Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: OUT OF THE SHADOWS (USA/12A/112mins)
Directed by Dave Green. Starring Megan Fox, Will Arnett, Stephen Amell, Stephen Farrelly, Laura Linney.
THE PLOT: The Turtles struggle with being cooped up away from humanity, and as they do, a new threat arises in the form of Dr Baxter Stockman (Tyler Perry), who is working with Shredder (Brian Tee) to first of all break him out of prison, then create mutant henchmen in the form of Bebop (Gary Anthony Williams) and Rocksteady (Stephen Farrelly). As the Turtles take on their old enemy, a chance to become human threatens to tear the team apart.
THE VERDICT: Let’s be honest here, ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows’ is not a film that is designed to make a lot of sense, it is designed to be big, loud and dumb fun, and that is exactly what director Dave Green delivers.
The voice cast includes Tony Shalhoub, Alan Ritchson, Noel Fisher, Pete Ploszek, Jeremy Howard and Brad Garrett, and they all do fine with the roles they are given. There is not a lot to these characters, but the voices sound real and enthusiastic. The same goes for Stephen Farrelly and Brian Anthony Green as Bebop and Rocksteady but they have more of a chance since they start their roles in the flesh before switching to CGI. The human actors fare less well, with Megan Fox, Stephen Amell, Will Arnett and Laura Linney feeling wooden and one dimensional in their roles.
The screenplay, written by Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec contains a lot more comedy than the 2014 film, mostly in the form of Bebop and Rocksteady, and there are some nice nods to the 1980s cartoon that fans will appreciate. As far as the film as a whole goes, however, it is riddled with plotholes, science that does not make a lick of sense and characters that are thin and difficult to engage with.
Director Dave Green takes over from Michael Bay with all guns blazing, setting out to make his own version of “Bayhem”. The characters are nothing to speak of, with most of the humans coming off as foolish and rather lacking in the brains department. The action scenes are a lot of fun, and the comedic timing is strong throughout the entire film, and it is clear that Green had a lot of fun making this nonsensical film, that every preteen boy in the audience will adore.
In all, ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Out of the Shadows’ is loud, dumb, CGI heavy but actually has a lot of laughs, if you can forgive the nonsense going on on screen. That said, the film is aimed at preteen boys, and they will have a ball with it.
RATING: 2/5
Review by Brogen Hayes