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Since it was introduced more than 20 years ago in 1984, the 4 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have certainly become a mainstream success and till this day are still one of the most popular super-heroes. Besides countless number of comic books, they have also spawned 4 seasons of television shows, which date back as far as 1987, and with the release of TMNT, 4 major motion pictures.

This movie is set right after the first movie simply titled "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" released in 1990. The basic plot is that after Splinter disappeared, the turtles have drifted apart, they're no longer the team that you'd expect them to be at the beginning of the film. However, when strange beasts start to run rampant all over the city, Leonardo returns to lead his brothers once again. However, besides trying to solve the mystery as to why those beasts are appearing, the team faces other problems as well. There is some friction between Leo and Raphael, with Raphael challenging his authority. There is a major side plot involving the 2 of them, which ultimately led to the both of them dueling on a rooftop, before finally being able to settle their differences. I don't want to spoil the movie for anyone, but the lessons one can take away from this side plot are really something, as it is a much more mature theme than one would expect in a TMNT movie.

I wish that could be said for the main storyline. Beasts, stone generals and immorality. Really, couldn't they think of anything new for a TMNT movie? I mean such a plot could easily be found in any single one of the many TMNT cartoons on saturday mornings for god's sake. Yes, it's the typical "save-the-world-using-punches-and-kicks-against-stone-generals" type of plot you'd expect in any cartoon show about superheroes. Sure, you could say that TMNT is trying to "stick to its roots", but considering how this is a theatrical release, I think the storyline could have been a more mature one as compared to simply "fighting evil-doers" and winning so easily.

Setting the plot aside, this movie LOOKS really good. The whole movie has been done in CGI, without a single human actor involved, except for the voice acting of course. This makes it the first ever TMNT movie to be completely done using CG, and I'm pleased to say it looks pretty good. The characters don't exactly look realistic, but it really does fit the overall style of TMNT. For example April has unusually skinny arms, and Casey Jones looks like he could do with more muscles. Still, I'm not complaining about the overall art style of the film, since it does help to make it look more "comic-like". However, the turtles themselves do indeed look the way you'd expect them to, with all 4 of them carrying their own unique weapons and with bulging muscles. The fighting scenes are really the highlights of the show, with the 4 turtles going at it against a huge furry thing, or a few hundred ninjas fighting onscreen at one time. The fast moving action during all the fight scenes really do make your blood pulse faster. There's really nothing much for me to comment about the graphics, except that they're more or less near top-notch quality, and I highly doubt any TMNT fan will be disappointed with them.

For the first time ever, the movie soundtrack really caught my attention. Most of the songs chosen for the movie not only fit with whatever scene it's currently playing, but it sounds really good too. Halfway through the film when Raphael was fighting the small little impish thing, my friend beside me in the cinema suddenly turned and asked, "What song is this?" The soundtrack is really so good that it's almost better than the movie itself at times I guess. A soundtrack is supposed to compliment whatever is showing on screen at the moment, not steal everyone's attention away from the movie themselves in order to think about what song is currently playing or where they heard it before. I'm not saying that it's a bad thing that the soundtrack is good, I'm just saying it's a bad thing that the soundtrack overshadows the movie itself at times.

In my opinion, this movie was targeted at the young adult audience, but I think that the only group of people that will come out of the theater absolutely loving the movie are probably 6-10 year olds, who might not even understand the plot but rather just enjoy the fighting scenes. This movie really had a lot of potential to be an absolutely brilliant one, with a great soundtrack, excellent graphics, a stellar cast and a really mature side-plot. However, it was really let down by the absolutely horrendous/childish main plot.

If you're a person who usually watches a movie just to enjoy the action, this movie is for you, but for the rest of us who want to see a great storyline complimented by action, I'd suggest you stay away from this movie.

In short,
Pros: Excellent graphics, great soundtrack, blood-pulsing fight scenes, really mature side-plot for a TMNT movie
Cons: A REALLY BAD MAIN STORYLINE. (honestly, I can't stress enough how bad it is)

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