Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (film): Difference between revisions

Films based on the comic by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. Four have been made so far with a fifth one in the works. Unlike the previous three however, it is not a sequel of the same movie series, but rather a complete [[Continuity Reboot]].

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Enter four reptilian hominids: Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael, given a humanoid shape through a dip in a broken canister full of mutagen. Trained by a similarly mutated rat named Splinter in the art of ninjitsu as well, along with moral support in investigative reporter April O'Neil and extra muscle in street vigilante Casey Jones, these Ninja Turtles must save the Big Apple from the clutches of the Foot.

 

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== Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret Of The Ooze (1991) ==

While it was still a money maker, it garnered some criticism from fans of the first film for [[Lighter and Softer|toning down the violence and adult themes]], and although Jim Henson's Creature Shop still worked on the movie, the costumes and animatronics were considered a little inferior, supposedly toning down the gritty detail to avoid scaring children (they still looked just fine, though). Generally considered more like the goofy cartoon than like the edgy comic, the best example of this being Shredder, [[Villain Decay|who went from being a badass to still a bit of a badass but a little more bumbling]]. Despite these criticisms, [[Your Mileage May Vary|it is still considered a]] [[Guilty Pleasure]].

 

 

 

Also the only Ninja Turtles movie made thus far to not feature Casey Jones. At all.

== Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993) ==

 

 

When an antique scepter sends April to 1603 Japan, it's up to the turtles to retrieve her and travel back to present day New York before the scepter's powers are gone for good. As they search for the scepter in that time period, they have to contend with an evil British weapons-trader named Walker.

 

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* [[Absurdly Spacious Sewer]]: Averted; the Turtles are clearly using storm drains to travel and their home is located in an abandoned control station (in the sequel they move into what appears to be an old pneumatic transit station). The sewer pipes are separated from the canals, and while real storm drains aren't ''quite'' that large, the New York system is large enough for a man to stand in.

* [[Acting for Two]]: In the third film, Elias Koteas plays both Casey Jones and one of Walker's henchmen, Whit (who is implied to be Casey's ancestor). April [[Lampshade Hanging|notices the similarity]].

* [[Action Girl]]: April, in the fourth film.

* [[An Aesop]]: The first movie has one about fatherhood and family, with the good example (Splinter and the Turtles), the abusive/dysfunctional example (Shredder and the Foot) and the one stuck in the middle (Charles and Danny Pennington). Both Splinter and Shredder identify themselves as fathers, and, of course, Charles is Danny's father.

* [[Anachronism Stew]]: In the fourth film. The four ancient Aztec generals from 1000 BC had SPANISH names. The Spanish language did not even exist back then. And the Spanish language did not arrive to Mexico until after 1492 AD. Also possible example of [[Spexico]].

** Winters/Yaotl and The Stone Generals.

* [[Badass Normal]]: The Shredder, Casey Jones and by the time of the 2007 film, April O'Neil and Karai. The Turtles and Splinter ''kinda'' count, if you consider that, outside of being mutants, they have no other special or enhanced properties.

* [[Battle Couple]]: April and Casey by the fourth film.

* [[Belligerent Sexual Tension]]: Casey and April. So much so that Donatello lampshades it at one point.

* [[Berserk Button]]: Raphael in the first film;

'''Raphael''': Freak!? ''FREAK!?'' }}

** Leonardo during Shredder's [[Kick the Dog]] moment at the end of the first film.

* [[Big Damn Heroes]]: Raph does this for April and Casey does it for the turtles later.

* [[Big Damn Kiss]]: April and Casey at the end.

* [[Big No]]: In the first film when it appears The Shredder is going to kill Leo.

** Raph gets one in the fourth film when {{spoiler|he returns too late to stop the Stone Generals from taking Leo}}.

* [[Canon Foreigner]]: Lots: Tokka and Rahzar, Max Winters, Tatsu, Charles and Danny Pennington, Keno, everyone introduced in the third film...

* [[Canon Immigrant]]: Several characters, such as Tokka and Rahzar, made their way into other ''TMNT'' continuities. However, Charles Pennington, April's boss from the first movie, stands out as the only film character to make it to the Mirage comics.

