Parents' Guide to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows

Slightly better than the original but not enough so to really justify a full-blown franchise, at least this sequel is a small step in the right direction. Some of the distracting innuendo from the first film is gone, but there's still plenty of juvenile humor and an early focus on Fox's seductive figure (although at least that mostly ends after one sequence). Due to the addition of Shredder's cronies Bebop (Gary Anthony Williams) and Rocksteady (Stephen Farrelly) -- two dim-witted criminals who are turned into a humanoid warthog and rhinoceros -- there are fart, booger, and even penis jokes this time around, all to please audiences young and old who find that sort of scatological humor worth a laugh.

Arrow star Amell is another addition to the cast -- and in his case, a quite welcome one (and not just because he's such a heartthrob). He does a decent job portraying Jones, the athlete vigilante who uses hockey sticks and other sports equipment to gain leverage in battles against bigger and seemingly deadlier rivals. And, of course, he makes a potential love interest for April, although clearly the filmmakers are saving that development for the inevitable third installment in the franchise. If your family has Turtle fever, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows is at least a bit better than the last one, but some purists will probably prefer to just watch the original TV show instead.