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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a 1990 American superhero action comedy film directed by Steve Barron, based on the comic book characters of the same name. Released to the cinemas in the USA on March 30, 1990[2], the film presents the origin story of Splinter and the Turtles, their meeting April O'Neil and Casey Jones, and their first confrontation with Shredder and his Foot Clan. It stars Judith Hoag, Elias Koteas, and the voices of Brian Tochi, Robbie Rist, Corey Feldman, and Josh Pais as the four title characters. The turtle costumes were developed by Jim Henson's Creature Shop, and was one of the last projects that Henson was involved in prior to his death.

When the New York City Police Department is unable to stop a severe crime wave caused by the Foot Clan, four mutated turtles — Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello and Raphael — come forth to save the city. Under the leadership of mutated rat, Splinter, and together with their new-found allies April O'Neil and Casey Jones, they fight back and take the battle to The Shredder. The film kept very close to the dark feel of the original comics, and is a direct adaptation of the comic book storyline involving the defeat of Shredder, with several elements also taken from the 1987 TV series that was airing at the time, such as April being a news reporter, and the turtles having different-colored masks, as opposed to the uniform red masks of the comic.

The film became the highest-grossing independent film of all time,[3] the ninth-highest-grossing film worldwide of 1990, and the most successful film in the series until the 2014 reboot. It was followed by two sequels, The Secret of the Ooze in 1991 and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III in 1993.

Plot[]

As a crime wave rises in New York City, reporter April O'Neil covers the mysterious ninja Foot Clan. The Shredder, the Foot leader, orders April silenced. She is attacked by the Foot in a subway and knocked unconscious. Raphael, one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, emerges from the shadows, defeats the Foot, and carries her to the turtles' hideout, unaware that one of the Foot is following him. Splinter, their rat master, explains to April that he and the turtles were once ordinary animals, but were mutated into intelligent creatures by toxic waste. After the turtles escort April home, they find their hideout ransacked and Splinter kidnapped. They return to April's apartment and spend the night there.

Danny Pennington, the delinquent son of April's supervisor Charles Pennington, is recruited by the Foot. After bailing Danny out of jail for robbery, Charles stops at April's apartment, where Danny glimpses one of the turtles hiding. He reports this to Shredder.

At April's apartment, Raphael and Leonardo argue. Raphael goes to the roof, where the Foot ambush him. He is knocked unconscious and the turtles scramble to defend themselves, assisted by the vigilante Casey Jones. The building catches fire during the melee, and the turtles retreat to a farm belonging to April's family. Raphael recovers and the turtles train while April and Casey fall in love. Leo contacts Splinter through meditation, and the turtles return to New York to rescue him.

Danny has secretly been taking counsel from Splinter, who tells him the story of his master Hamato Yoshi's murder by a rival ninja, Oroku Saki, over the love of a woman, while Splinter was an ordinary rat. During the struggle, Splinter's cage was broken and he lunged at Saki's face, clawing and biting him. Saki, enraged, sliced off part of his ear with a katana. When Danny learns Shredder intends to have Splinter killed, he and Casey set him free.

The turtles engage the Foot in battle, but the Shredder defeats them. As the Shredder prepares to kill Leonardo, Splinter appears and challenges him to a fight. Splinter names Shredder as Oroku Saki; Saki removes his mask and touches his scar, remembering how Splinter gave it to him. He charges Splinter, who ensnares the Shredder's yari with Michelangelo's nunchaku, leaving him dangling over the roof's edge. Shredder throws a knife from his belt, but when Splinter reaches to catch it, his grip is released and Saki falls into a garbage truck. Casey pulls the lever to activate the compactor, crushing the Shredder. As the police arrive, the teens tell them where the stolen goods are. Reunited with Splinter, the turtles watch as April and Casey kiss.

