Where I Watched it: Paramount plus

English Audio Description?: Yes

Last year, Netflix dropped Rise Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. i grew up with these Turtles. Big time. My mom took me to a convention where I got a graphic novel signed by Eastman and laird. I had the Turtle Van, as well as well as the Sewer set. I had all the turtles, and actually even multiple versions, as well as all the major supporting players, and other mutants. I loved watching the cartoon, and had some VHS tapes. And I definitely saw all three of those original films in theatres. I consider myself very judgmental about this franchise. I did enjoy TMNT, which was a fun attempt at bringing animated Turtles to the big screen, and while the first Michael Bay film wasn’t great, the second was a childhood dream come true, finally putting bebop, Rocksteady, and krang all into one glorious film. I love the second film.

but Rise pissed me off. i don’t know why Nickelodeon is giving them magic powers. They don’t need it. They are ninjas. that’s what makes them cool. So I was very worried for this film. Most of my worries were put to bed.

This is actually a rather smart script that finds its own groove, feels aimed at a current audience, and doesn’t radically change the flow of the franchise. The only major head scratcher is Superfly, a character created just for this film, who is a hip hope version of a character already created. Why they didn’t just go with Baxter Stockman is beyond me. but this is an origin story, and I hope they continue on with this version, as I think more longtime fans are realizing it’s a lot better than we assumed. That’s likely Seth Rogen’s script, which he authored with writing partner Evan Goldberg, which makes these Turtles obviously younger. They really want to go to school and have that kind of experience, but Splinter keeps telling them that the human world will only ever see them as monsters. Mutants.

So, when a mutant is causing mayhem and destruction, it’s a great time for the foursome to show the world just how good they are at being heroes in a half shell. Along for the ride is April O’Neill, experiencing her own origin story as a teenager who wants to be a reporter, if she can ever stop vomiting.

The only thing I didn’t like, aside from Superfly, was the onslaught on deep cut mutants from throughout the series, like Mondo Gecko. These characters appeared in the original cartoon and comics, and all had their own action figures, but have no real character development, and are treated more like glorified Easter eggs. I wish the film had taken just a few more minutes to flesh them out better. And, as far as Superfly goes, ice Cube doesn’t do a bad job voicing him, I just don’t know why Ice Cube couldn’t have voiced Baxter Stockman.

The audio description here seems to capture most of the action sequences well, along with some pretty solid character descriptions. of course the mask colors are important, but it’s in the scenes where the turtles are being defeated that the audio description finds its stride, making the most of the tension and making you question if someone’s shell might break.

I’m a fan of the series, so it doesn’t take much to please me. Just make it so it doesn’t suck, something Nickelodeon/netflix couldn’t do. So, my grade might be skewed a bit as I feel like I could watch these guys fight crime every day if it was competently put together. This made me happy, and it should make other fans happy too. If this is your first foray into the franchise, I’m pretty sure this is a good place to start.

Episode Grade: A-