Spider-Verse movies throw a long time network of Shadows Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem: those vivid Spidey adventures and the Turtles ‘ latest cinematic release represent all modern reinventions of beloved superheroes who use the freedom of animation to express their stories in ways their live-action counterparts cannot. Mutant Mayhem may be browsing the scene in the wake of Miles and Gsipmen, but the broad similarities quickly fall out of focus and, thanks to a more heroes approach in a Half Shell can (and will) build a Turtleverse all of them.
Mutant Mayhem takes the broad strokes of the turtles ‘ knowledge largely for granted, opting for a simplified introduction to Splinter (Jackie Chan) and his adopted sons: Leonardo (Nicolas Cantu), Raphael (Brady Noon), Michelangelo (Shamon Bro. and Donatello (Micah Abbey). From the start, the film is much more interested in their relationship with Splinter as a father than as a master, with Splinter’s strong prejudice against humans who force turtles to disobey him so that they can be part of the surface world they have always dreamed of. Mutant Mayhem makes the simple but seismic choice to do what relatively few adaptations of Eastman and Laird’s comics have done before and rely on the “Teenage” aspect of Mutant Ninja Turtles. There’s no going back: the infectious, talkative joke that 15-year-old brothers generate among themselves and others is light and quotable, with an unpredictable dark streak that provides laughter from all age groups.
Apparently anticipating comparisons with other superhero stories, Mutant Mayhem chooses to go with the flow and use that mask-and-grip landscape as the context in which the turtles hope to be seen. These are turtles who know what’s going on in the MCU, and have learned (or been taught) that their skills are the fastest way to win public approval. It’s that tension between what the Turtles want from the world, and what the world expects from them in return, that sees the story of Mutant Mayhem at its most mature.
But most of the heavy lifting on that score goes to the world-weary patch. Jackie Chan’s portrayal of the Sensei rodent is a constant source of warmth, with the single father’s energy off the charts. A return to the past covers the needs of the family’s STEM-driven origins, but every detail of the mutation in it is completely outweighed by the glowing moments of connection and growth among this sewer-dwelling family. This scene creates Splinter’s justified distrust of humans, and the conflict it creates as turtles want to be where humans are a little more regularly.
The Turtles themselves end up rallying around a desire to be accepted and loved by humans that doesn’t give them much room to disagree with each other, leaving them more interesting as a group than as individuals. Leonardo, predictably, focuses a little more on his struggle to find confidence as team leader, but how and why he manages to identify with that responsibility is not traced very closely through history. That’s not to say that each turtle doesn’t have a crystal-clear personality, largely in line with what you’d expect from each: raph is a rage-filled bruiser, Donnie’s Super-smart, Mikey is a nerd, Leo is… leader… but critically, Mutant Mayhem significantly lowers the cartoonish heights of their personalities. None of the turtles ever feel like they’re trying to copy a version that has come before – again, big win there in casting actual teenagers in these roles.
Mutant Mayhem’s art style is well suited to the crackling energy that drives the story forward. The commissioned characters interact with a relatively realistic New York, and the relationship between the resilience of character animation and more logic-based digital cinematography is a constant reminder of the ways turtles emerge in society. There is a scribbled, rough texture that reveals finer and finer details the closer you look, which evokes the film’s themes of prejudice and tolerance in a rather subtle way. This invention carries into action, where Ropora is no going for details, and the turtles move and strike with each use of their staff sai, katana, nunchaku and bo. The murderous footage of Mutant Mayhem is driven by an absolute vibefest of a musical score, from which I was completely enamored and later deeply unexpected to learn came from the Oscar-winning Nine Inch Nails team of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. It’s a dripping grungescape of synthesis, a flame that elevates action and emotion at every turn.
The boundless energy and wonderfully drawn characters make up a predictable plot, which in itself feels like a mutated mix of other superhero movies. It’s hard to fool Mutant Mayhem too much into this-it has as much right to celebrate its comic roots as any other superhero movie-but the notion that everyday, normal New Yorkers are the true heroes the film is losing its influence. And with how grounded the turtles ‘ emotional line really is, the world-ending stakes that the mutant villain Superfly (Ice Cube) represents isn’t as interesting as whether Splinter will let kids go to the arcade more regularly by the end of the movie.
Superfly’s mutant henchanimals are the best character models in the film, with rough proportions and edges that make them feel like notebook sketches that have burst into life. The mutants are mostly voiced by actors in co-producers seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s orbit: John Cena plays Rocksteady in Rogen’s Bebop, while the earnest enthusiasm for life expressed by Paul Rudd, Rose Byrne and Hannibal Burress makes the genetic monstrosities they’re playing just as beloved as the heroes. Special mention here goes to Byrne as Leatherhead-someone told her to” sound more Australian than anyone has ever let you sound ” and her performance is so Aussie it would make a toilet drain Clockwise.
As is customary, the Turtles find an ally in the intrepid journalist April O’neil, and Ayo Edebiri’s performance is another bright spot among Mutant Mayhem’s strong actors. After falling out of the gate with her journalism career at school, April finds companionship with the abandoned turtles and Edebir’s reality checks keep the Turtles on track as their flights of heroic fantasy begin to take hold.
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