Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is a reboot of the franchise with a stylistic take on the animation and characters.

After failing to gain traction with The Mitchells vs. the Machines the writer/director Jeff Rowe tried with an ensemble cast that was sure to get a hit. Only they weren't so sure as now only the story and animation could have used a lot of work. Everything and everyone is ugly. People will be talking about Spider-Man Into the Spiderverse for years to come with their stylistic take on the series but the same won't be said for this.

None of the voice actors are really that great except Ice Cube, Jackie Chan, and oddly enough Post Malone. All of the turtles were voiced by actual teens but they didn't have enough acting lessons to really land the lines they were written. The jokes were probably written by Seth Rogen but none of them really landed because of the actors' experience.

I wish movies would avoid progressive cliches because it shows that their purpose was to push an agenda and not good storytelling. There's a reason this film never made it past rank three in each weekend it out. While the movie industry is starved for children's movies in theaters this couldn't even get second place. The audience was right to avoid this movie. I would rather watch Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny again than this. Result: D-

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