Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)
The world’s most famous turtles in their first big screen adventure!! How does it hold up after so many years?
Brief Backstory
The 1980s (mostly from 1984 and later onwards) were peppered with memorable and well beloved cartoons, G.I. Joe, BraveStarr, DuckTales, Garfield and Friends, The Real Ghostbusters, and Transformers. The most popular however, was none other than Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT), which had several different series, such as the 2003 series, which gained a cult following in later years, but the most well known was the 1987 series.
It’s no secret that so many people from the 1980s know the turtles; they were everywhere, from toys, action figures, patches, fashion, video games (some of which were great like the NES trilogy), and of course, movies. During the early 1990s at the height of their popularity, everyone’s favorite pizza munching warriors were unsurprisingly brought to the big screen. The first two, released in 1990 and 1991, met with good reception, however the third one was considered disastrous.
Story
The Foot Clan and Shredder are laying siege to New York. A quad of fierce warrior turtles, known as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and every pizzeria’s number one customers, must put an end to the crime wave.
Random Facts
Jim Henson’s Creature Shop created the animatronics needed for the movie. Because of this, the movie looks more realistic.
Whereas the Foot Clan in the animated series was mainly a tough looking militia, the Foot Clan in this movie is more in line with juvenile delinquents, though also with adult soldiers as well.
Splinter is voiced by Elmo and Baby Sinclair (Kevin Clash). I’m dead serious.
Corey Feldman, who voiced Copper as a puppy in the Fox and the Hound, voices Donatello. He would do so again in the third movie.
James Rolfe of Cinemassacre did a review of TMNT 3.
Casey Jones doesn’t appear often in the 1987 series.
Random Opinions
This was probably the first thing I could think of for my first time seeing the ninja turtles, but I might’ve seen them in the early 90s – barely.
Michelangelo says “I love being a turtle” – I wonder if the lyrics in TMNT 2003 were inspired by some of these lines.
The Foot Clan hideout has some similarities to Pleasure Island from Pinocchio, what with the smoking and gambling.
Pros
- The ninja turtles look more menacing and more in line with the animated series.
- “I made a funny”
- I prefer the darker tone that the first movie has, but still close to how the 1987 series was. Secret of Ooze would keep the tone, but Turtles in Time (the third movie, not related to the SNES game) did away with the tone.
- The animatronics and turtle suits all look like they’re real things.
- Fight scenes are great.
Cons
- Some of the slang hasn’t held up that well over the years.
- Pop culture references are kind of lame in this one. Rick and Morty did this better 20+ years later.
- The pizza scenes make me hungry. Kind of hard for me to watch TMNT material without wanting pizza; this might not count as a con, but since I’m trying to lose a little weight that makes it harder.
Rating: 8/10 – Great
I was pretty late to the bandwagon on TMNT, but I was a toddler back then. Much like the 1987 series, TMNT is highly recommended, and not just for going to see how the TMNT phenomenon started.
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