Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) Retrospective / Review

you fight well in the old style but you've caused me enough trouble now you face the shredder this what is going on out there April it's like the city's falling apart it's getting to where you can even step outside in the daytime I've been speaking with a lot of japanese-americans in the past few days who say that our recent crime wave is reminiscent of a secret band of ninja thieves who once operated in Japan there is no are you denying that organization known as the exists outside this is your family [Music] [Music] find em but that was that look like sort of a big title trenchcoat [Music] [Music] and I thought insurance a little bushy [Music] the 30th of March 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles hit the big screen in their first live-action feature film it didn't arrive in the UK till eight months later produced for a modest budget of around 8 to 13 million dollars and directed by Steve Barron who had made a name for himself directing a wealth of music videos for artists such as Michael Jackson and AHA the movie proves a huge financial success raking in over 200 million dollars worldwide with 130 million of it coming from the u.s. box office with the film being produced and funded outside the Hollywood System it was at the time the most successful independent film ever made and retain that record - the release of The Blair Witch Project in 1999 with the film being a success critics were less than thews II astok about it many felt it was too dark overly violent and they thought the Ninja Turtles were unappealing they struggled to see why the kids were so fond of the turtles and were surprised a film did so well in 1990 the Ninja Turtles weren't the peak of their popularity the toys were extremely successful on the cartoon that first aired in 1987 had become the most popular kids show on TV it was full on turtle mania the producers of the film saw more money could be made with the sequels released in 1991 and 93 as the Ninja Turtles come back in popularity every number of years new films were released and even as recently as 2016 I will discuss the sequels and remakes later in the video as comic book movies have become the dominant force in Hollywood people have gone back to Ninja Turtles with greater appreciation for its direction for staying true to its comic-book roots and its achievements in animatronics thanks to the help of the highly respected Jim Henson Company the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles first arrived on the scene in May of 1984 created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird the young artists self-published a single-issue comic intended to parody for the most popular comics of the early 80s for example Marvel's daredevil New Mutants and Frank Miller's Ronin Ace when an LED had no idea that comic would be so successful it was only done for the fun of making their own comic but the first issue sold out and we just wanted more so they continued with their comic series and started to gain a dedicated fanbase and they knew they could make a living out of it their comet came to the attention of surge licensing agent mark Freedman who saw the potential in the Ninja Turtles and proposed an opportunity for merchandising this partnership helped the writers meet playmate toys who wanted to turn the Turtles into action figures the turtles went through minor changes for example with each of them having different colored bandanas as a comics dis depicted them all in red making it difficult to know who was who and other minor changes were made to make each turtle distinctive to the average person like most action figure toy lines a cartoon series was needed to maximize the toy lines awareness Fred wolf and his company were hired to produce a miniseries to help launch the toys the show expanded the turtles backstory introduced more characters to the turtles universe faces who had become familiar in pop culture such as Krang and bebop and rocksteady the animated show was never supposed to go beyond its initial miniseries as a series was only designed to help further sales for playmates but once he got syndicated the numbers were hard to ignore as the kids loved it and wanted more episodes this demand helped fuel further series as a towline became the most sought after action figures on the market the idea of making a movie was first envisioned by Gary propper and Kim Dawson who had discovered the underground comics and thought a live-action film made in collaboration with filmmakers in Hong Kong who specialized in martial arts films would be the way to go the idea was brought to Thomas gray who took some persuasion but finally realized the potential in its success and spoke with Raymond chow of Golden Harvest chow had produced many Jackie Chan movies including the classics with Bruce Lee gray and chow a negotiated a deal to make this happen but on a tight budget of three million dollars Golden Harvest started looking for a director and was recommended to Steve Barron by the late writer and director Antony mikela Antony had worked with Steve on Jim Henson's the storyteller Thomas Gray checked out Steve's resume and was impressed by his credentials Steve was one of the