Topic: TMNT Movie

[Ceric]

Ok everyone I saw the TMNT movie last night.  It was pretty good.  The story takes place after what everyone knows.  It's not another origin story.  In my mind it was a good choice.  Plenty of action but its not the main focus of the story.  The movie was more in line with a cartoon story arc then a movie.  Which in my mind is a good thing.

I have few compliants though.  The first being that overall the art style is kept to and looks nice because of it though there are parts where its uncannily realistic.   None of those are with the humans though.  The humans compared to the monsters, turtles, and foot ninjas are relatively undetailed most of the time.  It was an artist choice that works for it for the most part.  I guess that wasn't much of a complaint the next one is better.

If you watch the cartoon series on Fox, TMNT or TMNT: Fast Forward, then you have heard the voices they use for that show.  I, personally, feel that they found a good match to the characters with those voices.  The movie uses different voice actors.  For Leo and the non-turtle family characters the voices are pretty good.  For Raph, Don, Mikey, and Splinter thats another story.  Don and Mikey sound too feminine.  Splinter's speech is stilted more then it should be and just feels off.  Raph my biggest complaint is well his voice isn't as angry and a little high.  Also a large portion of the dialog is really good.  For the most part the bad stuff came from Mikey and Don.  Which is a shame because in the shows there dialog is generally top notch with the rest.

Something else that was annoying was how loose they were with the Turtles mouths when talking.  They're humongous.  They just sort of flap around half the time like a dog's with his head out the window.

I know I'm nitpicking.  Fact of the matter is its a good movie.  You do see Mikey use his nunchuks by the way.

At the end they setup for a sequel.  Which considering from the hints they give is going to be around a pretty good story arc.  Also the ending itself is pretty good and meaningful.

I will warn that if you like every branch of a story fully explored to its fullest you might be a little annoyed.  They manage to tie everything up at the end pretty elegantly but the why and how is somewhat a mystery in exact detials for some of the monster collections.  Though if you watch American cartoons regularly then your probably use to it.  As such you'll appreciate the movie more if you're steeped in the Mythos, there's a wall of past triumphs for example, but, you won't be lost to bad if you've never heard of the ninja turtles before either.

Conclusion:
If you like American Style Cartoons: Go see it.
If you like Movies in General: Go see it.
If you only watch lifetime movies:  You should Consider it.
Mystery Buff: Well it's definitely not a mystery.
Just go see it.

[Bill Aurion]

"For Leo and the non-turtle family characters the voices are pretty good. For Raph, Don, Mikey, and Splinter thats another story."

Laugho, one of my roomies (who is probably the biggest Turtles fan I personally know) thought all the turtles were perfect except Leo...I personally found all of them perfect, so different strokes for different folks, eh? =3  (I think we all agree that Splinter's was a bit off)

[Ceric]

Quote
Originally posted by: Bill Aurion
"For Leo and the non-turtle family characters the voices are pretty good. For Raph, Don, Mikey, and Splinter thats another story."

Laugho, one of my roomies (who is probably the biggest Turtles fan I personally know) thought all the turtles were perfect except Leo...I personally found all of them perfect, so different strokes for different folks, eh? =3  (I think we all agree that Splinter's was a bit off)

Really?  I guess so.  I've got the original cartoon on DVD so I'll pop those in and watch them.

[Caterkiller]

I thought the movie was amazing. I agree with Splinter's speech patern being a bit off but thats about it. I truely loved this movie and recomed it for all to see!

Some of the dialogue in the movie really made me go "wow." Well namely the scene with Raph and Leo on the rooftop. I was so worried that the movie would be catered just towards little kids(even though I read otherwise from the get-go) but still I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome.

I loved it, im sure all of you will eat least like it, and im going to see it a few more times.

[nitsu niflheim]

I have the first 4 seasons of the 1987 series on DVD, but only watched season 1 so far.  It still hold sup, and it's better than the 2003 crap we have now.  

[Ceric]

I like the newer darker stuff.

[Spak-Spang]

The first season of the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon is pretty fantastic.  The animation sucks, but it is great of the stories and following the actual original comic book series.

[Ceric]

The animation iron outs eventually.  Fast Forward first few episodes are hookey but they eventually get into a pretty good groove themselves.

[GoldenPhoenix]

Well I enjoy both the old and new cartoon, they both have their place, the original is supposed to be campy and a parody. The new one is grittier, relying more on stories, character development amongst other things to push it along, it is much darker than the original (though Fast Forward is less serious). The new TMNT has had some amazing stories and tight writing, especially in the later seasons (the animation is quite good as well).

