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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie

(1990, Rated PG, Fantasy, Starring Elias Koteas, Judith Hoag, Josh Pais)

  • Is it age appropriate?

    About our ratings

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    Not age appropriate for kids under 7, age appropriate for kids over 9; suggested age 7.

  • Is it any good?

    2.0

  • Common Sense says

    Muppetry coaxes campy '90s hit out of its shell.

Why We Rated This iffy for Ages 7–9

What to watch out for

  • Messages:

    While 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.

  • Violence & scariness:

    Abundant 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.

  • Sexy stuff:

    A brief glimpse of underaged girls in sexy streetwear.

  • Language:

    "Damn" is as bad as it gets.

  • Consumerism:

    Plugs 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.

  • Drinking, drugs, & smoking:

    Recreational drinking and smoking in a lawless kids' club.
 

What Parents Need to Know

About Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie

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.

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Families Can Talk About

  • 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?
Tools and tips that can help

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Most Recent Reviews

  1. Teen Reviewer Age 14
    expert_reviewer
    Lives in Michigan
    I rate this title iffy for age 2 and give it 0.0

    this show stinks

    yep yup yup

    This review...

    Helped me decide | Had useful details | Read my mind
    Flag as inappropriate
  2. Adult Reviewer
    gitters
    Lives in Illinois
    I rate this title on for age 8 and give it 5.0

    shell of a good time

    Gotta love Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, overall a fun family flick, with some minor swear words. I fill some of the violence is above the PG level.

    This review...

    Helped me decide | Had useful details | Read my mind
    Flag as inappropriate

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