Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023)

PG and mostly sticks to that.  There's some mild language and there's violence throughout, but the movie goes out of its way to make the violence seem a lot more tame than it had to.  My wife did comment that it seems like the turtles were probably killing all those people, but the movie almost goes out of its way to show silly violence than graphic violence.  PG.

DIRECTORS: Jeff Rowe and Kyler Spears

I'm not 10-years-old anymore.  That's the only time that I probably really got into Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  There have been so many shows and movies that have tied themselves to this franchise and I really haven't given a hoot about any of them until I saw the trailer for Mutant Mayhem.  Yes, Seth Rogen, this is what Ninja Turtles should be.  I'm sorry, Ninja Turtle purists.  This isn't even remotely what I grew up with.  It's almost like looking at something that completely missed the point and fixed it.

As an adult who is in a lot of fandoms, I always scratched my head at Ninja Turtles as a phenomenon.  One thing that I can say that gives Mutant Mayhem a pass is the fact that this is one of those things that thrives on being reimagined for a new generation.  The original Eastman and Laird has the most insular demographic ever.  It was almost inspired by the work of Frank Miller and indie comics.  It was violent and not funny, despite being an absurd concept.  It was also weirdly tied into the origins of Daredevil.  But Ninja Turtles didn't really explode until the Saturday morning cartoon, that made the entire concept fun and friendly.  But since then, it's been so many different things, all trying to put their own stamp on it.  Admittedly, a lot of those stamps have been trying to stress the "extreme" element of marketing to children.  I can't believe that it took Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg , of all people,  to point out that "Teenage" is in the title.  These are the guys who pride themselves on being adults that speak like teens, by the way.

That's what makes the movie work.  It's so simple, but reminding us that the protagonists are teenagers who have real problems beyond pizza is great.  Teenagers, for all of their bravado, aren't good at a lot of things.  I mean, the turtles are good at fighting...kind of.  They're better than anyone that we know, which is impressive.  But it has that same mentality of Johnny Football Hero.  Just because a high school student is the best quarterback you've ever met, he's ultimately a big fish in a small pond.  I mean, that's at the crux of this story.  There's a lot of moments where the turtles just get destroyed by Superfly and a physical contest is a waste of time. But even more than the physical fighting element of the story, these four kids aren't good at basic things.  That's what I love about the story.  It almost captures the story of being a teenager more than it captures the problems of being a superhero.  (I mean, that's what the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are, right?  They're superheroes and I just find it weird saying that in text.) 

I'm actually surprised to find my students so lukewarm about the movie.  Maybe it's too on the nose or maybe I'm trying to pretend that being a millennial still gives me some street cred when it comes to America's youths.  In the same way that Stan Lee used the word "mutant" to stress a sense of otherness, Rogen and Goldberg do the same with the word "mutant" in Mutant Madness.  I've never seen a Ninja Turtles thing with the focus on characterization so front and centered. (I suppose the original film probably touched on that a bit, but this movie puts it at the core of the movie.)  I love that the story that really focused on the notion of being a teenager is also the movie that stresses that teenagers just want to be liked.  The turtles' otherness pushes the entire story forward.  Yes, there is Superfly's plan to wipe out all of humanity and that is there for the sake of having a plot.  But there's such a moment of happiness when the boys discover that there are other mutants out there.  That's something that isn't really addressed in superhero stories.

I'm going to use the first Spider-Man movie as my example because it gets close.  Peter, for all intense and purposes, is the only superhero out there.  The Daily Bugle loses their minds over the fact that there's a wall-crawling menace out there.  It's why he's so shocked to discover the Green Goblin who also seems to have abilities.  I had a student write about the "You're just like me" trope, where villains try to corrupt the hero by stating how similar they are.  But Peter immediately realizes that Spider-Man and the Green Goblin are nothing alike.  It kind of deflates that entire premise.  But the turtles, when confronted by other mutants, find a kinship.  They feel this immense guilt when it comes to trying to stop their plan.  They know that there's this objective evil (killing all of humanity), but they also sympathize with the reasoning behind it.  After all, the turtles, to a certain extent, view humanity in the same way that the creatures do.  I've never seen that level of group commitment to doing something wrong.  Now, because the turtles know right and wrong and view themselves as heroes, they eventually do the moral thing and crash the car carrying the equipment.  But I do like the teenagers have a fundamental need to be liked.  They go along with something they know is wrong because a need to be liked.  It's Peer Pressure: the Movie.  

Because I liked this movie so much, I'm going to get something that's under my craw out.  I was preaching how much I applaud not being tied to canon.  But for some reason, the fact that Splinter wasn't human somehow bothers me.  I don't know why, guys.  It's not like this is my fandom. I should be absolutely cool with this change.  I mean, it is central to the plot that Boomer Splinter is xenophobic and stifling the turtles when it comes to cultural experiences.  Splinter needs to be afraid of humans and have a deeply rooted fear of those humans for the story to have any emotional resonance. But it's weird.  Because as goofy as it is that this is a franchise, I also know that it has a very deep sense of canon behind the characters.  One of those ideas stems from Splinter being a ninja master before he was turned into a rat.  Yes, the YouTube video thing got me.  I thought it was very funny.  But also, I can see being mad about how my fandom was kind of teased for being silly when I would be very much into that specific thing.  That being said, I don't hate J.J. Abrams' Star Trek, so I guess the takeaway really just is "Be cool."

You know what else gets the chef's kiss?  The casting.  It must be nice to be a friend with Seth Rogen because he will cast you in things that are fun.  "And introducing Paul Rudd"  has to be one of the best casting choices I've ever heard.  There's a deep cut level to making all of those other mutants appear in your movie.  I'll say this, this easily could have been a Shredder and the Foot Clan movie.  I love that it is not because we've had so many of those that we don't need another one.  But also, you should make your big bad the center of the second film so they aren't ignored in the service of the protagonists.  But allowing all of these deep cut mutants show up in this movie was such a joy.  Mondo Gecko is this standout character that really feels like a fifth turtle.  Really, I don't know how they pulled this off, but considering that they made this a first movie in a series, the extended cast really gets some attention.  It's not like the boys aren't the center of the film, but between April and Mondo Gecko, there's a lot to like here.  Yes, the barf joke is gross, but I love it.  (Do I put "onscreen vomit" in the MPAA section up top?  I'll get back to you on that.)

Like Into the Spider-Verse, this is one of those movies that makes us care about a franchise again.  I do think that Mutant Mayhem took a lot of notes from Spider-Verse, but that's not a bad thing.  I'm sure that I'm not the only one who is going to make that comparison, also considering the art style (which is a bit intentionally uglier with Mutant Mayhem).  But considering how many attempts that there have been to make Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles relevant again, this is the movie that did it.  I applaud Paramount for allowing this movie to be made.  Sure, it's not like Seth Rogen is unknown, but smart animation isn't necessarily the easiest sell.  I loved this movie and I can't wait for a sequel.