Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles- Blu-ray Review

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Blu-ray) – Reviewed by Jim Milton

Synopsis

Darkness has settled over New York City and Shredder has an iron grip on everything from the police to the politicians. The future is grim until four unlikely brothers rise from the sewers and discover their destiny as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. With the help of the intrepid reporter April O’Neil and their sensei named Splinter, the four TMNT are about to face their biggest challenge yet!

Commentary

This re-imagining of the TMNT uses CGI to its fullest extent, but the remarkable detail digital provides does not make up for the vacuous plot and stilted dialogue. There are plenty of inappropriate sexual reference to make mom and dad cringe while watching this with the kids. The plot is overly simplistic, but then again, what 12 year old boy cares about plot lines, right? Shredder was pretty cool, but he looked like a cross between Boorman’s Excaliber chrome knight and a Swiss army knife. At least the director did not use Megan Fox in a gratuitous fashion…and I was really expecting that. The action sequences were good, but the sliding down the mountain side with an 18 wheeler went on a bit too long for me. Ultimately, this is a movie for adolescent boys and an adult should not have to be forced to view this film. True TMNT fans will be disappointed in producer Michael Bay’s vision. I enjoyed the Jim Henson version more for their wit and real physicality, but these “gee-whiz” CGI characters will probably appeal more to todays techno kids. Seriously though, do these guys look like teenagers to you?

Technical

The picture quality and sound are very good. If you have an Atmos enabled receiver, this soundtrack is all you could hope for. The detail in the CGI turtles is remarkable. They do appear to be a bit creepier when compared to the Henson versions, but their movements are quite natural and they really do seem to take up physical space. The sound is active in 7.1 TrueHD, and with the stuff whizzing overhead, I can image that Atmos speakers would be kept busy during most of the copious amounts of action scenes. Dialog is easily discernible, even in the explosive action sequences. Deep bass is felt throughout. Nobody can blow up a set like Michael Bay!

Extras

Includes: Digital Reality, “In Your Face!”- the turtles in 3D, It ain’t easy being green, Evolutionary mass-up, Turtle Rock, extended ending, “Shell Shock” music video and the DVD/UltraViolet version of the film. My disc came with 4 turtle masks, too. Cowabunga, dude!