Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem' is a 2023 American computer-animatedsuperhero film directed by Jeff Rowe, who co-wrote the screenplay with Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Dan Hernandez, and Benji Samit. It is the seventh theatrical Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film and a reboot of the Turtles series. Mutant Mayhem was screened as a work-in-progress at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on June 12, 2023, and was released by Paramount Pictures in the United States on August 2, 2023. It has grossed $118 million worldwide and received positive reviews for its performances, screenplay, and stylized animation; several critics named it the best Turtles film. A follow-up television series, Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, is set to premiere on Paramount+, and a sequel film is in development. In the film, the Turtles go on a hunt for a mysterious crime syndicate, but trouble arises when an army of mutants is unleashed upon them.

Plot[]

Techno Cosmic Research Institute (TCRI) executive Cynthia Utrom sends a squadron to hunt down rogue scientist Baxter Stockman, who has created a mutagen to form his own mutant animal family, starting with a housefly. Stockman is interrupted by Utrom's strike force and killed in the resulting explosion, while the mutagen falls into the sewers of New York City.

Fifteen years later, the turtle brothers Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael, and Donatello have been raised by their adoptive rat father, Splinter, after the five of them were transformed into humanoid mutants by "ooze" — Stockman's mutagen. Being chased away by humans led Splinter to distrust humanity and train his sons in the art of ninjutsu, instructing them to only leave their sewer home to steal supplies. Now teenagers, the Ninja Turtles long to live as normal high schoolers, much to Splinter's dismay.

During a supply run, the Turtles defeat a gang of criminals to recover a stolen moped belonging to a teenager named April O'Neil, revealing themselves and their origins. April, an aspiring journalist struggling to move past an embarrassing viral incident of vomiting on camera, has been investigating a series of robberies of TCRI technology by a criminal known as "Superfly". The Turtles plan to stop Superfly and, through April's reporting, win public acceptance as heroes. They intercept a piece of stolen technology and meet Superfly under the Brooklyn Bridge, discovering that he is not only a mutant himself, but leader of a mutant gang, a warthog named Bebop, a rhino named Rocksteady, a bat named Wingnut, an aligator name Leatherhead, a frog named Genghis Frog, a lizard named Mondo, a stingray named Ray Fillet and a cockroach named Scumbug. Ecstatic to meet fellow mutants, the Turtles bond with Superfly and the others, and he explains that they were created by Stockman, evading TCRI and living on an abandoned ship in Staten Island. Like the Turtles, they were attacked by society, and an embittered Superfly has stolen TCRI technology to weaponize ooze to mutate all wildlife on the planet into the new dominant species and enslave humanity.

The Turtles try to intervene, but the gang escapes with the equipment while a tracker allows TCRI to capture the Turtles. At TCRI headquarters, the Turtles regained conciousness and were met by Cynthia who tells them that they needed their blood to make a stable mutagen and make super soldiers and take over the world. The machine starts, and the Turtles are painfully "milked" for their mutagen. They begin to share their final moments, regretting before they will get milked to death. But then, April arrives with Splinter to rescue them. Splitner scolded his sons that they disobeyed him while April told him that they lied. The rat angrily told his sons that they had to fix the mess and stay in the sewers to where they belong. At the gang's hideout, Splinter and the Turtles convince most of them that their plan for domination will make them no better than the worst of humanity, and together they turn on Superfly. Superfly asked the mutants why they are turning against him, and angrily urged them to listen to him. Splinter realized what he had done and started to help the mutants push Superfly to the machine, destroying it. However, the ooze combines Superfly with other nearby wildlife into a gigantic whale-like kaiju and attacks the city. Splinter reconciles with his sons saying that he messed up and doesn't want to be like Superfly. He told his sons that they can stop the monsterous mutant and make the people love them. April calls them and said that she has an anti-ooze on her scooter and told them to meet her here. As they made to shore, the Turtles and other mutants attempt to stop him but are assumed by the public to be fellow monsters. Is then that Leonardo finds his voice as a leader, utilizing Michelangelo's gift for improvisation, Donatello's intelligence, and Raphael's rage to drop the anti-ooze canister into Superfly's blowhole.

