Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie - PG
Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that the once-criticized violence in this Turtle soup is mainly martial arts slapstick comedy -- as long as it's the Ninja Turtles embroiled in the combat. When it's humans clubbing or threatening one another, there's a sense of menace (especially when the perpetrators are predator gangs of feral boys). The Foot Clan here is a Hollywood glorification of a street gang, with a secret headquarters filled with adolescent attractions like skateboarding, games, music, girls, cigarettes, and fellowship. Even though it's supposed to be a big lie, the imagery is still like a recruiting poster.
Families can talk about the armies of "rejected" kids who flocked to join the outlaw Foot Clan. Why would they want to join a gang? It's possible to even use the Turtles as a jumping-off point to teach about Renaissance artists (Donatello, Leonardo, etc.) -- a reminder, like The Da Vinci Code, that the Renaissance is constantly popping up in pop culture. Why do you think that is?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Charles Cassady, Jr.
No one who survived the late 1980s/early 1990s escaped the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Created in a comic book, the fighting foursome of goofy reptiles barely had time to become a "cult" phenomenon before they were fished up by ancillary marketers and peddled as aggressively as He-Man and the Masters of the Universe or SpongeBob SquarePants. There were Ninja Turtle videogames, books, towels, drinking glasses, action-figures and, of course, a TV cartoon that modified their personalities. The teeth-clenched warriors of the comic book morphed into more playful surfer-skateboarder types ("Cowabunga, dude!") who loved to eat pizza.
It was inevitable a live-action MUTANT NINJA TURTLES MOVIE would be made, with actors in suits. Because of the sheer goofiness of the imagery, it sounded like one baaaad idea, dude (in the tradition of Howard the Duck). But some cutting-edge Muppetry by the Jim Henson Creature Shop succeeded in rubber Turtle costumes that were expressive and fluid -- never mind that you still can't tell one Turtle from the other except by their mask colors.
Once you get past the special-effects triumph, though, this Turtle soup is pretty thin stuff. New York City suffers an unstoppable crime wave of petty theft that turns out to be the work of the Foot Clan, an army of runaway boys (and girls) who have been recruited into thievery a la Oliver Twist with martial arts discipline. Their grownup leaders are a displaced gang of Japanese karate villains, ruled by a master called Shredder in what looks like a silver Darth Vader mask.
Just for mentioning the crimes on TV, reporter April O'Neil (Judith Hoag) becomes a target of the Foot Clan. She's rescued from a beating (or worse) by a foursome of man-sized, talking, fighting turtles, dwelling in the city's sewers. These friendly mutants are former house pets granted superior size, strength, and intelligence after exposure to radioactive waste. The same befell their guardian and "master," a former pet rat named Splinter, who happened to learn Eastern philosophy and martial arts from his deceased human owner and passed on these skills to the Turtles -- along with the names Leonardo, Donatello, Michaelangelo, and Raphael.
The heroes also hook up with another freelance crimefighter, Casey Jones (Elias Koteas), an ex-hockey player (in his own goalie mask he looks a little like Jason from Friday the 13th). After Raphael is badly injured in a skirmish and Splinter is kidnapped, they all confront the Foot Clan in a showdown.
The abundant martial arts violence caused some controversy at the time (in Britain this "family film" was actually censored from children), and in the era before Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, critics pretty much condemned all kung-fu movies, from Bruce Lee to Jackie Chan, as R-rated bloodbaths. Just the idea of a kids' karate film raised doubts (though the Karate Kid movies were allowed to get away with it, go figure). Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movies made the fighting reptiles more comical and slapstick action-heroes, tossing off wisecracks and never drawing blood despite their swords and daggers. However, an aura of menace and brutality settles over the film when it's human against human, especially the wolf-packs of boys vs. April and Casey Jones.
There's something of Pleasure Island in Pinocchio about the way the movie makes the street-gang lifestyle of the Foot Clan seem appealing; a cool secret headquarters filled with skateboarding, video games, music, girls, cigarettes, and brotherhood. Even though it's supposed to be a big lie, the impression is still like a recruiting poster. Splinter the Rat, on the other hand is by far the most noble character here. He's really such a Yoda-like standout paragon of wisdom and kindness you wish the movie were more about him. Rats never had such good PR.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was a box-office hit, mass-marketed on VHS even in grocery stores and gas stations. This initial Turtles outing was followed by several feature sequels, and is given a special-effects upgrade with a 2007 release. Love them, hate them, the Mutant Ninja Turtles opened the floodgates for kid-friendly martial arts flicks in the English-speaking world, and the subsequent Three Ninjas series was pretty much Turtle schtick with teenage non-mutant ninja humans. Imagine that.
Families who like this movie will also enjoy the original Spy Kids and Sky High.
Rate It!
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Sexual ContentA brief glimpse of underaged girls in sexy streetwear. |
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ViolenceAbundant martial arts fighting that's sometime comical and slapstick (usually when it's Turtle-vs.-villains), sometimes bone-crunching and brutal (when its human-on-human). Two dead bodies seen as the result of barely offscreen karate killings. Human characters threatened with baseball bats, swords, and clubs. One character crushed in a trash compactor. Heroes knocked out and comatose, but no blood. |
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Language"Damn" is as bad as it gets. |
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Social BehaviorWhile the hot-headed Raphael has problems with discipline and anger management, he's still principled, heroic, and brave. Splinter the Rat is an especially wise mentor-figure, more so than many human counterparts. Fighting solves all problems here, of course. |
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CommercialismPlugs for Domino's pizza, other movies, and TV shows (how many young viewers will get the reference to Moonlighting, though?). Of course, the Ninja Turtles were an industry in themselves, with toys, games, comics, T-shirts, practically everything that could and was sold to kids. |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoRecreational drinking and smoking in a lawless kids' club. |
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