* [[Chuck Cunningham Syndrome]]:

** Tatsu, who is completely absent from the fourth movie.

* [[The Comically Serious]]: Splinter, who finally learns how to crack wise at the end of the first movie. Fittingly, he becomes so delighted at this that he quips: "I made a funny! Ha ha ha ha!"

* [[Composite Character]]: Oroku Saki and Oroku Nagi. (In the film, Saki, instead of Nagi, is the one who's Hamato Yoshi's rival and in love with Tang Shen.)

* [[Conservation of Ninjitsu]]: Averted, early on Raph is completely overwhelmed by a horde of Foot ninjas that beat him almost to death and later the other three are forced to retreat after being outnumbered as well. Played straight later where the Turtles defeat an entire army of ninjas but then have trouble against The Shredder alone.

* [[Continuity Nod]]:

* [[Designated Girl Fight]]: [[The Oner]] in the fourth movie shows Karai taking on April amidst the chaos.

* [[Disappears Into Light]]: {{spoiler|Max Winters}}, in the fourth movie.

* [[Double Take]]: From "The Secret of the Ooze": Not just a double take, but a ''triple'' take when Keno first sees the Turtles in the background.

* [[The Dragon]]: Tatsu, in the first two movies.

** Appropriately enough, Tatsu is one of the Japanese words for "dragon."

* [[Dumb Muscle]]: Tokka and Rahzar. When he was kidnapped and forced by Shredder to mutate the two animals, TGRI Professor Jordan Perry altered the mutagen a little so that their intelligence would not increase. As such, when Shredder demands they call him "master," they misinterpret the word as "mama" and [[Funny Moments (Sugar Wiki)|hug the bejesus out of him]].

* [[Evil Sounds Deep]]: The Shredder in the first two films and then General Aguila for the fourth.

* [[Family-Unfriendly Violence]]: The first movie is pretty loaded with this, as it's more of an adaptation of the comic rather than the cartoon. In particular are the scenes where Raphael is mercilessly beaten to near-death, the entire fight in April's apartment (where a Foot ninja accidentally hits a power main with his axe and ''[[Nightmare Fuel|starts jerking around and smoking]]''), Tatsu's beating of Shinsho to near-death (or actual death if you go by the original script), Tatsu's beating of Casey Jones, and the Shredder being crushed inside the compactor of a garbage truck. It shocked so many people that in the second movie the Turtles [[Lighter and Softer|barely even touch their weapons, let alone use them against people]]. The third movie, for all its problems, attempted to fix this.

* [[Floorboard Failure]]: The first movie has this occur in the middle of a fight between the Turtles and the Foot clan on the second floor of April's apartment. Given that the floor had been hacked at with ninja axes and the number of people in the room at the time this was inevitable. Donatello even tries to warn the Foot.

''Foot soldiers drop in through the skylight. Seconds later epic floorboard failure occurs.'' }}

* [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]: There is at least one example in each film.

** From the first movie: (also a [[Funny Moments (Sugar Wiki)|Funny Moments]]).

'''Casey Jones:''' Do you want a fist in the mouth?! I've never even looked at another guy before! }}

** From the third movie:

** Also from the third movie:

* [[Gosh Dang It to Heck]]: Averted in the first movie, which is a [[Pragmatic Adaptation]] of the cartoon and comic book (where swearing was much more common).

* [[Gotta Catch Em All]]: The Foot Clan capturing the 13 Monsters in the 2007 TMNT.

* [[He Had a Name]]: Invoked by Shredder just to taunt the Turtles:

* [[Headphones Equal Isolation]]: Charles Pennington makes comments to this effect regarding his son, Danny.

* [[Highly-Visible Ninja]]: At the end of the second movie, which involved the Turtles fighting (and dancing) in a nightclub, ''in full view of an entire crowd of people'', Splinter asks them if they were seen by anybody upon their return home.

'''Splinter''': [[Deadpan Snarker|Practice]] ''[[Deadpan Snarker|harder]]''. }}

* [[Huddle Shot]]: "[[Funny Moments (Sugar Wiki)|So exactly at what point did we lose control here?]]"

* [[Julius Beethoven Da Vinci]]: Max Winters.

