Generally speaking, I like how the Turtles are portrayed as all grown up and evolved into their own.. What's particularly interesting to watch is the way conflicts and contradictions are portrayed into the movie, thus making our shell-backed heroes much easier to relate to with a much-needed human element (something which was evident to a much lesser extent in the previous 3 TMNT movies)..
Raphael n Leonardo have always been my personal favs among the awesome foursome.. Raph with his unusually short temper and vicious appetite for the battle, and Leo with his calm demeanor and unending desire to be the best leader/student as is humanly (or turtle-ly ???) possible.. The previous 3 movies always involved, as a subplot, the 2 dudes clashing against each other, Leo trying to establish harmony between the turtles along with a sense of brotherhood, and Raph always eager to shoulder the entire burden himself but preferring to operate independently... Ofcourse, we cant forget the duo that completes the collection: Michaelangelo n Donatello... Unfortunately, I felt Mikey n Dony were pretty much overshadowed by Leo n Raph n their ongoing feud... Dony's technical side is displayed well, thou (thankfully) not to a nerdy extent... They dont show him comin up with new gadgets n stuff as in the cartoons n previous movies, but rather as the one who sorta establishes some sorta control over Mikey... Mikey, on the other hand, should have been alot funnier... The trailer definitely hinted at Mikey being his usual comic self, which he was, but once again, he was slightly overshadowed by Leo n Raph... Mikey does have his moments thou, so the rare joke from him would def get u cackling (or giggling, or laughin, grinning.. wutever tickles ur fancy..).. Overall, I wish there wud have been more from Mikey n Don.. but given that Raph n Leo n the ones I've favoured ever since I first caught them streaking their naked turtle rears all over NYC, I'm not too angry bout that...
All these qualities are displayed to some extent in this 4th installment, but what particularly appealed to me was that for once.. FOR ONCE... Raph triumphs over Leo in their personal battles... They've always shown Leo to be the psychologically superior one in the previous movies, but atleast they gave Raph the credit of being physically superior to Leo... atleast for the time being neways... N i Love the way they portray Raph's Anger... 
Who can forget April O'Neil n Casey Jones?... turns out they've hooked up, n Casey has to face the typical guy problem of deciding if he wants to pop the question, or consider other options... n this may sound weird, seein as this is an animated movie, but April actually looks alot hotter than her appearances in the previous 3 turtle-flicks!! Nuff' Said.. n speakin of Hot, I'm kinda glad they got rid of the Shredder in this flick, cuz the babe replacin him cant be described in words!!! Karai Hot, an awesome fighter, speaks with a really deep n husky voice... Just the kinda babe whose hands I wouldnt mind dying by... ofcourse this is all animated, so let's forget I said all that...
Last but not least, the ever-lasting Splinter!! When Splinter came on screen (not literally!!), he first resembled those 2 possums in Ice-Age 2... but then he started speaking, n the vision turned back to that of a choking rat... Oh well... he's still old-lookin, n wise, and seeks to bring his sons, the turtles, back to working as a team... Big Dreams, this guy!! He still keeps counseling his sons during individual sessions bout how they've gotta keep trainin, bonding, blah blah blah... how does this guy keep living??? my guess: he charges the turtles for hourly sessions...
Neways, soooo.. seein as how I've gone on n on bout wut I liked most bout the movie, I'm gettin kinda tired now.. so i'm just gonna giv u a quick outline on the story, but I wont spoil it for u too much, so u can still enjoy it when u catch it!!
Basically, the movie starts off with an introduction to the supposed-baddie, who F***ed up 3000 years ago by turnin his entire brotherhood into stone in exchange for immortality (with the old 'I-wanna-conquer-the-world' dream), with the teeny-tiny side effect of unleashing 13 monsters into the world... who are also immortal, btw... so now he seeks to rectify his mistake...
Leo, meanwhile, is completin his trainin in a jungle somewhere in Central America, but is reluctant to return home, feeling he wud be more needed protecting innocent villagers...
Mike goes into showbiz, entertaining kids at bday bashes n parties by dressing up as.... You Guessed it!!!: A Ninja Turtle!!! Go figure...
Dony's Workin from home as a one-man call-center IT Helpdesk Technician... Sigh, we know bout that, dun we ppl..
N Raph.. well, Raph cant stand losin the old glory days, n after watchin 1 too many Batman/Spiderman movies, takes to the streets as a nightly vigilante...
Splinter's meditating.. still...
April n Casey have hooked up.. its not made clear wut they do...
So basically, Leo, thru no reasoning, decides to return to the Big Apple, and the 4 shell-backed dudes get curious when their arch-enemies, the Foot Clan, r helpin round up huge monsters, when its evident to them that the Shredder has, in fact, gone on to a better place, hence leaving them without a guiding force...
I'm gonna leave the plot at that... Tellin u anymore wud be ruining things for u.. So get out there n watch it!!! cuz its not just for the kids, its great for the child within all adults too!!!
On a final note: I noticed they didnt display the turtles' obsession with pizza at all in this movie.. maybe its cuz they'd already hammered that fact with all previous installments of the TMNT series.. personally, I think it has sumthin to do with NYC bein the first city in the US to ban trans-fats, so maybe there's this whole health-conscious drive going on...
1 comment:
thats a damn long post!!
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