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If
you're one of the kids who grew up during the golden age
of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles when they were all
that any kid in their right talked about, then this form
of nostalgiasploitation is one you'll have a damn good
time with. For anyone hoping to re-live their youth
while also looking in to what the current incarnation of
the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are up to, the best
form of marketing for all the audiences of this
franchise comes in the form of "Turtles Forever," a
reality bending, genre twisting mini-movie that works as
a satire on the eighties series, a tribute to the
current incarnation and a respectful nod to the classic
Turtles. While the movie does skimp on revealing the
true incarnation of the turtles who were less winking
toward the camera and popping wise and more about
violence and ass kicking, "Turtles Forever" is still a
very entertaining and hilarious romp at a cross
generational war that discusses the potential for
alternate realities and what happens when all Ninja
Turtles from all realities suddenly converge to take on
their nemesis, some of whom are goofy, and some are just
about killing the turtles. The movie could not acquire
all of the original voices for the movie, so they
instead mimic the old voices behind the Shredder and
Leonardo and makes a good excuse for combining all of
the turtles in to one world where they're able to fight
alongside one another and stop their foes for a short
time. This idea isn't exactly new since Scooby Doo did
the exact same thing for one of their animated movies
bringing together old and new Scooby Doo characters, but
"Turtles Forever" is something of a love letter to the
entire idea of the Ninja Turtles placing the old turtles
in to this new cynical world, allowing them to interact
while finding out they can still work together in spite
of their vast differences in methods, attitudes, and
humor. |
| The art style for
the eighties television show is very faithful and
shockingly devoted to the original molds allowing
for an interesting juxtaposition whenever they're in
the middle of a battle, and it's pretty funny
watching the old turtles pop wise cracks and having
fun with their fights while the new turtles look on
baffled and wondering if they ever take anything
they do seriously. You also have to enjoy
Michelangelo laughing hysterically whenever the old
Mike and his pals spout one-liners after defeating a
foe of theirs, and in one instance Raphael stops in
the middle of the fight to tell viewers that he and
the turtles shower regularly as modern Raphael and
mutant Hun look on confused. You also have to love
how the turtles question eighties April on her
yellow jumpsuit and the commentary on April always
getting in to trouble at least once a day. As with
most of these parallel universe stories, the writers
find a way to have it all make sense and it does as
the old turtles have brought with them vials of
mutagen that the modern Turtles foe wants to use for
his own personal experiments to build massive
monsters to take on the turtles. Meanwhile eighties
Shredder wants modern Shredder in to this reality,
and once they step foot in the same room, there's
much head bashing and arguing to be had. One
surprising element of the movie is that the modern
turtles are able to constantly exclaim "What the
shell?!" I'm surprised the censors never responded
to that. There is also the obvious conflicts among
this shift in which the turtles learn to eventually
work with one another in spite of their different
approaches toward combat, while the villains are
more intent on toppling one another for superiority
which inevitably leads to their downfalls. Acting as
a finale for the contemporary series, the makers
behind this go all out with some incredible homages
to past incarnations, and a glimpse at every single
Turtle incarnation of all time, including the live
action Turtles from the late eighties movie and the
CGI turtles from the animated movie. Presumably the
final go around for the animated Turtles, this is a
great feature length send off for the contemporary
Ninja Turtles until the next live action reboot from
Platinum Dunes planned for the next three years in
to a proposed franchise. For anyone willing to look
back with fondness at the heroes in a half shell,
this is well worth your time and will offer a laugh
or two. |
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