finest music video directors in the industry he had already directed a feature electric dreams and had experience with animatronics to potentially bring the Turtles to life Steve had no idea who the turtles were but was fascinated by the concept and signed on but wasn't happy with the script that had been developed since the early stages of pre-production so he teamed up with right Langdon who worked on the Wonder Years to rewrite the script taking many ideas from the comics including the stories of the Turtles origins Raphael's battled with Casey Jones their journey to the farmhouse and their end battle with the shredder elements were taken from the cartoon shows such as the turtles colored headbands April O'Neil was a television reporter stat the lab assistant as she was in the comics they spent in total two months refining it some early ideas floated around that the film would follow a similar approach to Roger Rabbit so the actors would be interacting with animated versions of the turtles but this idea was quickly squashed in favor of pursuing performers in Turtle costumes and the only people in the industry to help bring the turtles to life was Jim Henson's Creature Shop producer Thomas gray knew that the original estimated budget of three million was now out of the question as they needed far more to afford Jim Henson's creature effects yet to look for more money and went to the states in hopes of getting film studios involved and surprisingly all of them turned it down just a title alone Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sounded silly to them and sounded like a Troma movie but also a cartoon and toy line being turned into a film was risky as masters of the universe had failed only two years before whoo I had to go back to Raymond chow and ask for more money they needed to raise an additional four million dollars luckily distributors in parts of Europe knew the turtles were going to be big and the producers obtained pre-sales in France Germany and virgin grabbed it for the UK at the last minute New Line Cinema another independent studio who had great success with the Elm Street series stepped in to gain the u.s. rice plus with the Ninja Turtles love the pizza Domino's stepped in to sponsor it surprisingly for the u.s. video tape release Pizza Hut made a deal with new line with Steve having connections to Jim Henson he pushed to get the creature shop company involved to bring the turtles and splinter to life Jim Henson was reluctant at first he had produced shows for children with the very popular Sesame Street he had made movies such as The Dark Crystal and labyrinth those films had dark elements but weren't violent and weren't perceived as unacceptable for children to watch Jim was concerned about the violence and weapons used by the Turtles but Steve reassured him about the tone and the direction of the film that he shouldn't be worried about it Jim wouldn't have much involvement in the film and kept some distance his son Brian would take on a larger role of supervising the creature shop team and would handle a lot of the second unit work for Steve once Jim's company was on board his team spent eighteen weeks creating the creatures they were first made out of fiberglass then remoulded out of clay then casts were made with foam rubber latex for the actors and stuntmen to perform in and the Splinter he was made as a hand puppet which would be operated and voiced by Kevin Clash the turtle heads would contain the most advanced servos at the time that would move very quickly to give extra expressions to the turtles so their speech would come across as more believable and natural the technology and equipment would be stored in the turtle shells so the performers could move freely but it was very heavy with the weight of nearly sixty pounds added onto them for when the turtles perform moves that would require excessive fighting or doing flips they wore lighter costumes with these servos taken out which resulted in the turtle faces locked into one expression wearing the costumes proved very uncomfortable for the performers with the heat building up very quickly there was constant noise from the servos and this heater noise caused one of the actors to get very claustrophobic and it wasn't an easy process to remove the head they had a limited view of sight they would have to look out the masks through a slit underneath the bandanna there is a nod shot or two when you see two performers mouth especially when you see Donatello laughs very creepy sadly this will be the last production Jim Henson was involved with as he passed away shortly after the film premiered he would be remembered by the filmmakers at the start of the opening credits to Turtles to forecasting the film the Ninja Turtles has for the most part free performers for each of them they had the performers in the costumes one person doing the animatronics and someone providing the voice later on in the case of Raphael the guy in a suit also did the voice actor Corey Feldman who would be the most recognizable talent at the Ninja Turtles would provide the voice for Donatello but didn't return to part two as he had some drug problems and the studio didn't want any bad press but he did make a return for part three all four actors who