While nowhere near as hot as 2014’s “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”, new release “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows” still comfortably won the United States weekend box office race. It’s really just an excuse for director David Green (Earth to Echo) to light a fire under the shells of our reptilian heroes and the motion-capture actors who play them.
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Out of every effect and creature that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows could conjure onto the big screen, one was head and shoulders above all the others in its difficulty.
This weekend, three new titles go nationwide. He joins forces with Baxter Stockman (Tyler Perry), a scientist who plans to use his newly invented serum to take over the world. While you’re still adjusting to the many-happenings onscreen, there’s the stiff Megan Fox as April O’Neil (the sole character to say “cowabunga” in this film), and a forgettable Will Arnett as Vern Fenwick.
The cartoonery only increases as more bad guys and bigger destruction is added to the story. The real villain is Krang, a wet tangle of organs and brains with the spluttering voice of Brad Garrett. If you have kids and want to show them a genuinely great kids film that nourishes their IQ instead of depleting it, make them watch The Little Prince.
A headache-inducing $135 million sequel to the 2014 blockbuster, TMNT: OOTS becomes intolerable after about 32 seconds. There’s awful dialogue, bad jokes, cheesy one-liners, and plenty of fart jokes. Laura Linney is slumming as NYPD Chief Vincent.
Of course Ms. Fox is along to provide the “eye candy”, moving effortlessly from a high school tramp to TV reporter in less than: 30 seconds. Is it another movie where the brothers have conflict?
“Me Before You” is the story of the unlikely romance that blossoms between a paralyzed man and his caretaker. But the film is one of the best 3-D productions I have seen (undoubtedly because, while it is mostly live-action, the “boys” are digital creations). It’s almost two hours of fan service for 8 year old boys and girls.
It wasn’t just the cast that were having fun on set.
Speaking of support, Will Arnett is terrific. Screenwriters Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec shoehorn familiar faces, including Casey Jones, Krang, Bebop and Rocksteady, into the chaotic mix to increase the probability of wide-scale destruction.
Plus, Megan Fox is outfitted in a scandalous schoolgirl costume halfway through her first scene.
That’s the point when you finally recognize the beloved and freakish turtles that somehow signify childhood.
It’s the movie Western New Yorkers have been waiting for -Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows.
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There aren’t many cartoon or comic book characters that are quite as socially relevant or as consistently popular as the quartet of turtles named Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michaelangelo.