Cast[]

Live action[]

  • Judith Hoag as April O'Neil, a reporter for Channel 3 News
  • Elias Koteas as Casey Jones, a streetwise vigilante and former ice hockey player who becomes an ally of the turtles
  • Jay Patterson as Charles Pennington, April's boss
  • Michael Turney as Danny Pennington, Charles's teenage son
  • Raymond Serra as Sterns, the Chief of New York City Police Department
  • James Saito as Oroku Saki / The Shredder, the leader of a network of runaways-turned-thieves and the main antagonist of the film
  • Toshishiro Obata as Master Tatsu, Shredder's second-in-command
  • Sam Rockwell as Head Thug, an unmasked gang member

Skeet Ulrich and Scott Wolf appear as unnamed members of the Foot Clan, in uncredited roles.

Voice cast[]

  • Brian Tochi as Leonardo, the leader of the Turtles and the closest to Splinter
  • Josh Pais as Raphael, the rebellious and angry Turtle[4]
  • Corey Feldman as Donatello, the brains of the Turtles[4]
  • Robbie Rist as Michelangelo, the youngest Turtle, a fun-loving partier
  • Kevin Clash as Splinter, the Turtles' master
  • David McCharen as Oroku Saki / The Shredder
  • Michael McConnohie as Master Tatsu

Puppeteers[]

  • David Forman as Leonardo (in-suit performer)
    • Martin P. Robinson as Leonardo (facial assistant)
  • Leif Tilden as Donatello (in-suit performer)
    • David Rudman as Donatello (facial assistant)
    • Ernie Reyes Jr. as Donatello (in-suit martial arts stunt double)
    • Reggie Barnes as Donatello (in-suit skateboarding double)
  • Josh Pais as Raphael (in-suit performer)
    • David Greenaway as Raphael (facial assistant)
    • Kenn Troum as Raphael (in-suit martial arts stunt double)
  • Michelan Sisti as Michaelangelo (in-suit performer)
    • Mak Wilson as Michelangelo (facial assistant)
  • Kevin Clash as Splinter (puppeteer)
    • Rickey Boyd as Splinter (facial assistant)
    • Robert Tygner as Splinter (assistant puppeteer)

All four actors who played the in-suit turtles also appeared in cameos, with David Forman (Leonardo) as a gang member, Michelan Sisti (Michaelangelo) as a pizza delivery man, Leif Tilden (Donatello) as a messenger of The Foot and Josh Pais (Raphael) as a passenger in a taxi. Pais was the only actor to portray a Turtle on screen and also provide his voice.

Production[]

The script is based mainly on the early Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics, including the stories of the turtles' origins, rooftop battle, sojourn to the farmhouse, and battle with Shredder. Elements were taken from the 1980s animated series, such as the Turtles' colored bandanas and love of pizza, elements of Michelangelo's character, and April O'Neil as a television reporter instead of a lab assistant.

The film's budget was $13.5 million. Much of the production took place in North Carolina, with a couple of location shoots in New York City during the summer of 1989 to capture famous landmark areas, such as Times Square, the Empire State Building, and the Hudson River. Filming in North Carolina took place at the North Carolina Film Studios, where New York rooftop sets were created. Production designer Roy Forge Smith and his art director, Gary Wissner, went to New York City four months prior to filming and took still photographs of rooftops and other various locations. While in NYC, Smith and Wissner were allowed to explore an abandoned Brooklyn subway line, as they could not gain access to a city sewer, but the structure of the subway had the same principle as a sewer. They also went to a water tunnel which had large pipes running through it.

After design sketches were created, the construction team used the studios' backlot to create some of the sets. There were problems with the manholes that led to the turtles' home, in that an eight-foot square room had to be constructed beneath them, but found water at about five-feet, and thus had to pour concrete into the underground rooms to keep the water out. In order to make the sewer authentic, a tide-mark was given, and it was covered with brick, plaster and stucco paint to give the walls a realistic look.