* [[Kick the Dog]]: Shredder at the end of the first film, after thoroughly beating the Turtles, mocks them by saying that he killed Splinter. It works.

* Leonardo charges at Shredder in absolute rage* }}

** He tries it again, after taking down Leonardo, he orders the other Turtles to throw away their weapons, or else he would kill him. After they have done so...

** The Vampire Bat, one of the 13 monsters, eats a pigeon offscreen, then smiles menacingly.

* [[Let's Get Dangerous]]: Raph does this in the fourth film. After fighting Leo in his Nightwatcher gear and being outclassed, he pulls out his sai, the weapon he's trained with from birth, loses the helmet which constrained his vision, and puts up a better fight, before {{spoiler|nearly killing Leo}} after it's revealed (To Leo) that his brother is the Nightwatcher.

* [[Lighter and Softer]]: The first sequel, mostly because of the [[Moral Guardians]]. The second sequel takes it [[Up to Eleven]]. The third sequel subverts this, by having Raph & Leo fight each other {{spoiler|which ends when Raph nearly kills Leo}}.

* [[Love At First Punch]]: April and Casey; as Donatello so eloquently put it "Gosh. It's kinda like ''[[Moonlighting]]'', isn't it?"

* [[MacGuffin Melee]]: The second film has a battle in the TGRI labs between the Turtles and the Foot over a can of Mutagen.

** Which crosses over into [[Body Horror]] when you realize that thanks to the ooze ''his costume is now a part of him.''

* [[Meaningful Name]]: Tatsu meaning [[The Dragon]] in Japanese.

* [[Mythology Gag]]: While the first movie is mostly based on the original Mirage Studios comics, it had a few elements from the 80s cartoon: different-colored bandanas, their love for pizza, April being a news reporter, and Michelangelo's [[Catch Phrase]] "Cowabunga".

** "Check out East Warehouse on Lairdman Island." (reference to Eastman and Laird, of course).

* [[No One Could Survive That]]: Subverted in the second movie. The exact line was quoted after {{spoiler|Super Shredder}} was crushed by a collapsing pier, {{spoiler|but it turns out he really couldn't survive that after all.}}

* [[Not So Above It All]]: Straight-laced Master Splinter, at the end of the first three films, will show that he's not above making the occasional joke like the turtles.

'''Fourth film, [[Casual Danger Dialog|while kicking monster ass]]:''' [[Badass Family|We should do this more often!]] [[Badass Grandpa|I STILL got it!!]] }}

* [[Offhand Backhand|Offhand Back Kick]]:

** Leo does this after faking out another Foot ninja during the fight in April's apartment.

*** Later, Mike does a straightforward offhand backhand after ducking in his shell.

** Raph does it after calling Donatello a showoff after Don's skateboarding ass-kicking-montage.

* [[Oh Crap]]: Raph, when the Shredder appears in front of him, after insulting Tatsu.

* [[Once Per Episode]]: The first three movies concluded with Splinter "making a funny."

* [[One-Winged Angel]]: Super Shredder in ''Secret of the Ooze''.

* [[Parental Bonus]]: In the second movie, after falling into the Foot's trap at the junkyard:

'''Michaelangelo:''' Yeah, remind me to drop a line to Ralph Nader! }}

* [[Physical Fitness Punishment]]: Michelangelo is made to do back-flips as a punishment in ''Secret of the Ooze''. When Splinter notices that Mike has started just jumping up and down to make it ''sound'' like he was doing back-flips, he makes him do ''more''.

* [[Precision F-Strike]]: Well, D-Strike anyway. Raphael curses twice in the film, a short "damn" in the opening in frustration at losing a sai (thus giving away a vital clue to their existence) and again as a [[Skyward Scream]] after being bested by Casey Jones.

** And during Mike & Don's rock paper scissors match at the climax: "One, two, three! Damn."

* [[Product Placement]]

* [[Put Down Your Gun and Step Away|Put Down Your Weapons And Step Away]]: Played painfully straight in the first movie, and then {{spoiler|Shredder tells them how stupid it was}}.

* [[Revenge Before Reason]]: After transforming into Super Shredder at the end of the second film, Shredder becomes completely determined to kill the Turtles, by collapsing the entire pier, and not even caring that his actions could kill him as well.

