While we're on the subject of April O'Neil, it's impressive how much of this movie Megan Fox has been asked to carry. While some fans may be up in arms about that change in backstory, I personally thought it added an interesting level to the relationship between the foursome and Ms. In a little revisionist history that may or may not upset loyal fans, it is revealed that April's father (now deceased) was working with Sachs and responsible for the transformation of the Turtles, whom we learn were actually pets of April's when she was a little girl. In between the action sequences (most of them about 90 percent CGI, but unlike most we see in films these days, actually well-storyboarded so we're never confused about who's doing what to whom), much of the story deals with the origin of the Turtles and their rodent teacher, Splinter (voiced by Tony Shalhoub). In addition to Shredder and his ninjas, there's an evil industrialist, Eric Sachs (played by William Fichtner), who is both working for Shredder and is partially responsible for the actual creation of the Turtles into their teenage mutant ninja selves. The actual plot of the movie is really the weakest part here, as the Turtles have to take on an evil group of ninjas called 'The Foot Clan' along with their leader, Shredder (Tohoru Masamune), who fans of the comic books, cartoons, and previous movies already know to be the Turtles' primary baddie (he's kind of the Darth Vader of this universe).
But rest assured that much of the humor is still present, and the movie does a remarkable job of creating distinct and identifiable personalities for the four Turtles, even though (minus the different colored masks and weapons of choice) they're pretty much identical to one another in appearance. Well, at least not physically, as these CGI renderings (which were created with help from live actors using motion-capture technology) are much more dangerous looking…not to mention larger, each standing over six feet in height.
And for a film with the names Michael Bay and Megan Fox in the credits, it's right near the top of their resumes.Īlmost from the first frame, it's obvious that Director Jonathan Liebesman wants to give fans a more 'realistic' version of the Turtles, who are no longer the cute, kid-friendly foursome they were in the films from the 1990s. In fact, for a film of this nature, it's about as good as we could have hoped for. The first being what exactly did critics expect from a movie about talking turtles who live in a sewer, eat pizza, and fight crime? This wasn't exactly a project that was going to find Martin Scorsese and/or Tom Hanks attached to it, was it? But secondly, and perhaps most importantly, this movie isn't as bad as you've been led to believe. It was the perfect storm for film bashing, and sure enough, most reviewers had a field day commenting about how Bay had been responsible for launching another mindless movie franchise and/or how Fox's performance was wooden and lifeless.
After all, this was one of the most disliked (at least as far as his movies are concerned) directors in Hollywood (even though he didn't direct this movie) along with one of the most maligned actresses (at least as far as her acting is concerned). Critics were frothing at the mouth waiting to pan the Michael Bay-produced/Megan Fox-featured 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' reboot when it was released in theaters earlier this year.
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