Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem – Review

I’ve been very spoiled with animated films this year. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is another entry in a year of bangers.

I grew up with the animated tv show, originally airing from 1987-1996, and it was a particular favorite of mine. I had the hideout, the van, and most of the action figures. While I loved this franchise, I was disappointed in the film series, silly as it was and fun in its way. The 2007 film TMNT was a blast but nothing ever came out of that film and the less said of the Michael Bay produced films the better. Hearing that Seth Rogen was producing a new film, directed by Jeff Rowe (Gravity Falls, Disenchantment), barely moved the needle on my radar.

At least until the trailer came out.

I’ve longed for actual teenagers to play these characters, allowing them to be awkward and unsure and overconfident, and I’ve finally gotten my wish. Micah Abbey, Shamon Brown Jr., Nicolas Cantu, and Brady Noon have brought a vibrant youthful energy to these voice performances. They’re joined by a lovely animation style, feeling hand-drawn and yet fluid enough to feel more real than most studio blockbusters, and a murderer’s row of supporting performances.

The film serves less as a coming-of-age story as it does a tale of marginalized kids that just want to fit in. Leonardo (Cantu), Donatello (Abbey), Michelangelo (Brown Jr.), and Raphael (Noon) just want to be normal kids. It’s not their fault that they were normal baby turtles, abandoned in a sewer to be covered in mutant-generating ooze. Now they’re sentient turtles raised by martial artist Splinter (Jackie Chan), a rat that also mutated, and the few run-ins they’ve had with humans have been ugly affairs. Humans are scared of things that are different from them and Rogen/Golberg’s script digs right into the heart of what that does to those pushed down. Splinter is afraid and still traumatized from his experiences trying to take his kids out into the world. The kids feel trapped and othered, desperate to go out and find a way to be accepted by the community. It’s a touching setup that isn’t even a step away from the reality many live each day. Meeting budding journalist April O’Neil (Ayo Edebiri), who tentatively accepts the turtles for who they are, only doubles their desire to enter the above-sewer society.

Enter Superfly (a pitch-perfect Ice Cube), the first mutant. He’s pissed and tired of being hunted, hurt, and brutalized. Together with his crew (Hannibal Burress, Paul Rudd, Seth Rogen, John Cena, Rose Byrne, Natasia Demetriou, and Post Malone) he is building a machine to mutate every animal on the planet, rendering humanity the minority and allowing Mutants to be the dominant force on the planet. Superfly brings a narrative we’ve seen before (please see the entire X-Men franchise and the Magneto character) but never quite like this. The charisma and bombast that Ice Cube brings to the role are a hop, skip, and a jump away from the attitude Cube himself put on during his time with N.W.A. and it makes sense for him to be in the role.

Holding a myriad of film references from Gojira to Boyz n the Hood, the very tangible comic-book look of the animation utilizes things we find familiar to do something new with all of these characters. Mikros Animation has done an outstanding job creating a New York that feels familiar and yet maintains a fantastical edge that once only hand-drawn sketches could provide.

Sporting a hip-hop soundtrack full of East Coast classics, Mutant Mayhem is carried even further into greatness by an absolutely bangin’ Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross score. Reminiscent of the work they did on Damon Lindelof’s Watchmen, it’s a deeply unsettling piece of music that serves as the most action-packed bit of music the two have produced in quite some time. I don’t think the duo has missed yet but their tracks here are incredible, layering in sounds that feel everything from depressing to joyous to frightened to desperate all at the same time. It’s an absolutely incredible album and is currently a contender for my favorite score of 2023.

Folks, this is a great time at the movies. Adults, kids, doesn’t matter. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is an out-of-the-park home run and such a blast. Now if you’ll excuse me I feel like a slice of pizza.

The film is currently playing in theatres.