'''Super Shredder''': Then so be it! }}

** Shredder spends the entire second movie like this, several characters even call him on it.

* [[Running Gag]]: The Turtles say things like "awesome" and "wicked," while Don says something lame like "Bossa Nova" or "A Capella."

* [[Sarcasm Mode]]: April thinks Casey was acting like this when he tells her she got fired.

'''Casey:''' You wouldn't even be standing there if it weren't for me! }}

* [[Scars Are Forever]]: In the first movie, Raphael has a scar on his cheek from some unexplained injury, while Shredder has scars on his cheek from a pre-mutation Splinter.

** Well, they ''do'' immediately tell the press...

*** But they assumed they were people in costumes (one guy thinks so, yet he and his date are vaguely aware of a rat). And the owners of the club assumed they were hired extras.

* [[Sequel Hook]]: At the end of ''TMNT'', {{spoiler|Karai mentions that soon enough, the Turtles would have further business involving her and "familiar faces from your past," to which Raphael responds, "She doesn't mean..."}} While we may never see a sequel, it seems like they planned to make a movie where {{spoiler|the Shredder returns}}.

* [[Shoot the Television]]: Shredder is introduced in the first movie watching a wall of TV screens. When April appears on the news and indicates that [[He Knows Too Much|she knows too much]] about the Foot Clan, Shredder throws a knife at her face on the TV screen.

** The Addams Family line quoted above. It was probably supposed to be a [[Take That]] at ''Addams Family Values'', a sequel to the first ''Addams Family'' movie that was coming out the same year as ''Ninja Turtles III'', but even with that kind of context it makes no sense, especially since Donny is asking this to a group of guards in ''1603 Japan''.

** "Help, I'm a turtle [[Family Matters|and I can't get up!]]"

* [[Shut UP, Hannibal]]: Delivered by Splinter and Casey to the Foot members still identifying Shredder as a father figure, essentially telling them that the Shredder cares nothing for them; he merely uses them for his own selfish desires.

* [[Shut Up, Kirk]]: Shredder attempts this in the first movie, when Splinter is lecturing him while holding him over a ledge.

'''Splinter''': ''[finishes]'' ...without honor. }}

* [[Skyward Scream]]: "DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMN!"

*** That scream can even be heard on the surface. An old man walks by and hears it, but shakes his head "nah, it couldn't be".

** "SPLINTERRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!"

* [[Starring Special Effects]]: But when [[Jim Henson]] is on board that's kind of a given.

* [[The Starscream]]: General Aguila in the fourth movie. Granted, all four stone generals betrayed Winters, but Aguila was who convinced his siblings to do it.

* [[Stealth Hi Bye]]: The Turtles, Splinter, and the Foot ninjas.

* [[Take That]]: "A Jose Canseco bat?! Tell me - you didn't pay money for this!"

*** Also [[Biting the Hand Humor]], Critters was also released by New Line Cinema.

* [[Talking Is a Free Action]]: There's really no reason why the Turtles should be able to spout off ''that'' much dialogue during their fights, other than the [[Rule of Cool]] and [[Rule of Funny]].

* [[Totally Radical]]

* [[True Companions]]: The Turtles.

* [[Viewers Are Geniuses]]:

** "Do you like... penicillin on your pizza?"

** A ''lot'' of Donny's failed attempts at slang are this.

* [[Who Wants to Live Forever?]]: Max Winters, again.

** He wouldn't but his generals would.

* [[You Fight Like a Cow]]: The Turtles constantly mock and goad their opponents in battle. Don and Mikey are the two biggest offenders but even Leonardo and Raph get in on this one. They only stop joking at the very end, when the Shredder ''seriously'' pisses them off.

** Of course, with the [[Curb Stomp Battle|way the fight had been going]], the turtles could hardly justify talking smack against the way the Shredder fights in the first place.

* [[You Watch Too Much X]]: It's implied that the Turtles watch a LOT of TV (especially Mikey). It's not like there's too much else for them to do.

** Don skateboards and Raph goes to movies.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:The Millennium Age of Animation]]

[[Category:Films of the 1990s]]

[[Category:Films of the 2000s]]

[[Category:Puppet Shows]]