Anyway I seen the movie last night and loved it, I still wish they would bring back Krang/Bebop/Rocksteady even if they made their characters more serious, but oh well at least it was a quality film reflection the new TMNT and the original comic in tone. My only big gripes about the film is that I wished they would have used the voice actors from the new show, Mikey was ok, and  thought Raph was as well but Leo and Don seemed really off. Don't think I need to talk about splinter, I never could get used to his voice! The rest of the voice work was quite good though, Patrick Stewart was amazing as usual, Gellar was good as April, the guy who voiced Kasey was solid, and the one who voice Karai was quite good as well (similar to the new show).

The animation was wonderful in my opinion besides the humans who looked like they were borrowed from a Pixar movie. Most of the action scenes were well choreographed, and beautiful to look at (Leo vs Raph was amazing to look at with the rain), and the turtles themselves looked amazing.

Story wise, it had a good story but personally it had alot of holes in it that could have been filled, such as where the monsters have been all this time and why are they all of a sudden hanging out in the city? Besides that though it was a well written story with some wonderful dialogue here and there (Definately could see Laird's influence, like you can see in the new show).

[Bill Aurion]

So now we've got:

Ceric - Everyone but Leonardo sucks!
Bill's Roomie - No, everyone is fine but Leonardo sucks!
GoldenPhoenix - No, no, Mike and Raph are great, Leo and Don suck!
Bill - NO, NO, NO, EVERYONE WAS FINE!

[ThePerm]

i thought this movie was pretty good, i had a few gripes

the cg was great, except people, it looks like the incredables meets ninja turtles

after watching 300, i think they should do it half cg, half people(animatronics) on blue screen, the problem with that is they would really have to work on keeping the style as solid as possible.

The voice acting was pretty good i though, though its not fair to say how well mikey and donatello were voiced because they had such small parts(as they did in the live action movies)

i love the live action movies, i thought this movie was great(anything better than part 3!), though i hope with the next movie they try something as i said like the 300.

[Ceric]

Quote
Originally posted by: Bill Aurion
So now we've got:

Ceric - Everyone but Leonardo sucks!
Bill's Roomie - No, everyone is fine but Leonardo sucks!
GoldenPhoenix - No, no, Mike and Raph are great, Leo and Don suck!
Bill - NO, NO, NO, EVERYONE WAS FINE!

But Pheonix Agreed that the new Cartoon voice actors would have been better.  So 2 votes for that making a tie between:
Use the new cartoon voice actors.
Leo Stunk.
Don Stunk.

We all agree on Splinter.

[ThePerm]

well Mako won't be doing Splinters voice again, don't worry about that.



because he died.

[Ceric]

Quote
Originally posted by: ThePerm
well Mako won't be doing Splinters voice again, don't worry about that.



because he died.

Well that stinks.

[GoldenPhoenix]

I wonder why they didn't use the voices from the newer show? They are all quite good as voice actors and can convey emotion pretty well, not to mention they are experienced with the characters!  

[MaleficentOgre]

I didn't mind splinter's voice at all. It sucked at the very beginning but worked the more I heard it. I didn't mind don's voice. The movie just needed more of him and mikey. I'm having a hard time seeing how people didn't like this movie though. With the exception of not enough don and mikey, which I'm sure we'll get in the next movie, I couldn't find anything wrong with it. It was what it was. From the second the little intro with the stone soldiers ended I felt like I was 9 years old. and that's all I wanted. I didn't go into thinking I was 9, but the movie did that to me. it just sucked me into it's happy little world of awesomeness.
I liked all the little stuff in it too like how raph is physically bigger than the other turtles and leo is taller and lankier. and the way Mikey walks n bounces and the way Don scoots n stuff.

Shredder was totally Karai's buddy. like, that foot guy was too cool to not be shredder. cause he was cool. and in like 5 scenes.

I lost my train of though and stuff. oh well. but I haven't had this much fun in the movies since. . . . well 300 (and turtles was more fun) but before that it had been since last summer at least. probably before then.

[Ceric]

Quote
Originally posted by: GoldenPhoenix
I wonder why they didn't use the voices from the newer show? They are all quite good as voice actors and can convey emotion pretty well, not to mention they are experienced with the characters!

I thought of that but I think the movie wasn't done by a Fox studio so they probably weren't allowed too.

Also in the cartoon, I don't know about the comic, Karai's Shredders adopted daughter and heir.

