Hang onto your shells and prepare for ooze: Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello and Raphael are ready to leap, kick, flip and skate into theaters next week when Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies release Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. Releasing August 2, the movie reconnects with the Turtles’ roots and grungy ’90s style as it charts their quest to win the hearts of the humans of New York by taking down a mysterious crime syndicate and facing an army of mutants alongside their new friend April O’Neil — just normal teen stuff.
While TMNT is a well-trod franchise in film and television, critics are hailing Mutant Mayhem as a refreshing new take. Totting up a tubular 97% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes from 30 reviews so far (plus a Metascore of 71 from 14 reviews on Metacritic), the CG action-adventure from Seth Rogen’s Point Grey Pictures is being hailed for its faithfully nostalgic yet dynamic treatment of the classic property, full of the evergreen goofiness, gross-outs and humor of adolescence and brough to life in stunning animation with sketchbook scribble flavor.
Directed by Jeff Rowe (The Mitchells vs. The Machines) and co-directed by Kyler Spears from a screenplay by Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg & Jeff Rowe and Dan Hernandez & Benji Samit, Mutant Mayhem stars Micah Abbey (Donatello), Shamon Brown Jr. (Michelangelo), Nicolas Cantu (Leonardo), Brady Noon (Raphael), Jackie Chan (Splinter) and Ayo Edebiri (April O’Neil), as well as Rogen, Hannibal Buress, Rose Byrne, John Cena, Ice Cube, Natasia Demetriou, Giancarlo Esposito, Post Malone, Paul Rudd and Maya Rudolph.
Check out the newly released final trailer (plus the memetic throwback “I Like Turtles” promo) and read what the critics are saying below!
“Adopting a decidedly younger spin toward its teenage heroes, the hugely entertaining and funny film seems destined to reinvigorate the franchise and attract plenty of nostalgic adults as well as young fans. … [The film ]features vibrantly distinctive visuals that perfectly suit the rambunctious and frequently violent proceedings. The dialog proves consistently amusing (not surprising considering Rogen’s participation), and the fact that the young actors voicing the TMNTs were actually teenagers when they recorded their performances infuses a welcome youthful energy to the goings-on.”
— Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter
“This new animated origin story for the chelonian adventurers is unexpectedly funny, with a rather stylish crepuscular design … The turtles’ crime-fighting mission to save those very ungrateful humans who are so suspicious of them is amiable and enjoyable, although a quibble is that Rowe, Rogen et al skate around the refined humanist mystery of their names. These writers are clearly happier with pop culture gags about Chris Pine and so on — and there’s a lot of funny material.”
— Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
“So many blockbusters these days are designed to comfort viewers with the familiar; giving them exactly what they expect in narcotizing doses of beloved intellectual properties. While Mutant Mayhem obviously originated from the same commercial impulse, it adds a lot of novel wrinkles to the old Ninja Turtles formula. With scratchy animation and surreal running jokes about milking turtles for their precious mutated bodily fluids, it doesn’t feel like something extruded from the Hollywood IP factory, and the surreal visuals are downright psychedelic at times.”
— Matt Singer, ScreenCrush
“Mutant Mayhem, like The Mitchells vs. The Machines or Puss in Boots: The Last Wish before it, suggests that studios are actually allowing animation filmmakers to do more than thoughtlessly hop on the latest trend. The film looks exactly how a franchise born out of the independent comic book scene and bolstered by Saturday morning cartoons should look … These sorts of movies need just a smattering of sincerity and humanity to soar. And, for a franchise that’s never had the best track record on the big screen, it’s exactly the makeover the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles needed.”
— Clarisse Loughrey, Independent (U.K.)
“With a plotline that scrambles across New York City, characters that seem born from a bad acid trip, and a sense of humor that is unapologetically madcap, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is a hyper-active romp that’s chaotically charming. Kids will love the bombastic humor and gonzo — though not gory — action. Grown-ups will get the added bonus of nostalgia, not only for the turtles but also through a soundtrack that boasts jams like ‘No Diggity,’ ‘What’s Going On’ and “Can I Kick It?'”
— Kristy Puchko, Mashable
“Jeff Rowe (co-director on the brilliant Mitchells vs. The Machines) leans even heavier into that scruffy, hand-drawn aesthetic, the scribbled lines heartily embracing teenage-scrapbook imperfection.
“It’s that adolescent experience that keeps this latest entry feeling more alive and engaging than it has any right to. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, co-writers of the script and avowed fans of this franchise, are no strangers to teenage coming-of-age stories, and as well as sprinkling some of their witty, self-aware comedy into the mix — there are knowing nods to the strangeness of the turtles’ origin story — this adolescent outsider tale feels of a piece with Superbad or Blockers.”
— John Nugent, Empire
