Review – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)
Review – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)
Rating: PG
Genre: Kids & Family, Adventure, Fantasy
Original Language: English
Director: Steve Barron
Producers: David Chan, Kim Dawson, Simon Fields
Writers: Todd W. Langen, Bobby Herbeck
Release Date (Theatres): Mar 30, 1990 World Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 2, 2016
Runtime: 1h 33m
Budget Costs: $13m
Domestic Box Office: $135,265,915
International Box Office: $66,734,085
Worldwide Box Office: $202,000,000
Production Co: New Line Cinema
Sound Mix: Surround
Rotten Tomato Critics 40%, Public 81%
Synopsis
In New York, mysterious radioactive ooze has mutated four sewer turtles into talking, upright-walking, crime-fighting ninjas. The intrepid heroes — Michelangelo (Robbie Rist), Donatello (Corey Feldman), Raphael (Josh Pais) and Leonardo (Brian Tochi) — are trained in the Ninjutsu arts by their rat sensei, Splinter. When a villainous rogue ninja, who is a former pupil of Splinter, arrives and spreads lawlessness throughout the city, it’s up to the plucky turtles to stop him.
Confession
I’m going to be very honest in the review and I better start with a confession..in 1990 I bloody hated this movie. But there is a reason, I worked in a local Cinema chain for about 2 years and part of the job of usher was to stand at the back of movies with 15 minutes to go to get the doors open and check the crowd. I think I watched the last 15 minutes of TMNT90 about 500 times or more. Not as bad as Ghost (well over 2,000 times) or as terrible as My Blue Heaven (about 26)
Once you work in a cinema you get to hate and love movies (I still think last 10 minutes of Goodfellas is the best even after watching over a 1,000 times) and as a cool 18 year old the last thing I wanted to show was that I was a geek in those days.
As such, I still hate that feckin T-U-R-T-L-E POWER song by Partners in Kryme… In fact, I think it’s time to torture you all with it, enjoy!
Plot/Writing
So, an ancient Ninja clan comes to New York and recruits a gang of kids to steal stuff. The steal anything and everything to setup a groovy kids nightclub in a warehouse where anything is possible (even smoking.) Behind the gang the nefarious Shredder is brainwashing the kids to become is foot soldiers. Plucky reporter April O’Neil draws attention to the petty theft and is attacked by the gang but saved by a mysterious crew.
The turtles have been trained to be silent but they then follow April around and pizza slapstick ensues. Casey Jones is a the vigilante sports equipment guy, allowing him to punctuate very hit with a sports related pun.
Blah, Blah Splinter kidnapped, Raphael knocked out, April and Casey hate/love each other and we end with my personal rooftop hell with Splinter vs Shredder vs A Garbage Truck and Cowabunga…..and scene
Visuals/Special Effects
I do actually prefer these Kermit’s cousin suits to the horrible CGI laden current movies. They are solid, collide with things and the fight choreography is far superior to even the current Mortal Kombat movie that tortured us in May 2021
For a measly $13m this has stood the test of time well and worth a Friday Night’s chillout, so step back in time when real things were on screen rather than green screens and tennis balls.
Overall Thoughts
Dear lord, it’s a TMNT movie from 1990, not Les Mis so you can expect lots of puns (check), snark (check), slapstick (check) and doomed careers. What you might not remember is that Sam Rockwell was actually the unnamed teenage gang leader. His seven lines are about on part for someone with seven lines. It’s switching your brain in neutral, suspend your belief and keep me in your thoughts for having to watch the last 15 minutes over 500 times as an usher in 1990.
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