Review of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012)
There have been several adaptations of TMNT, some good, some bad and some just downright ridiculous. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Turtles, they had a comic book series that started in 1984. In 1987 the first cartoon was produced, and seems to be the most popular Ninja Turtles series. In 1990 the first full length movie was made and is commonly regarded as the best Turtles film. This is when Ninja Turtles was at its peak and it slowly went downhill from there.
So I have to say Nickelodeon’s new Ninja Turtle series is not just great, it is one of the most faithful adaptation\s of Ninja Turtles I have seen in decades. It is full of fan favorite characters from the older comics and tv shows, that range from the incredibly iconic to the unbelievably obscure, but the writers manage to change these characters just enough to make them feel unique from their old school interpretations. There is no stone left unturned when it comes to referencing the older adaptations, so OG turtle fans should definitely appreciate that aspect, yet the writers have developed plenty of new faces add to the shows own identity.
Ninja Turtles is a modern kids show with great story and character arcs, while still being funny, something that is rare now a days. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of filler episodes, but for the most part they are well done and enjoyable despite not having any effect on the overall story. Unfortunately there are two filler story lines that get reused a few times and if you are intending on watching every episode (which you should) it’s very noticeable, not to say these episodes are bad it just gets a predicable. The one other issue I have is the humor with Michelangelo. It has gotten much better as the series has gone on, but in the beginning there are quite a few jokes that fell flat.
A lot of people have fussed about going with CG animation instead of the standard 2D animation, it may take some time to get used to, but it still looks great and this show needed it’s own look to differentiate from its predecessors. The voice acting is top notch without a dud in the bunch. I especially love Rob Paulsen as Donatello and Josh Peck as Casey Jones.
The show is in the middle of its third season with 68 episodes aired and a fourth season already confirmed so there is no end in sight for now. I would definitely recommend this series, not only to diehard Ninja Turtles fans, but to anyone looking some random escapism in a funny show with a great cast and amazing storylines.