Parents' Guide to

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III

By Barbara Shulgasser-Parker, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 8+

Heroes travel to ancient Japan; some mild peril.

Movie PG 1993 96 minutes
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

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What's the Story?

In the sewer under New York City's subway, Michelangelo (David Fraser), Donatello (Jim Raposa), Raphael (Matt Hill), and Leonardo (Mark Caro), all named after Italian renaissance painters, groove to dance beats in between excellent adventures that allow the turtles to show off their ninja fighting skills in the defense of goodness and righteousness. It's TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES III, superheroes with shells on their backs. This time, their pal April (Paige Turco) turns up with a thrift store scepter that is actually a 17th century time machine. April lands in feudal Japan in the midst of a turf war, and the son of the reigning Lord Norinaga (Sab Shimono) shows up in April's place, carrying his own magic scepter. The turtles leap into action, heading into the past to rescue April and become enmeshed in a political war for power. It's a great excuse for lots of Three Stooges-type comic fighting, kick-boxing, punching, and sword hurling.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say Not yet rated
Kids say (3):

They're turtles, they're teenage, they're mutant, and, uh, ninjas, and that's pretty much -- no more and no less -- what you get in this movie. This plot is unimpeded by backstory, so if you don't know where these guys come from, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III won't enlighten you, and that tells you exactly how little you need to know about anything to watch this. The sole purpose of what stands in for plot here is to create a long string on which to hang fight scenes that allow the animatronic puppets/actors to dance, kick-box, punch, and toss one-liners so fast that there's no time to linger on the quality.

This light-hearted foursome joke about everything. Even when the lines aren't truly funny, the pace gives the impression that what's happening must be funny, or at least engaging, and before you know it, 96 minutes have passed. Note that given the peak of TMNT's popularity was the late 1980s and early 1990s, the slang is a bit 20th century. "Dudes" have timing that is "most excellent," a la Wayne's World and Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about what's so appealing about the four mutant turtles. Do you think they're likable because they're heroes or because they're funny?

  • Do you play the TMNT video games or read the comics? Do the characters seem different in the different media?

  • Have you seen the previous movies in the series? How does Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III compare?

Movie Details

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