[NWR_pap64]

Quote
Originally posted by: Bill Aurion

FINALLY! A screenshot Bill posted that I recognize!

As for the movie, I haven't seen it, but capamerica did. He's a HUGE TMNT fan, reading the comics WAY before the turtles became popular and has met the creator several times. He loved it. He didn't have a problem with the acting (that I know of) and thought the animation was great.

About your 4kids actor question, Golden, I have no idea. Maybe:
1. Since the movie was being done by WB and Weinstein they wanted to set it apart from the new cartoon
2. The 4 kids actors are under contract and couldn't do the movie
3. They didn't want 4kids calling the shots

[GoldenPhoenix]

Well I hope Shredder is back in the sequel, and MAYBE just MAYBE they can include Bebop, Rocksteady or Krang, though give their characters a personality overhaul so they aren't as campy as the old show (I love the old show but I want to see what a darker version of the characters would be like). Probably will never happen, but hey I can wish!  

[Caterkiller]

Quote
Originally posted by: GoldenPhoenix
Well I hope Shredder is back in the sequel, and MAYBE just MAYBE they can include Bebop, Rocksteady or Krang, though give their characters a personality overhaul so they aren't as campy as the old show (I love the old show but I want to see what a darker version of the characters would be like). Probably will never happen, but hey I can wish!

Eastman and Liard will not have it. Bebob, and Rocksteady were going to appear in TMNT 2 Secret of the ooze, but Eastman and Liard faught hard to keep them out of it and settled on Tokka and Rahzar.

If you want to see them updated, there are a few throwbacks to them in the TMNT 2003 series.

Its not them, but I think you'll like it.

Here is a quote from wikipedia.

"In the 2003 cartoon episode "Samurai Tourist", the humanoid rhinocerous Gen puts on human clothing that makes him look identical to Rocksteady. In that episode, Gen is chased by Kojima, an assassin who happens to be a humanoid warthog. In another episode, "Future Shellshock", Michelangelo falls out of a truck and onto another vehicle, the driver of which looks exactly like Bebop, only with smaller, more modern sunglasses."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samurai_Tourist_%28TMNT_2003_Episode%29

[GoldenPhoenix]

Cater I know of the cameos you are talking of (in fact I've watched the new show since it began in 2003) and they were pretty neat (The rocksteady one was hilarious). Personally I like the new and old shows pretty equally, they both are really two separate shows in how they are portrayed but both work great IMO (The old TMNT for parody/comedy/camp, the new one for story/character development/action/dialogue). But I would be lieing if I said I still haven't completely gotten over Bebop and Rocksteady not being in the new one, I would have loved to see a new, more serious version of them instead of Hun who I thought was a poor minion.

Personally I think the reason why the new TMNT show is struggling is because it turned off alot of fans of the old show because of the lack of familiar villains. Regardless of how Laird thinks things should be, the old show was extremely popular and completely overshadowed the old comics and even the new show. I think it would have been smart to tap into the old show a bit more for familiar characters while giving them an overhaul to match the tone of the new show. At times I can't help but think Laird has a huge grudge against the old show, and hates about everything about it, disregarding the huge following it had along with utilizing the show's popular villains to bring back fans. He doesn't have to change his vision for the show but adapt those characters into his vision. At least he implemented a "version" of Krang (no I don't mean the utroms) during one of the biggest twists EVER in the show (Those who have watched the new show know what I mean).

[Spak-Spang]

Wow.  Ok.  Lets never ever compare Gen from Usagi Yojimbo (One of the best Samurai comic series) to Rocksteady again.  

I am still waiting for somebody to create a Usagi Yojimbo cartoon following the comic book series perfectly...and using similar styles to Samurai Jack.  But it won't happen...because Samurai Jack happened.

[Ceric]

I think they have more opportunity to cameo in some of the older villains with Fast Forward.  Though I don't want them doing what Loonatics did.  The first season of that show was ok and showed potential.  Then they came back and really started heavier on the looney tune references and totally kiddified the opening.  Know most of the episodes are meh.

[Nick DiMola]

Was Splinter drunk the whole movie? The first time I heard him speak all I could think is that he must've been hitting the Sake all night. Otherwise all the voices were fine and the movie was way better than I expected. I'm looking forward to a sequel down the line.  

[vudu]

I saw the movie last night.  It was laughably bad.  I really wanted to like it but just couldn't.  The plot made no sense at all, there wasn't enough fighting, and the fights that were there weren't even good.  None of the voices were exceptional, although Splinter's was the only horrible one.

I give the movie a C.