The turtle costumes were created by Jim Henson's Creature Shop in London. Jim Henson said that the creatures were the most advanced that he had ever worked with. The creatures were first made out of fiberglass, and then remolded out of clay. They were produced as molds to cast the whole body in foam rubber latex. The work at the Creature Shop was completed within 18 weeks.

Many major studios, such as Walt Disney Pictures, Columbia Pictures, MGM/UA, Orion Pictures, Paramount (whose parent company Viacom would acquire the TMNT property in 2009), and Warner Bros. turned down the film for distribution; they were worried that despite the popularity of the cartoon and the toy line, the film could potentially be a box office disappointment, like Masters of the Universe was just a couple years prior. The film found distribution roughly halfway through the initial production, via the then small and independent production company New Line Cinema, which had been known for distributing low-budget B movies and arthouse fare.

According to Brian Henson, the film was finished in post-production largely without Barron. Editor Sally Menke, who later edited many films by Quentin Tarantino, was removed as production company Golden Harvest did not like her work.

release[]

Marketing[]

Live Entertainment Inc. announced that the film would go to VHS via its Family Home Entertainment label on October 4, 1990. The suggested price was $24.99 per cassette. Pizza Hut engaged in a $20 million marketing campaign tied into the film (despite the fact that Domino's Pizza was used as product placement in the film itself). Items included advertising in print, radio and television, and several rebate coupons.

Alternate versions[]

The UK version removed Eastern fighting weapons like the nunchaku, using alternate shots of Michaelangelo in order to conceal his nunchaku weapon, or omitting the show-off duel between Michaelangelo and a member of the Foot clan. Also, the scene of Shredder in the garbage shred was heavily edited and the Turtle Power song was edited to change the word 'ninja' to 'hero' as per the UK television series. The unedited version was released on DVD in 2004 in the UK.

The German theatrical voice-dubbed version is identical to the UK version, i.e. it omits the usage of the nunchaku. Furthermore, the German dubbing audio track contains several "cartoon-like" sounds in order to soften the violence of the fight scenes. Although the German dub of the film was released with unedited pictures on DVD, the German dub audio version with the cartoonish sounds were still kept, because they were permanently merged into the German voice-dubbing audio.

home media[]

In 1990, the film was released to VHS and reached No. 4 in the home video market. The film was released to DVD in Region 1 on September 3, 2002; it includes only minor special features, such as a trailer and interactive menus. The film was also released in the MiniDVD format.

On August 11, 2009, the film was included in a special 25th anniversary box set (commemorating the original comic book), released to both DVD and Blu-ray formats. It also contained Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, and the animated release, TMNT (2007). No additional features, other than theatrical trailers, were included. In Germany, a "Special Edition" was released on March 12, 2010, with additional features, including an audio commentary by director Steve Barron, an alternate ending, and alternate takes from the original German release, where Michelangelo's nunchaku had been edited out. Warner Home Video released the film along with Secret of the Ooze and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III as part of a "Triple Feature" on Blu-ray in June 2012, minus the fourth film TMNT. Warner Home Video released the film separately on Blu-ray on December 18. In the UK, Medium Rare released the film along with its sequels in a 3 DVD set on 28 October 2013. Bonus features included a 30-minute documentary entitled “Making of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” and trailers.

Reception[]

box office[]

The film opened in the United States on March 30, 1990, and was number one at the box office over the weekend, grossing more than $25 million, the biggest opening weekend an independent film had ever had up to that time. The film turned out to be a huge success at the box office, eventually making over $135 million in North America, and over $66 million outside North America, for a worldwide total of over $200 million, making it the ninth highest-grossing film of 1990 worldwide. The film was also nominated for awards by The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films.

critical response[]

On the film's initial release, Roger Ebert gave the film a 2.5 out of 4 stars and concluded that the film is "nowhere near as bad as it might have been, and probably is the best possible Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie. It supplies, in other words, more or less what Turtle fans will expect". Variety praised the film's tongue-in-cheek humor and the "amusingly outlandish" martial arts sequences. Maslin of The New York Times criticized the cinematography, stating that it was so "poorly photographed that the red-masked turtle looks almost exactly like the orange-masked one". Variety described the film as "visually rough around the edges... sometimes sluggish in its plotting". Ebert stated that the "most interesting part of the film for a non-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle fan is the production design", which he described as a "low-rent version of Batman or Metropolis."