performed at the Turtles also appear as cameos with David Foreman who was Leonardo was a gang member Michelin sisty as Michelangelo was he pizza delivery guy leaf children as Donatello was a messenger of the foot and Josh price as Raphael was a passenger in a taxi only raised Junior who would go on to play as keno in Turtles two would double as Donatello to perform the acrobatic moves Judith Hoag plays as April O'Neil a reporter for Channel 3 News when she was offered the part she thought the script was sweet and silly and getting the chance to work with Jim Henson's company she couldn't turn it down Judith has starred in many films but her career was mainly focused on TV she's probably best known in more recent years for her role in the TV show nashville elias koteas who at the time had already starred in a number of films plays as Casey Jones a vigilante and former ice hockey player it becomes an ally of the Turtles a life would go on to have a very successful career he would return to the series to play Casey in Turtles 3 but sadly his role was totally wasted Jake Patterson plays as Charles April's boss J like many of the other actors has appeared in dozens of films and TV shows as a kid I remember seeing him in the Christopher Reeve film street-smart playing a lawyer Michael Turney plays as Danny Charles his teenage son who was a member of the foot Michael would move away from acting and worked as a comic book artist for Marvel for a number of years then returned to filmmaking directing a few short films and made his debut feature called normal in 2015 Michael city's audition was an easy experience he just chatted with Steve Brown about his interest and punk music the late Raymond Serra places chief Stern's to police chief of New York City stones doesn't take the idea of the Foot Clan being behind the rising crime seriously which frustrates April and she in turn continues to press him on the matter Raymond would often take on supporting roles in tea in film he would also return for turtles - James Sato plays Oracle Saki aka the shredder and his character was voiced by David McLaren shred-it is the founder of the Foot Clan and the one responsible for the death of splinters master Tasha she wrote a better place Tatsu shredders second-in-command Tasha Shira would also return for turtles - he had a few minor roles in the 90s popping up in showdown in Little Tokyo the shadow and Rising Sun and finally we have a small supporting role with Sam Rockwell playing while the head thugs Sam as we all know went on to fake great acting career starring in such films as Galaxy Quest and moon and three billboards outside Epping Missouri filming took place in Wilmington North Carolina at Dino De Laurentiis studios which have been recently purchased by Carroll Co production designer Roy Forge Smith and his team would create the New York rooftop sets the sewers April's apartment and the main street outside her place that would feature heavily for the final battle against a Foot Clan they went to New York to shoot exterior scenes such as Times Square the Hudson River and made use of the subway system Steve made the decision to shoot in twenty two or in some cases in 23 frames per second for the action sequences to get the performers more speed as the eternal costumes wait a lot so shooting at a lower frame rate then playback at 24 frames per second they moved a bit quicker as Steven wanted to capture that turned the comic December the turtles living in the sewers he pushed along with his son photographer for a darker style with a high contrast II look which concerned the producers who wanted it to be brighter and more colorful they thought it wouldn't appeal to children but Steve fought back and after watching Tim Burton's Batman he knew going in a darker direction wouldn't be a problem when it came to editing the film Steve Barron wanted to bring on Malcolm McLaren to compose the score Malcolm was a jack-of-all-trades he had dabbled in fashion design and managed bands and produced his own music he was most well known for being the manager of the Sex Pistols he had at the time put out an album called waltz darling which took classical pieces of music and gave them a modern twist Steve wanted to use this music and also get Malcolm to provide additional original material Malcolm was not known for composing film scores which concerned the producers I believe Steve had tempt the early cuts of turtles with Malcolm's music attract the Blue Danube for Malcolm's recent album dig it used for these cool trailer so it gives you an indication of what direction Steve was going you also get the connection to Markham of Danny wearing the Sid Vicious t-shirts which Steve gained permission to use Steve also wanted to shoot additional scenes as the seventh week shoot was very tight and he wanted to bridge a few sequences but Golden Harvest didn't want to spend any more money they were also unhappy with how the everything was going Steve was working with the late Sally Menke who would go on to work with Quentin Tarantino composer John Duprey said in a recent interview that Golden Harvest weren't happy with Steve Barron's cut filling his music video sensibilities were carried over to the film and it didn't hold together structurally in their