Director: Michael Pressman
Starring: Paige Turco, Ernie Reyes Jr, David Warner
Year: 1991
A blast from the totally tubular past, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was all the rage when I was a kid, from the original film to the TV show to the video games to the toys; Turtles were everywhere. It was the biggest thing since G.I. Joe, and we were hooked, we were all in. This film is an example of the kind of humor and slapstick combat we enjoyed at the time, and showing it to my son was a great, great pleasure, and itt’s even better than the first one.
Deep in the sewers under New York City dwell four very odd brothers, along with a father figure who is not so normal himself. They are the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, four little guys who grew into muscular roundhouse machines, thanks to a canister of ooze that affected their growth and the growth of a wise rat who took charge of them, trained them, and loved them all. Donnie, Leo, Raph, Mikey; they are the young heroes that the city needs, especially when an evil blast from the past returns from the dead, mutates his own creatures, and declares war on the Turtles.
The boys, Splinter, April, Keno; wow these guys were cool. They were a mismatched band of knuckleheads who you just couldn’t help but love, and that’s the joy of this film; you love it despite its insanity, at least if you watch it for the first time when you are between the ages of 8-12. Really, Part II holds up better after all these years, and might just be independently good (or at least totally rad & enjoyable). Weird stunts, weirder humor, the weirdest setup ever; how was this franchise even popular? But it was, and I loved it, and I’m happy to re-watch it with that joy in mind.
My rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