I recently bought an old VHS copy of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie" and I must say that this movie is still great even after 14 years. Now first let me that this is the only faithful film in the "TMNT" trilogy of movies released during the early '90s.

This film, released at the height of "Turtlemania" in the summer of 1990, raked in $133 million at the box office, quickly making it the highest grossing independent film of all time. That's good considering it also faced heavy competition from another comic book adaptation that year, "Dick Tracy," which was directed by Warren Beatty and was quite groundbreaking, on its own terms of course.

Though the film is more in touch with the toned-down animated series of the same title, its roots are squarely in the original comics created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. This film is violent (it DID push the limits of its "PG" rating in some spots, especially with some intense moments, many of which dealt with teenage crime and alienation, and some particularly brutal fight sequences) and is quite dark and actually kind of scary. This is by far the most mature, moving, and tense film in the series and we should thank director Steve Barron for making sure his vision of the Turtles did not stray off course (unlike the sequels).

I was a huge Turtle freak growing up, and I still have many of my original action figures and other memorabilia. I only recently purchased Eastman and Laird's line of graphic novels from First and I must say that they're quite excellent and they take me back to the Turtles' roots. It is quite obvious that this line of graphic novels served as the main source of inspiration for the film. One particularly big difference between the comics and the film is that the literary source material is quite violent (and not to mention very bloody in some spots).

Many people may look at this film today (in 2004) and they might say this film has not aged well. All I can say is that they did not have CGI taking control of every single action sequence to make up for lack of real stunt work. The performers inside the Turtle costumes acted quite excellently considering what they went through to become our four, high-kicking reptilian heroes.

I remember reading a little while back that Hong Kong director John Woo had expressed interest in remaking the Turtles movie. I hope not for two reasons: 1) If the Turtles were to be remade, it would most likely be based off of the current running "TMNT" cartoon series, which is crap and 2) The original 1990 film is fine the way it is and does not need to be touched by the greasy hands of today's Hollywood.

"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie" is the best adaptation of the comics so far, and I loved it. It is one of the best comic-to-film adaptations of all time and should be preserved. "TMNT" forever!

10/10

Ah good times good times, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, one of my favorite cartoons as a kid and I absolutely loved the comics as well. This was such a great concept, I mean look at the title, who knew, right? Turtles that fight crime, talk like surfers, and eat pizza, but we bought it and rooted them on! So obviously the creators wanted to cash in on this great story and we got the live action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Guess what? It was awesome! This is one of my favorite movies from the 90's, I'm in my 20's now for goodness' sake and I still watch this. I can't help it, it's just such a fun movie and the great thing about this movie that despite it was made more for kids, it had a dark edge to it that it was also made for the adults as well.

April O'Neil, an investigative reporter at Channel 3 Eyewitness News, is researching a story on a recent, immense crime wave in New York City. She is later rescued by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from a group of street thieves. As the Turtles are celebrating their victory, an ex-hockey player called Casey Jones, having become a vigilante to combat the crime wave, is shown beating two thieves with his sports equipment and arguing with Raphael over the proper way to punish criminals. The crime wave is traced by April to the Foot Clan; the Foot Ninjas attack her and knock her unconscious, Raphael rescues he. As the Turtles escort April back to her apartment, where they remain for some hours, the Foot raid the Turtles' lair and kidnap Splinter. They carry him back to their headquarters, where their master Shredder is forming an army of corrupted, ninja-trained teenagers to build himself an empire of crime. One of those teenagers is Danny, the son of April's boss; having seen the Turtles at her apartment, he tells Shredder where to find them. The Foot therefore launch a surprise attack on April's apartment. Outnumbered and surprised, the turtles are finally defeated, they may have lost the battle, but it's time for war to get their Splinter back.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is one of those movies that just rocks because it has awesome action sequences, fun actors, and just a great story. I miss writing like this because it seems like more movies that are made with superhero's for the kids now-a-days are more cheesy. This was not made to insult anyone's intelligence, I mean, like I said before these are pizza eating vigilante fighting talking turtles yet we believed it. Not to mention that there is a talking rat, I know it's kind of a weird little puppet they created, but still he's like the Chinese Yoda that always makes a classic "funny" at just the right time. His last scene with Splinter was short, sweet, and effective. This is a movie I will show to my kids when I have a family one day and will still watch with a smile on my face.

8/10

As a child, I loved this movie. At 19 I still do. The production values still look great and hold up well I think rather than it being dated. The cinematography and editing are well above average and the costumes and settings are easy on the eyes. I also love the music score, it fits wonderfully with the film's tone, shifting from intense to having a comic side to it. The story is interesting, has a tone that doesn't jar and further advantaged by some terrific action sequences. I for one was quite impressed by the script, it does have a dark quality to it but also has a campy and light-hearted side which I found appealing, though I do get what people say when they say they are concerned about who the movie is aimed at target audience wise. The characters are immensely engaging, the turtles have great personalities and manage to be very likable, Splinter is wise and easy to relate to and Shredder is appropriately menacing. Overall, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a great movie. 9/10 Bethany Cox