eyes it felt like it worked in three minute chunks and not as a feature you could compare this approach to Steve's film electric dreams which does feel like a Sousa music video strung together by a fairly loose plot Steve wood sadly leave the film late into its post-production due to creative conflicts with the producers so they brought on two other editors to finish off the movie and reconstruct it and chose their own composer John Duprey to finish the music as nunchucks had been banned in the UK due to the huge popularity of Bruce Lee in 70s it resulted in many kids making their own nunchucks or buying them they ended up doing more damage to themselves resulting in the ban so the filmmakers had to use alternative shots or remove scenes entirely to hide the weapon Michelangelo and the foot use also the scene of the final confrontation between splinter and shredder was heavily edited to remove the weapons splinter uses I only found this out through the tops trading card when I was a kid and seeing moments from the film that weren't on the UK VHS tape as the word ninja was changed to hero for the cartoon and toys of the Turtles in the UK the movie retained the word ninja but surprisingly for Japan was changed to hero not shot why the Japanese cut also had some bizarre changes of dialogue not to reference Japan in relation to the Foot Clan the German dubbed version is identical to the UK version in regards to removing the nunchucks but also as cartoonish like sound effects to soften the violence the extra sound effects I imagine must have drove German fans crazy at the time as it just ruins the movie [Music] the film opens in New York City where we hear a pulse on April O'Neill about the rise in crime people barely get a glimpse of the thieves but rumors are floating around about a clan of ninjas called the Foot who have been operating throughout New York and evidence suggests they are the ones responsible as April finishes her report and heads back to a van she's mugged but quickly saved under the cover of darkness and in SuperSpeed the thugs that tied up the police arrive and Aiden spots a weapon lying next to her and she takes it she's unaware she's being watched by one of her rescuers Raphael just below ground in the sewers we are introduced to the Ninja Turtles who have returned to their Master Splinter to celebrate their first victory Raphael is frustrated he has lost his side and heads out to watch a movie in disguise of course wearing a coat and hat no one I'm sure will notice him the others celebrate their victory with a well deserved pizza after leaving the cinema Raphael stops smugglers in their tracks as they attempt to escape from the scene they bump into Casey Jones who punishes them for their crimes but Raphael intervenes and lets them go as Casey takes out Raphael and escapes Raphael attempts to chase him but loses him in the city faithful continues with her reports on the foot plan which comes to the attention of shredder the leader of the Foot he demands she must be silenced as April heads to the underground after her report she is attacked by the foot and knocked unconscious Raphael gets his side back and jumps into action and takes two ninjas out and saves April and returns to the sewers but is unaware one of the foot has followed him and located the turtles home splinter explains to April that he and the turtles will once ordinary animals but were mutated into intelligent creatures by toxic waste the turtles escort April home and on their return to splinter they find their hideout ransacked and their father gone they have nowhere else to turn and head to April's to spend the night April's boss Charles and his son Danny turn up the following morning Charles has just bailed his son out of jail after being charged with robbery unaware to April and Charles that Danny works for the foot and he captures a glimpse of one of the turtles that they hide in April's flat shoulda makes a speech to the foot and demands they locate the turtles and punish them for interfering with his business then he walks out the crowd and reveals their location at April's apartment Raphael and Leonardo get into a heated argument Raphael storms Alan heads to the roof to let off some steam and is spotted from a distance by Casey Jones Raphael is unaware he is being surrounded by the Foot Clan a fight ensues and Raphael is outnumbered and thrown into April's apartment with Raphael unconscious the turtles take on the foot but soon begin to struggle as more and more ninjas arrive on the scene Casey Jones makes a surprise appearance and comes to the rescue April's place catches fire during the chaos and everyone flees April Casey and the turtles retreat to a farm owned by April's family as Rufio remains unconscious the turtles need to wake him to recover and regroup to think of a way to save their master from the evil clutches of the shredder composer John Duprey handled the score to Ninja Turtles John was brought onto the production very late into its run with Steve Barron no longer involved and his original choice of Malcolm McLaren had been dropped John does have his first international hit with a Fish Called Wanda and Golden Harvest wanted a safe pair of hands to compose the score on a smaller budget John came onto