Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie
Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie is a 2022 American animated superhero film that is a continuation of the animated television series Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2018–20). The film was directed by series co-developers Andy Suriano and Ant Ward from a screenplay by Tony Gama-Lobo and Rebecca May, based on a story by Suriano and Ward. It stars the show's regular voice cast of Ben Schwartz, Omar Miller, Brandon Mychal Smith, Josh Brener, Kat Graham, and Eric Bauza, with newcomer Haley Joel Osment as Casey Jones. In the film, the Turtles, with the help of their new ally from the future, Casey Jones, set out to stop the evil alien force, the Krang, from invading Earth.
Development began in October 2018, and the project was officially announced in February 2019, but production didn't begin until March 2020. Nickelodeon approached Suriano and Ward to make a Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film during the development of the second season, and the two worked on both simultaneously. Due to the season being shortened, the writers had to adjust the film's plot to align it with changes made to the season's story. The majority of the animation was done by Flying Bark Productions in Sydney, Australia, and Top Draw Animation in the Philippines, with the former having provided the animation for the television series.
Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie premiered on Netflix on August 5, 2022. It received generally positive reviews from critics for its animation, action scenes, performances, and emotional core. The film was nominated for three awards at the 2nd Children's and Family Emmy Awards, with art director Carl Anders Beu winning for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation.
Why It Still Rises Forever
- The animation is spectacular, a great step up from Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' animation. This is also assisted by the animators of Flying Bark Productions, who also did work on Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers.
- It finally introduces Casey Jones, voiced by Haley Joel Osment (who also voiced Sora in the Kingdom Hearts franchise and also played Cole in The Sixth Sense.)
- The characters are still likeable.
- Casey Jones is determined to be like the turtles, but often screws up due to his experience as just a student.
- Leonardo struggles being a leader as his self-centered personality gets in the way of the mission, leading to confrontation with Raphael.
- Leonardo and Raphael's rivalry plays an important part in the story. Despite being angry at Leonardo for screwing up, Raphael ultimately sacrifices himself to rescue Leonardo from being captured.
- Michelangelo still has his comic-relief personality like in the other incarnations of Ninja Turtles.
- Donatello gets a lot more to do with the movie, like becoming part of the spaceship!
- April O' Neil and Splinter also serve well as the sub-plot in getting rid of the key.
- Great soundtrack.
- Adding on to the animation, the action scenes are a step-up from the show. The explosions, the colors, and the fighting makes it comparable to something from Marvel or DC.
- Great pacing.
- Plenty of funny moments.
- Splinter and April's attempts to get rid of the key.
- "Where's the Character Development?"
- "Wait, does that mean you put trackers on all of us?"
- "No? No... Of course I did... n't."
- Among the funny moments, the dialogue is great.
- "Because I'm from... the future."
- "Mind... (pew)"
- "If this isn't the poster shot, someone's getting fired."
- "We are... The Teenage... Mutant... Ninja.... Turtles!"
- Even from the clever humor and dialogue, it also has its serious moments.
- Future Mikey and Leonardo's sacrifices in the opening scene.
- Raphael's sacrifice to help his teammates escape.
- Casey calling out Leo for his arrogance that gets almost everyone killed, which causes Leo to rise up and become a better person.
- Leonardo's attempt to free Raphael from Krang's control.
- The final fight between Leo and the Krang in the prison realm to which Leo sacrifices himself to close the portal to Earth. He doesn't try to fight back against the Krang as he clutches a picture of his family accepting his fate.
- The Ending: Leonardo is rescued by his family as Krang is trapped in the prison realm, changing the past and saving the world. Sometime later, the gang is enjoying their time as protectors of New York City and vow to defend it.
Bad Qualities
- Executive Meddling: Originally, Nickelodeon told the crew to develop the movie largely standalone to increase viewership. The crew were able to convince executives to keep their vision, but with several changes.
- The opening scene was longer at ten minutes and would've expanded on Leo's relationship with Casey while also showing off future versions of April, Hypno-Potamus & Warren Stone, and Baron Draxum. In particular, Draxum was going to have prosthetic legs while Warren and Hypno would've had a death scene, which probably would be too dark for kids.
- The Krang was meant to be the main antagonist of Season 3 of the show, but it was moved to this movie instead.
- The crew wanted to go all out on the Body Horror the Krang inflict on who they infect, until they were told that was going too far.
- The Krang were originally a warrior race.
- Raphael was almost going to lose an eye after being saved from the Krang.
- Baxter Stockboy was going to appear in the Bad Future as well with cybernetics that made him look like a fly.
- Adding on to all of that, the final battle sequence between the Turtles and Krang One was originally much longer than the movie depicted on the storyboards, specifically having Donatello fire a Macross Missile Massacre at Krang One, Leonardo teleporting an exploding gas truck into the foe, and the Turtles attacking as they were setting up the Mystic Hot Soup Hibernator. There was also a brief moment where they actually seem to separate Krang from the suit briefly from their combined attacks, only for Krang to then reveal he was actually unfazed as he reconnects to the suit effortlessly and flicks them away.
- The ending in the final cut, while good, was originally meant to be more depressing. Originally, a scene of Casey leaving to head back to his own time after a heartfelt farewell, and Raphael and Leonardo having a scene of resolution, but this was cut for unknown reasons, possibly being too bleak and depressing, but it also creates a plot hole.
- Adding on the ending done by executive meddling, considering that the Turtles changed the future, why didn't Casey cease to exist now the past was changed?