Lloyd Bradley of Empire Magazine gave the film a four out of five stars, stating: "A well-rounded, unpretentious, very funny, knockabout adventure - subtly blended so that it's fun for all the family". Owen Gleiberman, writing for Entertainment Weekly, gave the movie an F rating, finding that none of the four turtles or Splinter had any personality, but felt that a young audience might enjoy the film, noting that the reviewer might have "gone for it too had I been raised on Nintendo games and the robotic animation that passes for entertainment on today's Saturday-morning TV". Kim Newman wrote in the Monthly Film Bulletin that he found the characters reminiscent of the early 1970s Godzilla film series, describing the turtles as "loveable monsters in baggy foam rubber suits" who "befriended lost children and smashed things up in orgies of destruction that somehow never hurt anyone", and that the turtles "drop the occasional teenage buzzword but are never remotely convincing as teenagers, mutants, ninjas or turtles, leaving them stranded on the screen as big green Muppets with different coloured headbands".

Entertainment Weekly and The New York Times praised the work of Jim Henson's Creature Shop, with Maslin stating "without which there would have been no film at all".

Variety, the New York Times, and the Monthly Film Bulletin all noted the Asian villains of the film; Variety described "overtones of racism in its use of Oriental villains", while the Times' Janet Maslin stated "the story's villainous types are Asian, and the film plays the yellow-peril aspects of this to the hilt". Newman noted a racist joke in April O'Neil's response to the Foot Clan, "What's the matter, did I fall behind on my Sony payments?", finding that the film expressed a "resentment of Japan's economic strength even while the film is plundering Japan's popular culture". Ebert felt there was "no racism" in the film.

As of 2021 the film has an approval rating of 41% on Rotten Tomatoes based on reviews from 54 critics and an average rating of 5.10/10. The website's consensus states, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is exactly as advertised: one-liners, brawls, and general silliness. Good for the young at heart, irritating for everyone else". It is the highest rated film in the franchise besides the direct-to-video crossover Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. On Metacritic, it has a score of 51 based on reviews from 21 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

sequels and reboots[]

Following the huge success of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at the box office, several films were created. A year later, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze was released in theaters, and was a commercial success. In 1993, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III was released in theaters, to a smaller box office take. After a 14-year absence from theaters, a fourth film, TMNT, was released in 2007, though unlike the trilogy, this was a CGI animated film. Seven years later, a reboot, also with the title Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, was released in 2014, and a sequel titled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows was released in theaters on June 3, 2016.

References[]

  1. "Detail view of Movies Page". Afi.com. Retrieved on 2016-07-22.
  2. 2.0 2.1 The film at Box Office Mojo
  3. "'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles': Untold Story of the Movie "Every Studio in Hollywood" Rejected" (2015-04-02). Retrieved on 2016-07-22.
  4. 4.0 4.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Couch

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Media
Films: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (soundtrack/video) (1990) • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (soundtrack/video) (1991) • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (soundtrack/video) (1993) • TMNT (soundtrack/video) (2007)
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This Is What We DoSpin That WheelFamily9.95Turtle Power!Awesome (You Are My Hero)Ninja RapFind the Key to Your LifeMoov!(That's Your) ConsciousnessThis WorldCreatures of HabitRockin' Over the BeatTurtle JamFighterTurtle PowerShell ShockBlack BettyThere's a Class for ThisRosesFall Back Into My LifeBring Me Along
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