the production in late 1989 and was given two months to work on it he was briefed to give the score a lighter touch to move the film away from the darker tone which the producers had been worried about for a long time John had no idea who the turtles were and it was his twelve-year-old son who had to fill him in on the details when writing their music John took inspiration from composer Scott Bradley who had provided the music to the classic Tom and Jerry cartoons bringing over that Mickey Mouse Inge style of writing so you have the music copying the visuals so for example when Donatello gets his head shoved in the fish tank and spits out the water the music plays on those comedic moments a score takes on funk elements and draws upon Japanese inspired musical cues to add an extra flavour to splinter and shredder the main theme which is really catchy and when the logo appears it has this amazing guitar riff but it's nothing like the cartoon theme tune but for some reason it sounds similar it's like the movie theme is cut from the same cloth as to cartoon maybe it has some similar orchestrations it's a bit like the score to Robocop 1 & 2 whereas a sequel changed the main theme but sounds somewhat the same in some areas one of my favorite pieces of the scores when the turtles communicate with splinter and the music really heightens those emotional moments John wrote this musical cue to reflect how he missed his own children as he was working nonstop to get the music done the score was never released at the time a couple of tracks turned up on the soundtrack album but 95% of the music never made it to CD or LP fans were hunting for any material for years some just ripped the music directly from the DVDs soundtrack but the quality was never really any good but thankfully waxwork records put out the school last year remastered by john deuf ray himself it came to CD and LP and sold out pretty quickly as of writing this review there is still an LP set available I grabbed it as soon as it was announced I was so chuffed to finally have it in my hands for years I've been wanting Jon's work and it's crazy it took nearly to get his music released this with no school released until 2018 the soundtrack album in 1990 includes artists such as MC Hammer partners in crime high-tech three spunky Delic and Johnny Kemp most of the songs were made up of hip hop and New Jack Swing style tracks the album was extremely popular going platinum in the charts two singles were released with the first being spin that wheel which was first issued in January of 1990 then we released in September reaching number 15 in the UK charts the biggest hit was turtle power published in April of that year and went straight to number one in the UK and lost him for four weeks becoming the 13th highest selling single of 1990 the song was the first time I got to see any footage from the film we had to wait till November for it to come out so any chance to see the music video I took it I had to make sure to tune into Top of the Pops every week to catch it this was the first single I ever purchased picking it up on cassette for my local Woolworths and I wore out that tape in no time the song turtle power is a pure classic but spin that wheel and 9.95 are both just as memorable not a bad soundtrack album certainly worth owning for a bit of early 90s nostalgia before we discuss my thoughts on the first film let's quickly discuss its sequels and remakes over the years the following year New Line Cinema rushed out a sequel to capitalize on the success of the first movie arriving literally a year after the first film hit us theatres as a kid I rushed to Sears on my birthday in September of 1991 with my friends at the time I really enjoyed it and wented it frequently as a kid bars I got older I could see its flaws as the producers toned down its violence to satisfy the complaints of the original film from many overly concerned parents and the new monsters toko and razor were sadly just bland substitutes for bebop and rocksteady I still remember to this day my friends at school being disappointed with the new characters they lightened up the sequel and threw in more comedy plus two crappy but very catchy song by Vanilla Ice go ninja go on a positive side the chemistry between all the turtles still works and Jim Henson's Creature Shop effects are still brilliant the third film in the series arrived two years later with the turtles going back in time to a to Japan to rescue April the creators of the turtles Eastman and Laird wanted to bring the franchise back to the tone of the first film by Steve Barron but what we got was sadly similar in tone to turtles to weave turtles 2 & 3 both being handled by TV directors and with Jim Henson's company not returning to provide the animatronics due to budget restraints another company jumped on board and the quality had clearly dropped and left fans of the series disappointed the action was certainly lacking providing a very dull and unexcited experience ultimately it was a big disappointment for many it also arrived when the turtles popularity had started to wane and it was clear the turtles time on the big screen had come to an end for the time being with a renewed interest in the turtles in the mid naughties a new film was