Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem Review

The look is the story here. Jeff Rowe's film is built to resemble a notebook drawn by a fourteen year old, with visible pencil texture, scribbled outlines and a grubby New York that feels handmade rather than rendered, and critics were near unanimous that it is the most exciting animation a studio has released since the Spider-Verse films opened the door. The second good decision is casting actual teenagers as the brothers and letting them talk over each other, which gives the dialogue a messy authenticity no adult cast could fake.

Ayo Edebiri's April is genuinely funny and Jackie Chan's Splinter carries the film's anxious heart. The score is superb. The reservations are consistent and mild. The third act collapses into the same enormous monster fight every one of these films arrives at, the villain's motivation is stated rather than dramatized, and the size of the mutant voice cast means several of them register as a famous person rather than a character. Donatello and Raphael get noticeably less to do than their brothers. It is a bright, warm, formally daring film with a routine ending.