Review: ‘TMNT: Mutant Mayhem’ Is Silly, Safe, and Still a Good Time

If there is one question that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem answers irrevocably, it’s one that has more to do with spiders than with turtles—namely, yes, 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse has changed the game when it comes to big-budget studio animation, for the better. The fresh artistic flourishes of Mutant Mayhem, while not a carbon copy of Spider-Verse, show an undeniable amount of influence in its embrace of an expressive, slightly more impressionistic animation style. While studios’ dedication to franchises and other IP-based fare only grows stronger, the emerging trend towards embracing fresh, innovative artistic styles instead of blindly following a Disney/Pixar-set precedent is a delightful silver lining. If the future of animation is telling and re-telling the same library of stories, at least we can perhaps look forward to seeing these familiar stories told in creative new ways.

Directed by Jeff Rowe (The Mitchells vs. the Machines) with a script co-authored with Seth Rogen and writing partner Evan Goldberg, along with Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit (Detective Pikachu), Mutant Mayhem is a textbook reboot origin story, narratively speaking. TMNT aficionados could surely recite the basics in their sleep, and even newcomers to the franchise likely know the basics through cultural osmosis: four baby turtles are exposed to radioactive ooze and mutate into human-turtle hybrids; they are adopted by a rat-man named Splinter (Jackie Chan), named after Italian renaissance artists, and trained in martial arts. There’s Donatello (Micah Abbey), the wisest and most thoughtful one—and yes, he’s the one with glasses; Raphael (Brady Noon), the brave, overly impulsive one; Michelangelo (Shamon Brown, Jr.), the charmer; and Leonardo (Nicolas Cantu), the leader.

The conflicts and stakes Mutant Mayhem establishes are similarly familiar, although handled unusually well. Overprotective father Splinter wants to keep the boys hidden away from the dangerous, unaccepting human world for their own safety, while the increasingly restless teen mutants want are obsessed with human culture, and particularly enamored by the idea of going to high school—which, they figure, must be exactly as depicted in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. The final push needed to defy their father’s orders comes along when the brothers serendipitously cross paths with aspiring teen reporter April O’Neil (Ayo Edebiri, who continues to steal the show wherever she goes), who befriends the brothers and helps them come up with a plan to gain acceptance in the human world through fighting crime.

It’s remarkable how much making a film that feels fresh can be a matter of just putting several familiar ingredients together in a slightly different combination. While the animation style shows strong Spider-verse influence, the story looks to much earlier points of reference. Villainous mutant Superfly (Ice Cube, delightful), is effectively Magneto sans the metal-manipulation powers—he’s got understandable motivations and believes the ends justify drastic means. His master plan is even a near copy of Magneto’s in X-Men (2000). Elsewhere, a battle sequence draws on a salt-of-the-earth sense of NYC solidarity that feels particularly reminiscent of Spider-Man 2. Witty dialogue, good pacing, and a high octane score from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, supplemented by some excellent needle-drops, keep a solid if incredibly familiar script from feeling stale.

Unlike Spider-verse or even box-office behemoth Barbie, which have a certain maturity to their style and concepts—appropriate for children, but thematically targeted to older audiences—Mutant Mayhem rides the wave of curated self-awareness that has permeated more recent franchise fare while refusing to grow up. This is a kid’s movie. Sure, there are some bits and pieces geared towards parents and the nostalgic millennials in the audience, but the overall sense of humor is a juvenile one, a world of poop jokes and vomit gags that gravitates towards well-executed silliness.

All elements considered, Mutant Mayhem is an incredibly polished piece of children’s entertainment that takes cues from the best of what’s come before and executes them well. The fresh artistic style provides a facelift to a deeply familiar story. It’s certainly not ahead of the curve, but it’s fresh enough to be a good time.

TMNT: Mutant Mayhem is now playing in theaters.