commissioned in CGI instead of live-action in March of 2007 and it was a commercial success it is loosely connected to the original 90s film trilogy with a scene at the end hinting at this the turtles have grown apart after defeating the shredder Master Splinter has sent Leonardo to Central America for training where he protects a village from bandits Donatello works as an IT specialist Michelangelo works at the birthday party entertainer and Raphael works at night as a vigilante called night watcher April O'Neil has a new career she locates and acquires relics for collectors and assisted by her boyfriend Casey Jones they discover every 3,000 years as stars aligned which unleashes an army of monsters which the turtles and the Foot Clan which have returned after team-up to battle against this animated movies harmless fun it nails the turtles and their personalities the plot is a bit far-fetched however very much like the cartoons I suppose I would say it's not a bad way to waste 90 minutes of your time in 2014 the Ninja Turtles returns at a big screen in a new live-action adventure with Michael Bay handling the production and was Jonathan Liebesman directing avoiding in-camera animatronics instead opting for motion capture and CGI to bring the turtles to life this was a retelling of the origin story and updating it from modern audience the film was very successful bringing in over four hundred and fifty million dollars worldwide despite its strong numbers critics and fans weren't too kind on it many felt it was dull lacking any charm and remarkably average but a harmless junk at the end of the day many pointed out is similar look to the recent Transformers films that Michael Bay had directed for me I watched it once and didn't feel compelled to watch it again the action was subpar throughout and the turtles looked way too big almost looking like roided-up monsters I think with the movies overall failings it did nail the characters of the turtles very well and made it bearable for me to watch with it doing so well financially it spurred on Paramount Pictures to push forward with a sequel the follow-up called out of the shadows arrived two years later this time directed by Dave Greene this had less luck at the box office with it proving to be a box office bomb many had highlighted there were too many movies out at the time and it struggled to find an audience but it was more warmly received than its predecessor no idea why because I thought this film was terrible the film tried to pander to defense by throwing in bebop and rocksteady Casey Jones and the villain Krang everything felt so rushed and shredder himself is so poorly utilized and represented in this sequel the script was a mess and the whole pace of it suffered from ADHD that it couldn't sit still and the whole Dimension X and kraang plot felt so shoehorned in it was just a wasted opportunity for the fans to finally get to see the arrival of Krang but it was so lazily implemented and fall short in so many areas don't waste your time with this one I'm sure some of you have heard this story before but Ninja Turtles was the first film I saw in the cinema my father took me reluctantly he took some persuasion but after much whinging we went to the big ABC cinema in Cambridge on a rainy Saturday afternoon I have a few memories of my experience seeing the turtles get attacked in April's house and hearing other kids cheering around me after watching it I said to my dad that was amazing but my dad thought it was a load of Holt rubbish as we headed back to the car we stopped by a local news agents and I saw a film magazine called Fantasia which hadn't Michelangelo on the front cover and this was the first a movie magazine I ever purchased I suppose this was the point where I began to show an interest in filmmaking and what the films were coming out looking back at the reviews at the time many critics ignored its qualities and just wrote it off as an overly violent and dark movie for kids I think with many films we all grew up on and found something for us to connect with often did get bad reviews sometimes movies aren't intended to speak to adults they are written designed and directed to appeal to a specific audience and with the Ninja Turtles it was produced to appeal to the fans of course adults constantly takes something away from it and feel entertained the animatronics and flight sequences are well staged so you can appreciate those qualities but for children seeing the Turtles you only saw in the comics and cartoons come to life in such an effective way it leaves a strong and lasting impression as a big fan the film I'm not blind to its faults or see why some adults didn't find it entertaining the turtles themselves are teenagers and what comes with that is often juvenile humor and jokes that fall abit flat I don't sprout any real intelligent dialogue it's all very simple conversations but I'm okay with that but others may find it just overall a bit silly the sequels focus more on the humor more of that early nineties stupid banter came with it hearing them say radical or cowabunga is a bit cheesy and perfectly aligns itself with a younger audience the whole premise of the Turtles is a bit ridiculous and it's a mad concept but it works and you can't