Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023)

Written by CinemaSerf on August 6, 2023

Helpfully, for those us who are not turtle-heads, we are provided with a little potted history of just how the four shelled super-heroes were discovered in a sewer by 'Splinter" having had a drink of some secret formula that had accidentally dropped down a sluice. Spin forwards a few years and the four are living a clandestine life, discouraged by their father with having anything to do with human beings. On one evening though, whilst out "shopping", they encounter "April" who gets her scooter pinched. They quickly try to get it back for her, she follows them and a series of adventures follow as we are quickly immersed in a city-wide battle against other, less convivial, mutants bent on destruction and mayhem. I was expecting little from this but it is actually quite an enjoyable action-packed animation. Some effort has been put into the script to enable some fun in the dialogue and for the characterisations to not just be sword-swinging would-be painters, but to have just the tiniest element of depth to them as the story develops. I didn't love the slightly bloated-head style of the animation, the proportion to the rest of their bodies was all a bit "Scooby Do" and I found there to be way too much soundtrack that drowned out the speech a lot of the time, but it was better than I was anticipating...