The heroes in a half shell are back for a new adventure in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. Directed by Jeff Rowe (Gravity Falls, Disenchantment) and co-written with power duos Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, as well as Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit (Detective Pikachu), Mutant Mayhem pulls out all the stops, and takes the franchise back to its goofy beginnings. Delving into the backstory of the turtles and their fellow mutants, this reboot is an action-packed romp that covers all bases with both old and new fans.
After living their lives in the shadows, the four turtles want nothing more than to live normal lives and be accepted by society. Despite what they are told about humans by Splinter, the turtles soon try their luck at fighting crime and protecting their fellow New Yorkers – which land them in the middle of a mess created by a crime syndicate lead by the mysterious Superfly. Assisted by their new friend April O’Neil, their goal of bringing down Superfly only gets harder when they realise they aren’t the only mutants in New York.
Featuring an all-star cast, Mutant Mayhem flaunts a mammoth lineup in its voice cast, including Jackie Chan as Splinter, Seth Rogen and John Cena as Bebop and Rocksteady, The Bear‘s Ayo Edebiri as April O’Neil, and Ice Cube as the villainous Superfly. Rose Byrne, Paul Rudd, Hannibal Buress, Post Malone and Natasha Demetriou feature as other members of Superfly’s gang, while Giancarlo Esposito and Maya Rudolph voice scientists Baxter Stockman and Cynthia Utrom. Bringing the turtles to life are Nicolas Cantu as Leonardo, Brady Noon as Raphael, Micah Abbey as Donatello, and Shamon Brown Jr as Michelangelo – who all bring their own flair to their respective character, and really bring them to life.
One of the film’s standout features is its gorgeous animation style, which has very obviously taken cues from the Spiderverse series. Rowe’s own take on the style is raw, gritty and sketchy; full of imperfections that only just make each character and setting so much more memorable and filled with personality. Fleshing out this world is an incredible score by the legendary Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, who once again hit a home run.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is the right amount of old and new – it being both nostalgic, and full of an insane amount of pop culture references; breathing new life into a beloved franchise. Put simply, it is an incredibly fun film, with plenty of gut-aching laughs, and heart. Not to mention, with a credit scene like Mutant Mayhem‘s, we are keen to see where future films take us.