fault it on that I think what critics missed out and didn't even point out at the time is its emotional core the turtles and splinter are strong family unit and that theme is pushed throughout the film to a really great effect there are some heartfelt emotional bonding moments but avianna splinter as he tries to channel his anger and keep Rafael under control when splinter is taken by shudder they are totally heartbroken and once Leonardo manages to contact splinter spiritually they all band together to speak with him as their last lesson of their ninja training is a solid piece of direction and a score nails it the turtles main goal isn't to find out who the Foot Clan are and who's in charge they just want to save their father and protect the innocent people out there and that goal connects them with bringing down the foot the film for me perfectly encapsulates 1990 and that period of my life at that stage I was eight years old and fully aware of what was around me the previous year I got wrapped up in the hike for Batman and this year it was all about ninja turtles I became a huge fan like every other kid at school we were all desperate to get the toys when I started my own collection the demand and lack of stock made it difficult for me to track them down I had to make do with a Foot Clan soldier at my nearest Toys R Us it was only one turtle action figure per customer that's how limited the stock was and needham and the music in the film was the style that was dominating the chance so everything in the movie just pinpointing what was going on in 1990 and in pop culture watching the film for the first time in getting hold of the VHS a year later I just think to myself like many other kids I'm sure where is Krang where is the turtles van why is Donatello not super smart there is little moments in a film that show he has some interesting technology so to speak but to me the backstory of the turtles and who they were was from the cartoon I hadn't read the original comics I had comics based off the cartoon but not the original Eastman and Laird versions which took on a darker direction and have the turtles with all the red bandanas well as colored in on the covers the comics were in black and white the first issue shredder is killed off at the end April's not introduced to the following issue when you flick through the first few comics Steve Barron and the production designer did a great job of capturing the look of New York as depicted in the comics to visualize the streets where April lives and the battle with the Foot Clan in the third act if you ignore the cartoon and just focus on the comics it's a brilliant adaptation to all us kids shredder Wooster Turtles main villain surprisingly in the film the turtles are never aware into the very end he is like this end of level boss he shows up and defeats all of them the capture of shredder is not played for lasting he is a full-on bad guy he is more experienced than the Turtles and in classic bad guy fashion he has the threatening booming voice whose introduction in the film is in the shadows watching TV but once he makes his speech to the foot his arrival is wonderfully shot and photographed it's a great entrance and shows that he means business director Steve Barron brings over a sense of verisimilitude to the whole film very much like Richard Donner did with Superman Steve wants you to believe in this world and the turtles this isn't a hyper reality it plays it very straight for the most part it's a real world and the turtles operate within it it doesn't feel like a fantasy film it feels like it's in the same world of water hills the Warriors it's dark gloomy and gritty the city looks rundown empty in areas like the threat of the Foot have scared people away from the streets going back to Jim Henson's work there are a few key moments to this day really impress me the moment when the turtles celebrate their first victory with Leonardo at the center of it all the performance of the act and how he said is animated and sinks is perfect Donatello and Michelangelo waiting for the pizza guy and they talk about splinter and the thought of losing him the animation on Donatello and his face is so fluid and smooth and when the turtles confront shredder and he tells them that splinter is dead Leonardo is just boiling up with anger it just looks so real they have added sweat to the costumes every scene with splinter is flawless Kevin Clash did such a great job puppeteering him Steve Barron gets so close to the turtles and splinter himself which the Henson team were worried about but he and his lighting director litter in such a way it hides any of the limitations and really gets you close and intimate with the characters outside of the Turtles Judith as April is fantastic in the part as a kid I wasn't too keen on her portrayal I'm not sure why maybe she didn't really look like able to me but as I've got older I really appreciated what she did with the role it was unfortunate she was replaced for the sequels the filmmakers don't attempt to glamorize her in any way she's not plastered with makeup she just looks natural throughout and she's written as a headstrong woman who doesn't take any crap from anyone and that fits perfectly with April who is like Lois Lane I suppose