When comic book creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird created the Ninja Turtles back in 1984, they couldn't have had any idea of just what kind of a mass-merchandising juggernaut they were creating. What started as a black and white independent comic grew into something much bigger and completely out of their hands once the cartoon series grabbed the attention of young boys the nation over. I should know, I was right in the thick of the Turtles mania just like every other 11-year-old boy back then. T.M.N.T. is an attempt to bring the Turtles back to glory after two disappointing movie sequels in the early 90s to play on the nostalgia of the old fans and, of course, create new ones. Writer-director Kevin Munroe obviously has a lot of respect for the franchise, but he still has quite a ways to go when it comes to storytelling and humor.

A dramatic opening narration provided by Laurence Fishburne clues us in as to what the Turtles have been up to since last we saw them. With the defeat of their long-time arch nemesis The Shredder, the four shelled brothers have gone their separate ways. Team leader Leonardo (voice by James Arnold Taylor) is in Central America trying to strengthen his leadership skills, and has been acting as a mythical defender protecting the poor village people from those who wrong them. Fun-loving Michelangelo (Mikey Kelley) has been reduced to doing children's birthday parties in a costume. Brainy Donatello (Mitchell Whitfield) does telephone tech support for computers and gets yelled at by irate customers all day. And loose cannon Raphael (Nolan North) has not been able to let go of his passion for fighting crime, and patrols the streets of New York as a masked vigilante called the Nightwatcher. The Turtles' human friend, April O'Neil (Sarah Michelle Gellar) runs into Leonardo when she is sent to Central America to search for some artifacts, and convinces him to come home. April has been working for a powerful millionaire named Max Winters (Patrick Stewart) who has grand plans for the statues April has uncovered, as they may hold the key to unlocking the secret behind a great power thousands of years old. When demonic monsters and the Turtles' old ninja enemies, the Foot Clan, start popping up around New York City, the four brothers will have to learn to work together as a team once again if they want to succeed in their latest battle.

T.M.N.T. brings the franchise into the present with state of the art computer animation rather than the animatronic costumes that were used for the Turtles in the original films. This turns out to be a mixed blessing all around. It does certainly give the mutant teens a much greater freedom of movement when they are fighting, leading to some very impressive battle sequences - The main highlight being a rooftop battle between Leonardo and Raphael in the middle of a rain storm. But, despite the splendid movement of the animation, something always seemed a little bit off about the character designs. The human characters are oddly formed, with many of the female characters (especially April) looking like they are losing a long battle with anorexia. Also odd is how uninhabited New York City seems to be. I understand it can be hard to individually animate people moving about in the background, but when we see countless scenes where the streets of New York seem to be completely devoid of any form of life, you can't help but find it a little bit odd. There is a sequence late in the film where the heroes team up to battle a massive swarm of Foot Clan ninja, but this sequence lasts only a minute and a half (if even that), and seems to end even before it has a chance to begin so we don't even get to enjoy it. For the most part, the movie's look does the job well enough. The Turtles themselves have a certain cartoonish quality to them, but don't come across as looking goofy. They have expressful eyes and faces that allow the CG models to display a wide array of emotions throughout the film.

For all of its technical wizardry, T.M.N.T. falls short in the one area where all animated films should shine - the writing and storytelling. Given the amount of time it usually takes to do an animated film, I expect a little something more. The plot concerning immortals, demonic monsters, ancient prophecies and magic does certainly sound like something you'd find in a comic book, but it's not developed nowhere near enough to make us care. There are some obvious clumsy signs in Munroe's screenplay, such as the way he opens the film with a lengthy narration talking about an immortal king from 3000 years ago, and then later on in the film, he has the character of April tell the exact same story to the Turtles, so we get to hear it twice. The film is also a bit heavy-handed in its moral about family and brotherhood. A much more subtle approach would have been appreciated by me at least. Last but not least, there is the film's sense of humor. Given the fact that most of the movie takes itself a bit more seriously than a Ninja Turtle movie probably should, the comic relief moments not only seem out of place but completely forced. There is a lengthy slapstick fight between Raphael and a little monster that goes on too long and doesn't really lead anywhere. Equally uninspired are the film's numerous groan-inducing one-liners that are constantly spewed out from the characters. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't exactly expecting award-winning stuff walking into this movie. I just think they should have focused a bit more on working out the script.

Despite a couple well-known stars in the voice cast, very few of them seem to have brought their talents along with them. The four lead actors cast as the Turtles do their jobs well enough, and manage to capture the right voice and tone to their characters, but everyone else sounds off. Both Sarah Michelle Gellar and Patrick Stewart phone in their individual performances, since their underwritten roles give them very little to do. As the Turtles' wise old rat sensei Splinter, the late Japanese actor Mako in his final role doesn't sound right at all for some reason. He lacks compassion and character in his voice, and almost sounds like he's reading his lines off of cue cards. The script seems to be in a rush to race though its convoluted "save the world" plot, so the film never really slows down and lets us get to know the characters. There is a brief moment where a subplot is hinted at between April and her boyfriend Casey Jones (Chris Evans from Fantastic Four) are facing commitment issues, but this is dropped almost as soon as it's introduced. Once again, I was not expecting anything deep walking into this movie, but even the original 1990 Ninja Turtles movie gave us some character moments. This movie resembles a video game run amok at times.
As someone who used to be a fan of the Turtles, I wanted to like this movie more than I did. I still hold respect for the original comic book series that started it all, and whenever I come across one of the old arcade games based on the cartoon series, I have to drop in a quarter. T.M.N.T. is loaded with potential, but seems to be in too much of a rush to truly use it. It's far from terrible, and it's sure to entertain young kids. I just can't help but feel that more time should have been spent on it. I give Kevin Munroe and his team credit for their effort. They obviously have the talent, now all they need is the script. The film's ending strongly hints at sequels to come. I can only hope that the shelled four will be in better fighting shape should there be a next time.

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