidden in the sewers of New York with their over-protective father, a giant mutant rat. But when a criminal mastermind known only as Superfly threatens the city, the four brothers and their new friend, high school reporter April O’Neil, see an opportunity to emerge from the shadows and earn the acceptance that they so desperately crave.

Review:

Believe it or not, but this is the seventh big screen outing for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. However, what sets this one aside from the five live-action movies and the previous animated feature is that it’s arguably the first one to truly embrace the comedic elements that were always at the heart of the original comic-books. When the characters were first created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, they were conceived as a parody of superhero comics (in fact, their origin story includes direct in-joke references to Daredevil’s origin and backstory), but for the most part, the previous movies have played as straight-up action movies.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is much more of a comedy first, action film second, approach. That’s not to say that it holds back on the action (there are a number of great sequences), and most importantly, it doesn’t turn the Turtles themselves into a joke – but what it does do is have fun with the inherent preposterousness of the premise, as well as the relationships between the teenage characters.

“…embraces the ‘teenage’ part of the ‘teenage mutant ninja turtles’ concept…”

The film has cast four unknown teenage actors to voice the four Turtles, which is a stroke of genius because they’re able to deliver the fraternal, rapid-fire, back-and-forth dialogue between the teenage brothers with ease. Other movie versions have really skated over the ‘teenage’ part of the ‘teenage mutant ninja turtles’ concept, but this film embraces it. The vocal performances are convincing not only as brothers and as teenagers, but also as three-dimensional characters in their own right, especially when it comes to their yearning to join the human world and to live a normal teenager’s life, rather than existing in the shadows of the sewers.

Comedy writer and actor Ayo Edebiri plays April O’Neil, the character who arguably has the most screen time with the Turtles, and in this film the writers have decided to make her a teenager reporter at high school, so that she’s more of peer for the Turtles, and can act as their window into teenage life in the human world. She has a great rapport with the Turtles, and is also responsible for some of the film’s funniest lines (of which there are many).

“…a witty & self-aware script, and a talented voice cast…”

The filmmakers have offset the fact that the “main” characters are played by relative unknowns, by filling the rest of the supporting cast with a who’s-who of recognisable names. Jackie Chan is excellent as the Turtles’ adopted father, the mutant rat Splinter, and he gets to make the character so much more than just the cliched mentor figure. Meanwhile, Ice Cube is having a blast as the over-the-top villain Superfly who, as the film’s name suggests, is an actual mutant super fly. Playing the other mutants, you have Paul Rudd as Mondo Gecko, John Cena as Rocksteady, Seth Rogen as Bebop, Rose Byrne as Leatherhead, Natasia Demetriou as Wingnut, Post Malone as Ray Fillet, and Hannibal Buress as Genghis Frog, while Maya Rudolph and Giancarlo Esposito make appearances as human characters. Some have very little screen time, others have a bit more to do – but all make an impression whenever they are on screen.

As well as the witty and self-aware script and the talented voice cast, the other area where this movie excels is in its animation. The film may take lessons from the groundbreaking Spider-Verse movie and its sequel, but it sets out to do its own, equally creative, thing. So while the film is computer-animated, it’s presented in the style as if it were hand-drawn sketches come to life, where you can still see the individual pencil strokes for the drawings. It makes a minute or two to tune into the visual style, but once you do, it gives the movie a visual identity unlike anything else around.

“…focuses on universal teenage anxieties & parental fears…”

Director Jeff Rowe‘s last film was The Mitchells vs. The Machines, one of my Top Ten films of 2021, so the bar was pretty high when I realised he was directing this film. If I’m being brutally honest, while The Mitchells vs The Machines was a near-perfect blend of comedy, action and heart, TMNT: Mutant Mayhem didn’t have quite the same emotional impact for me, even if it excels with the comedy and action. But the movie still has plenty of emotional depth, focusing as it does on universal teenage anxieties about acceptance and belonging, and universal parental fears about letting your children face the dangers of the wider world without you.

Overall, there are so many laugh-out-loud moments in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem that even those cynical viewers with no previous interest in the Turtles should still find plenty to enjoy in this visually unique, coming-of-age comedy – while existing fans of the Turtles will hopefully love the new life that this reboot has breathed back into the characters. And with a TV spin-off and a movie sequel apparently already in the works, it hopefully won’t be too long before we get to spend more time with these loveable teenager brothers, their over-protective dad, and their surprisingly openminded new best friend.