she is a woman who's not afraid to speak her mind Elias is brilliant as Casey it's always a joy to see him on screen because he brings the comedy but also a lot of energy to his performance Danny I always thought it was a bit of a dick to be honest and his performance is a bit wooden he often looks a bit sleepy throughout but Michaels performance really shines through when he talks one-to-one with splinter his style is very natural and you can see in his eyes as he begins to realize the mistakes he has made and wants to protect splinter it's very unfortunate Steve Brown didn't get to finish to film he signed on to do if he had stayed on then we wouldn't have had John du prais school so there was some decisions that were to its benefit we don't know what Steve's original cut was like I know Michelangelo was supposed to show a darker side to his personality we get a glimpse of him working out on a punch bang and even though it's Raphael's voice on the farm house screaming splinters name if you look closely it's Michelangelo on the German DVD and blue-ray it came with an alternative ending where April and Danny take a comic book based on the turtles to a publisher but he finds the concept of the turtles too far-fetched as he says this the turtles are watching through the window I think it was a nice dig at the film studios in Hollywood who all felt making a Turtles movie was ridiculous with all the turtle films that have come out since 1990 this one is still the best it was introduced for huge amounts of money it stayed faithful to the original concept of the comics and treated the source material with respect and that's why it works and fans still love it to this day going with CGI for the new films I think is actually a step backwards because you've essentially returned to animation the 1990 film was all in-camera there's no computer trickery just handcrafted filmmaking and that's what they should continue to do with any new version of the turtles build upon those animatronics to make them as realistic as possible going this direction doesn't date the movie it makes it timeless in that regard with cinema dominated by comic book movies you see endless lists of everyone's favorite films all the best adaptations Ninja Turtles has thankfully come onto the radar more often and is called his have been appreciated I definitely think and I always will support the idea that the film is underrated it did well financially and the fans loved it when it came out but as a piece of art and filmmaking it was just scarcely ignored and the qualities of Steve direction were not priest enough maybe one day we'll get a remastered version of the film and get to see more of Steve's original vision but I know he and kevin eastman have tried to get a special edition out there but the studio showed little interest the best version to own I think is probably the German release which has a commentary by Steve and some additional deleted scenes and it comes with the English audio track and it's uncut I will always love this movie so I'm a bit biased if you never saw this growing up it may not have the same effect and you may wonder what all the fuss is of help even if you weren't a fan of the Ninja Turtles I think it's visual style score animatronics and the heart of the story will hopefully hit the right spot and you'll come away feeling you've watched something worth while the film kick-started the nineties for me and reading on how it was made at that time just fueled this early passion and desire to know how films were made like Superman the movie did for me very early on it made me start paying attention to the credits and the people behind these films that made them come to life your empire flourishes Master shredder what war from the rat nothing here will not speak and - boy let us talk he is still missing why do the turtles trouble you master they have not been seen for many days [Music] fighting something something there will be no mistake me now kid hey you gotta come with me are you talking about come with you about you stuck on a kill splinter we have a loyalty to the shredder the sweater uses you he poisons your minds to obtain that which he desires he gets nothing for you or the people you hurt death comes for us all Roku sake but something much worse comes for you together there is nothing more Minds can accomplish [Music] you lie I hope you enjoyed the video be sure to subscribe to see more retrospective and commentaries also click on the bell to be notified of the latest reviews if you want access to exclusive videos and to watch my content a few days before it's on YouTube you can head on over to my patreon thank you very much

Channel: Oliver Harper

Views: 278,127

Keywords: TMNT, teenage mutant ninja turtles, oliver harper, retrospective review, 1990, steve barron, documentary, turtlemania, jim henson, john du prez, soundtrack, turtle power, spin that wheel, ollyh82, ninja turtles, teenage mutant ninja turtles 1990, oliver harper retrospective, ninja turtles movie review, ollie harper, making of, corey feldman, oliver harper commentary, ninja turtles review, ninja turtles 1990, tmnt 1990, original ninja turtles

Id: Bh7kxx6shUE

Length: 39min 41sec (2381 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 17 2019