Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (January 1, 2024)
As a comic book, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles debuted in 1984, but the property didn’t remain confined to that medium for long. An animated TV series debuted in 1987, and 1990 brought a successful live-action film.
The latter spawned sequels in 1991 and in 1993 before that movie run faded. However, more TV shows continued to appear, and an animated flick simply called TMNT debuted in 2007.
Apparently the last one didn’t make enough money for a sequel, but the theatrical series renewed with 2014’s live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. That one generated a sequel via 2016’s Out of the Shadows but then ran out of steam.
Unsurprisingly, the franchise refused to stay dormant long. Our latest entry comes from another animated flick: 2023’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.
A mutant humanoid rat named Splinter (voiced by Jackie Chan) raises four similarly mutated turtles named Donatello (Micah Abbey), Michelangelo (Shamon Brown Jr.), Raphael (Brady Noon) and Leonardo (Nicholas Cantu). He trains them in martial arts and teaches them to avoid humans, as he feels people will automatically despise them.
When they meet high school student/aspiring journalist April O’Neil (Ayo Edebiri), she investigates a series of robberies at a tech firm. Another mutant called Superfly (Ice Cube) conducts these, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles become involved in efforts to stop his potentially nefarious plan.
As the first few paragraphs of this review indicate, I’ve watched plenty of TMNT over the decades – an awful lot for someone who turned 23 right after the 1990 movie debuted. I was probably too old for the franchise back then, and I ain’t gotten any younger.
That said, I find intrigue in the franchise and give each new iteration a shot. Though the quality varied, none of the first six movies did much for me.
Does Mayhem break that string? Yeah – while not a great animated adventure, it nonetheless boasts a level of charm and wit largely absent from the prior flicks.
With Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg as two of the five writers, we get guys who grew up with TMNT and thus come at the property from a perspective of affection. That adds a layer of fondness and investment that perhaps not all the prior stabs at TMNT movies enjoyed.
And their presence means a quirky and off-beat sense of humor that works for a property as inherently odd at TMNT. As noted, I was already an adult when the comics debuted, but I remember how weird the basic premise seemed.
Nearly 40 years later, TMNT exists as so ingrained into the culture that the whole package doesn’t feel all that weird. Nonetheless, the concept is nutty, and Mayhem doesn’t feel afraid to remind us.
The film embraces the inherent strangeness of the property and uses that to its advantage. It reminds us that humanoid animals wouldn’t easily get accepted into human society and generates actual emotion from this domain.
Most of the film focuses on comedy and action, with a lean toward the former. Mayhem comes packed with funny bits that veer from broad humor to “blink and you’ll miss it” nuggets. These prove frequently amusing.
The action works pretty well, too. While not a classic in that regard, the film comes to life nicely when we get fight/chase sequences.
Mayhem enjoys a stellar supporting cast. In addition to Cube, Chan and Rogen, we find turns from Rose Byrne, John Cena, Paul Rudd, Maya Rudolph, Giancarlo Esposito, and Hannibal Buress.
These actors add zing, but the younger performers carry the load and do well. Actual teens play all four Turtles, and they bring verve and life to their parts.
In terms of animation, Mayhem takes a cue from the recent Spider-Verse flicks in that it favors a non-traditional style. In this case, we get an unusual “sketchbook” format that attempts to render the material in a manner ala amateur teen arts.
It can take some time to get used to this look, and one might initially think Mayhem offers a “claymation” effort given the way the folm adapts this unusual presentation via CG. However, the visuals end up on the positive side of the ledger before long and add a sense of personality to the proceedings.
I don’t think Mayhem matches up to the Spider-Verse movies, mainly because it lacks the same insane ambition. Nonetheless, it becomes a brisk, smart and engaging mix of comedy and action.
Footnote: a tag scene that points toward a potential sequel appears in the middle of the end credits.
