Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

• I’ve never really been into TMNT, both as a kid or adult. I’ve never seen any of the shows or movies, nor did I ever have any of the toys. So with this being my first ever TMNT movie, it has certainly set the standard for me. I’d say there is a very rare chance that any other piece of TMNT media will live up to the brilliance of this one. However, there were certainly a couple little things about it that I didn’t care for. I think a lot of the plot was a bit cliche, in terms of good vs evil stuff. It’s about what I expected, but nothing super original. It’s also, very obviously, targeted towards kids, which makes it hard to sit through at a certain point. There were a couple obnoxious bits that were just weird. But really besides those, it was near perfect. One thing it does correctly is explaining the origin of the turtles. You get just enough to understand the origin story, but then it immediately jumps into the main story. It doesn’t linger too long on their birth and upbringing. I also really like how much the movie references pop culture, from Guy Fieri and Flavortown, to Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. However, all those references were very in-your-face. It uses 2023 terms such as “sus” and “rizz”, which automatically made me deduct a point from the Movie Score. Is it harsh? Yes, but those words should be banned from society. They ruin the younger generation’s brains. Anyways, the animation was the obvious highlight, and much like the Spider-Verse movies, it feels like it’s straight from a comic. The colors and movements are amazing, with freaking awesome character designs. The voice acting was also perfect, as well as the very energetic soundtrack. Overall, this movie is almost a perfectly made movie, though not all of it was my style. I’d definitely recommend it to all animation fans. This film is officially Berry Approved, so go see it now!