Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2014 Film Review

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise is one that has seen just as many downs as it has up's with the franchise spawning quite a few live action films in the process. However only out of the five live action films that have been made with these characters only two of them are actually good and sadly this film is not one of them and so then join me as I review the film that might as well be called April O'Neil: The Movie with the film in question being called simply just "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" enjoy.

The plot of this film is when The Shredder plans to use a toxin to poison all of New York it's up to the turtles and there new human friends to stop him and his evil busisness sidekick before it's far to late. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. As this films plot is a really fun filled plot but at the same time tho it's the same plot that's been in alot of turtles media even down to using the exact same bad guy which is understandable as The Shredder is the turtles most popular but at the same time there are world of other foes out there that could have been used in this films plot and heck the film even could have created an original foe and had The Shredder show up in the sequel like what TMNT did and while the plot of that film wasn't the best it was easily better then the plot of this film which spends far to much time focusing on April and Verne and not enough time on the turtles which is something that it really should have dine as the turtles are more key to making the plot of this film work more then what April is but to give this film some credit it's plot is a really fun plot that really does work for this movie with the plot of this film also being one of the highlights of this film with the plot of this film also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this film is Johnny Knoxville as the voice of Leonardo and Jeremy Howard as the voice of Donatello. Also starring in this film is Alan Ritchson as the voice of Raphael , Noel Fisher as the voice of Michelangelo , Tony Shalhoub as the voice of Splinter , Megan Fox as April O'Neil , Will Arnett as Vern Fenwick , William Fichtner as Eric Sacks , Whoopi Goldberg as Bernadette Thompson , Minae Noji as Karai , Abby Elliott as Taylor , Taran Killam as Jim McNaughton , Paul Fitzgerald as Dr. O'Neil , the franchises co-creator Kevin Eastman as Himself and Tohoru Masamune as The Shredder.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I( in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. As alot of this films actors really are trying to turn in a good performance with a special mention going to who played the turtles on set as they really did a great job with there characters and it's something that makes you wonder why they chose to redub Pete Ploszek as Leonardo and Danny Woodburn as Splinter as while there voice actors do indeed do a good job voicing those characters your not going to beat the actors that played them on set and to think other wise just goes to show that the makers of this film cared more about having names on the poster then they do about having actors turn in a good performance with alot of this films bad acting mostly stemming from the fact that this films director Jonathan Liebesman really doesn't know how to get that good of a performance as the actors that can deliver a good performance regardless of the director really do turn in a good performance and while the only reason that Megan Fox is turning in a good performance is due to the fact that her character is the main focus of the film she still does turn a good performance with all of this films villain actors also turning in some really good performances and the less said about Will Arnett the better with the acting in this film not really being helped by the fact that this films script is just so bad as it gives none of this films absolutely nothing to work with in terms of what it is that there respective characters personalities are even meant to he in the first place which is something that really does help to lower the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.

Doing the CGI for this film is Industrial Light & Magic , Zhaoflix LI , Image Engine Design , Base FX , Tippett Studio , Virtuos , Hybride Technologies , Atomic Fiction , Shade VFX and Lola Visual Effects. Now then interms of what I personally thought /felt about the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this veery film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad but at the same time tho the designs for the turtles are while they aren't that bad there also really busy designs with there being so much going on about the turtles designs like for example Leo has a bunch of samurai armour on him and Donatello has a bunch of tech gear on him and while yes they are both perfect for each of the characters they film could have gone about that in a more subtle way like what they did in the first nineties movie and while the effects in this film aren't that bad infact they oddly hold up really well even ten years later but at the same time the designs for the turtles are really distracting as all it does is remind you that your watching a film and even The Shredder's design is also quite bust as well with him being made up of a load of knifes which is again perfect for his character but at thee same time the nineties movie did a much more better design for the character with this films CGI being let down by the designs of all of it's characters.  

For some rather strange reason the makers of this film chose to make April O'Neil the main character of this film. Which isn't a bad idea as even the first episode of the 1987 animated series did have April O'Neil as the main character as well but here it comes at the expense of the turtles as it takes away screen time from the turtles which stops them from getting across whatever it is that there respective personalities are even meant to be in this film and yet it gives all of that screen time to April and it got so bad that the film might as well have renamed April O'Neil: The Movie as she has more to do with the plot of the film then the turtles do and while adding her to the turtles backstory does indeed work for this film as it does give the characters a connection but at the same time not only is it never mentioned or brought up again in the film it also doesn't factor into the actual plot of the film and is just there for the sake of being there and heck there was nothing wrong with the turtles origin as it was as having the turtles just wondering the sewers is something that does work for all of their characters and while yes the films version of their origin could have worked better if they had play into the actual plot of the film as it is it just feels like a pointless change in a film that's filled to the brim with pointless changes to there origins and heck it even could have been done in a way that services the plot of the film and make the film feel alot less like April O'Neil: The Movie as nobody is coming into this film to watch April O'Neil be the main character at the expense of the turtles as we all want to see the TMNT be the main characters in their own movie.

