{"id":999,"date":"2014-08-11T11:06:09","date_gmt":"2014-08-11T15:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/?p=999"},"modified":"2014-08-11T15:10:41","modified_gmt":"2014-08-11T19:10:41","slug":"movie-reviews-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/2014\/08\/11\/movie-reviews-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles\/","title":{"rendered":"Movie Reviews: &#8216;Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><strong>Movie Info<\/strong><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>Director: <a href=\"http:\/\/reelworth.com\/director\/michael-bay\/\" rel=\"tag\">Michael Bay<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Genres: <a href=\"http:\/\/reelworth.com\/genre\/action\/\" rel=\"tag\">Action<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/reelworth.com\/genre\/comedy\/\" rel=\"tag\">Comedy<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Rating: <a href=\"http:\/\/reelworth.com\/rating\/pg-13\/\" rel=\"tag\">PG-13<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Release Date: <a href=\"http:\/\/reelworth.com\/release-date\/8-august-2014\/\" rel=\"tag\">8 August 2014<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Screenwriter: <a href=\"http:\/\/reelworth.com\/screenwriter\/andre-nemec\/\" rel=\"tag\">Andre Nemec<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/reelworth.com\/screenwriter\/evan-daugherty\/\" rel=\"tag\">Evan Daugherty<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/reelworth.com\/screenwriter\/josh-appelbaum\/\" rel=\"tag\">Josh Appelbaum<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Starring: <a href=\"http:\/\/reelworth.com\/celebrity\/alan-ritchson\/\" rel=\"tag\">Alan Ritchson<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/reelworth.com\/celebrity\/jeremy-howard\/\" rel=\"tag\">Jeremy Howard<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/reelworth.com\/celebrity\/johnny-knoxville\/\" rel=\"tag\">Johnny Knoxville<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/reelworth.com\/celebrity\/megan-fox\/\" rel=\"tag\">Megan Fox<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/reelworth.com\/celebrity\/noel-fisher\/\" rel=\"tag\">Noel Fisher<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/reelworth.com\/celebrity\/tony-shalhoub\/\" rel=\"tag\">Tony Shalhoub<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/reelworth.com\/celebrity\/will-arnett\/\" rel=\"tag\">Will Arnett<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/reelworth.com\/celebrity\/william-fitchner\/\" rel=\"tag\">William Fitchner<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What Worked?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Back in the &#8217;90s, the turtles in a half shell hit the big screen with three live action movies that were ridiculously fun to watch for kids.\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/reelworth.com\/reviews\/transformers-3-dark-of-the-moon-2011\/\">Michael Bay<\/a>\u00a0wanted to bring those four pizza-eating, ass-kicking, cowabunga brothers back and resurrect them in a modern setting with <em>Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles<\/em>, and seeing\u00a0that he is Michael Bay he did exactly that.<\/p>\n<p>If there\u2019s one thing positive about this movie, it\u2019s definitely the turtles. They look a bit odd, with their steroid-enhanced bodies and endless turtle \u201cflair,\u201d but they can be a fun bunch. The humor is extra cheesy at times, but the turtles seem to maintain a nostalgic hold. Once they get into action, they really shine, as the action scenes are pretty inventive and entertaining. The turtles probably never looked so bold in taking on Shredder and the foot clan.<\/p>\n<p>Johnny Knoxville is Leonardo, Noel Fisher is Michelangelo, Alan Ritchson is Raphael, and Jeremy Howard is Donatello. They all have their moments to shine in this film, but the one that stands out is Fisher as Michelangelo, simply because he\u2019s the most childish of the bunch. Despite all the downfalls, the turtles keep the film watchable with all of their silliness.<\/p>\n<p>Overall, <em>Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles<\/em>\u00a0wasn\u2019t the blockbuster we were hoping for, but it does give us a reason to eat pizza afterwards and it does give\u00a0us some throwback turtle action. In other words, the film is entertaining, but you\u2019ll probably be yelling \u201cgo ninja! go ninja! go!\u201d walking out the theater instead of any line from this film.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Potential Drawbacks:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The story of <em>Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles<\/em> is completely ridiculous to begin with, so it\u2019s not expected to be realistic, but it could\u2019ve had a better plot. A guy that already seems to be filthy rich and powerful wants to kill off thousands of people to become even more rich and powerful? Right. The plot seemed like one lifted off of a video game from the &#8217;90s. Just because the concept of mutated turtles being heroes is ridiculous already doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re not allowed to have a good plot.<\/p>\n<p>The dialogue was flat out horrible for the most part, and a lot of the jokes fell flat like week-old soda that\u2019s been left out of the fridge. Will Arnett forced some of the most poorly-written jokes, which is sad, because he\u2019s such a funny actor. In addition, Megan Fox was a non-factor as April O\u2019Neil. Sure, she looks amazing, but she should\u2019ve been allowed to actually do something. Typical Michael Bay banter with\u00a0forced pop culture references and plugs are sprinkled throughout the film, which is expected, but it\u2019s not even well done.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s also take a look at the design of these characters beyond their poorly written back stories. Why in\u00a0the hell does Shredder look like a throwaway character from\u00a0<em>Transformers 4<\/em>? Bay must have been\u00a0that\u00a0lazy with this film. Although the turtles do look like they can wreak some havoc with their swole new look, who\u2019s idea was it to vomit a crap load of accessories on them?<\/p>\n<p>By the end of the film, you\u2019ll be happy that you got to see TMNT in action again, but you\u2019ll probably\u00a0wonder why they used to be so much cooler.<\/p>\n<p>[youtube]https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=GwWhNEiuabs[\/youtube]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Movie Info Director: Michael Bay Genres: Action,\u00a0Comedy Rating: PG-13 Release Date: 8 August 2014 Screenwriter: Andre Nemec,\u00a0Evan Daugherty,\u00a0Josh Appelbaum Starring: Alan Ritchson,\u00a0Jeremy Howard,\u00a0Johnny Knoxville,\u00a0Megan Fox,\u00a0Noel Fisher,\u00a0Tony Shalhoub,\u00a0Will Arnett,\u00a0William Fitchner What Worked? Back in the &#8217;90s, the turtles in a half shell hit the big screen with three live action movies that were ridiculously fun to<\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/2014\/08\/11\/movie-reviews-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles\/\" title=\"Read More\">Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":123,"featured_media":1001,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[274,138],"tags":[529,535,526,531,530,527,533,528,532,536,534],"class_list":{"0":"post-999","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-featured","8":"category-movies","9":"tag-donatello","10":"tag-johnny-knoxville","11":"tag-leonardo","12":"tag-master-splinter","13":"tag-megan-fox","14":"tag-michelangelo","15":"tag-noel-fisher","16":"tag-raphael","17":"tag-shredder","18":"tag-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles","19":"tag-will-arnet"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/123"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/999\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}