“Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” has good jokes and animation; but only that | CRITICISM

The Ninja Turtles they give money. That’s why the animated series, the movies that in recent decades have been inevitable in theaters. The toys, which are still reaching supermarkets, are testing their resistance. The most recent tape, available from this Thursday in theaters, responds to that demand. Is it worth seeing?

Another origin story

If the film is bearable in its first act, it is because of its balance between action and humor. At times there are very serious scenes, then other comedy ones; sometimes both registers overlap. The proposal works, it quickly establishes that each of the turtles is a real character, it is also clear that they are in full adolescence: they fall in love, they feel extreme interest in popular culture, at times they embarrass others, etc. It helps a lot that the original voices are from actors in the age range of their characters. The humor that emerges when the four of them are together is effective, even in the repetitive jokes.

But that’s where the interesting ends. For the second act character development is scarce. Leonardo is the responsible brother, Raphael one with anger issues, Donatello is an anime geek and Michelangelo doesn’t stand out for anything in particular. Except for what is shown at the beginning, where the dynamics of the quartet is entertaining, the turtles do not stand out for anything else. Instead, they go through a series of inevitable events in the genre’s tapes: the call to adventure, the tests, the reward; etc Thus, “Ninja Turtles: Mutant Chaos” can captivate someone who is not familiar with the superhero genre, someone who can still stomach another origin story that does not offer much more.

For the second and third acts, the film is just a succession of scenes where the turtles have to do what they must to get the long-awaited approval of the public. The film doesn’t mince words and makes the characters shout out their goals and desires, something typical of the genre that it doesn’t bother to disguise. This version of the turtles, as in the series of the 80s, shows its narrative tricks as daring as possible. Another problem is the villain, Super Mosca (Ice Cube), nondescript and non-threatening.

Where the film does stand out is technically, bringing together the style of a freehand drawing with the industry standard, computer animation. Instead of going the “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” route of taking the language of the comics and bringing it to the screen, it’s more like the drawings of a kid excited about what they just saw on TV, who grabs his colored pencils and crayons and gets to work. In addition, in character design he dares to show physically abject, repulsive beings, in contrast to his naive personalities. There’s something working on the tape there.

The typical comment when a movie is neither very good nor very terrible is that it only serves to “see it eating popcorn”. Maybe so if you see this story for the first time, be it in the previous installments of the franchise or a superhero film like so many others. This “Mutant Chaos” can be seen, but it has no strength. No edge.

QUALIFICATION

3 STARS OUT OF A TOTAL OF 5