Another change that the makers of this film chose to make for this film is how the turtles and Splinter learned the art of Ninjitsu. As instead of learning it from his master which is something that would have made alot of sense given how long it takes to learn any martial art he now learns it from a book and straight away starts teaching the turtles even tho just learning in himself would take not years but decades to learn. This is such a stupid change to make as there was absolutely nothing wrong with this part of the origin as it was as it's something that does make sense but because of the fact that they chose to make April Splinter's owner and not Hamato Yoshi he now has to learn a martial art in a way that's stupid and all of this was done because of the fact that the makers of this film chose to make April O'Neil the main character of the movie when they still could have changed who owned Splinter and still gave him learn martial arts in a way that makes sense just by having April herself be the one to learn martial arts as after all most kids around young April's age learn at least a martial art and as a result of that is the fact that it would have made sense that young April O'Neil would have been able to teach Splinter a martial art even if it was just the basics and even if she really didn't know that she did it and best of all is the fact that you wouldn't have to change that much about the origin story as it's presented in the film and it's something that also would have made alot of sense within the context of the actual film itself as well.

This films villain is of course The Shredder and while the character does look like a mess of a character when he's in his armour. He does look like a genuinely threatening character when he's out of his armour as it's then that we get to see that he's a bigger threat out of his armour then he is when he's in his armour as she straight breaks a guy's wrist with his jaw and has a very commanding presence out of his armour and yet he's i his armour he doesn't look that threatening this really isn't helped by the fact that the character really isn't written all that well at all which is mostly due to the fact that the version of the character that we did end up with in the final cut of the film wasn't even intended to be in the film at all as Eric Sacks was originally going to be the films villain hence why he gets alot more screen time then The Shredder does and why he's more developed as a character then The Shredder is as The Shredder barely plays a role in the films plot and is only mentioned a very small handful of times where as the film goes out of it's way to make sure then you know that Eric Sacks is an evil person and gives him alot more screen and while yes neither character is written all that well as The Shredder is written to be a stereotypical villain who's main end goal is just a stereotypical take over the city plot and Eric Sacks goes from someone who is very competent and acting very villainous to being The Shredder's second in common for no reason whatsoever and it's something that really doesn't work even within the context of the actual film itself.

Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and forty one minuets and eighteen seconds. Which is a really fairly solid running time for this film to have as this film really does have a good amount of plot there to really cover that amount of running time but at the same time tho this film really could have been a little bit shorter just by cutting down on a lot of pointless scenes with April at the start of the movie as very few of them add anything to wither the plot of the film or the April O'Neil character as a whole and the film then could have given more screen time to the turtles themselves as they are meant to be the main characters of the film which then could have been used to fully flesh out there characters and get across alot of what there personalities are even meant to be in this very film but because of the fact that the makers of this film wanted to make April O'Neil the main character it then comes at the expense of giving the characters that should have had more screen time devoted to them and instead gives it to a character that is just as boring of a character then the rest of the characters this is despite the fact that April herself has more screen time then any of the turtles or any of the villains and yet she still comes across as having the personality of a piece of paper and it's like that for a all of the films characters as well and it something that could have been fixed if the film took away screen from April and instead gave it to the over characters in the film but i really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is an action film that rally does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty the best part of this film. As this films action was really fun to watch and it's during this films many action scenes that we get to see the turtles actually act like the turtles by showing us some of the team work and brotherhood that they are known something which really isn't shown all that much in the final cut of the film with the films best action scene being the scene where the turtles are being chased down a cliff by the bad guys which is just such a fun filled action action scene and while yes there are other action scenes in this film that are just as fun to watch neither of which are creative as there are very few action scenes with characters running down the side of mountain whilst being chased by bad guys and because of that is the fact that we get to see the turtles and April and Verne think of there feet as we see every plan that they come up with fail for one reason or another and yet it;s because of the fact that there plans fail that we get to see them think on there feet and think of some really fun and creative ways to defeat there foes in this one action alone and that is something that does make it the best action scene in this whole film in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Overall out of the two films it's this film that's the better of the Micheal Bay produced TMNT films but with that being said this film is still quite easily one of the worst TMNT films both live action or animated as it really does get so much wrong not only about film making as a whole but about the characters as well and that is something that really does effect this film in a really negative way in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now the i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 5.5 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from the official Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fandom wiki page and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images really from this very film being the really great the official Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fandom wiki page this is really because of the fact that really all of the images that I really indeed got and really used from the really great the official Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fandom wiki page are all really high quality with all the images that are currently up and on the really great and the really solid the official Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fandom wiki page  really are all being really fairly high in quality and as well as them all really being fairly high in definition.