April overcomes her anxiety and commandeers a news broadcast to explain the mutants’ good intentions and the citizens of New York come to their aid. Superfly grabbed the Turtles and started to crush their shells as Splinter watched in horror. The citizens began to gather around and recognize that he is with the Turtles. Overcoming his hate of humans, Splinter told the people that he needs to get the anti-ooze to his sons and they decide to help him. Their actions distracts Superfly long enough for the Turtles to free themselves and manage to throw the canister inside Superfly, turning him back into a collection of normal animals. Reconciling with Splinter, the Turtles, April, and the mutants are celebrated by the city. The other mutants soon move into the sewers with them, Splinter and Scumbug fall in love, and the Turtles enroll at April's high school, where they are all embraced as heroes.

In a mid-credits scene, the Turtles enjoy high school life: Donatello has found the computer club, Raphael is on the wrestling team, Michelangelo takes up improv comedy, and Leonardo — who has developed a crush on April — joins her investigation into TCRI to stop Cynthia Utrom and her agents from creating super soldiers, who escaped during the rescue. While the five of them enjoy themselves at prom, they are under surveillance from Utrom (holding the now unmutated Superfly captive), who plans to recapture the Turtles and decides to call an old acquaintance.

Voice Cast[]

Nicolas Cantu as Leonardo
Brady Noon as Raphael
Micah Abbey as Donatello
Shamon Brown Jr. as Michelangelo
Jackie Chan as Splinter
Ayo Edebiri as April O'Neil
Maya Rudolph as Cynthia Utrom
John Cena as Rocksteady
Seth Rogen as Bebop
Rose Byrne as Leatherhead
Natasia Demetriou as Wingnut
Giancarlo Esposito as Baxter Stockman
Ice Cube as Superfly
Paul Rudd as Mondo Gecko
Post Malone (credited as "Austin Post") as Ray Fillet
Hannibal Buress as Genghis Frog

Trivia[]

Shredder was originally in the film, but was written out because writer Jeff Rowe wanted the film's villain to be a mutant that shared empathy with the Turtles and who could easily tempt/corrupt them.
The filmmakers cited Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), the Jackie Chan martial arts films Police Story (1985) and Rumble in the Bronx (1995), the crime drama Chungking Express (1994), the period film Boogie Nights (1997), and the works of cinematographers Emmanuel Lubezki and Spike Jonzeas an influence on the visual style of the film.
Ice Cube agreed to play Superfly because he liked the name and because he and his son watched TMNT cartoons.
In contrast to the norm for animation, the cast recorded their voice roles together in groups rather than independently from one another. A single recording session could include up to seven actors. This environment allowed for the cast to play off each other as well as employ a lot of improvisation in their performances.
According to Seth Rogen, "For every session, we lumped people together. We really went out of our way and bent over backward to try to capture that improvisational energy you get when a lot of people are in the same place at the same time”.
Jeff Rowe wrote a letter to Jackie Chan requesting him to play Master Splinter.
Two locations in the film homage the TMNT creators Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman: April attends Eastman High School. April interviews the turtles at a building with a sign reading "The Laird".
Superfly was originally going to be a mutated version of Baxter Stockman, who gets turned into a mutant fly in traditional TMNT lore, but the two ultimately became separate characters.
This is the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie where the Turtles wear arm and leg bands that's the color of their masks and have initialized belt buckles just like in the original 1987-1996 animated series.
Splinter's look was based on Danny DeVito and Jeff Bridges (specifically his performance as the Dude in The Big Lebowski (1998)).
During the car shop fight, there is a brief snippet of Vanilla Ice's Ninja Rap from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (1991). Listen closely for "Go ninja! Go ninja! Go!".
The stylized letters on the turtles' belts for each of their names are in the same design as the belts included on the original 1988 TMNT action figures by Playmates.
Superfly quotes the Ice T song "6 N the Morning."
The four turtles' voices were performed by teenagers for the first time in the history of the series from which the movie came (note: the voices were based on a recommendation by Seth Rogen to emphasize the film's child-oriented approach), though some of them did reach adulthood by the time the film released.
Seth Rogen compared the film's soundtrack to that of the video game Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (1999).
Stan Sakai's character Usagi Yojimbo appears as a notebook sticker. Usagi and the Turtles have met on various occasions.
The first TMNT movie to have a fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Donnie, Raph, and Mikey jokingly called Leo "Batman" when he tries to do his monologue at the beginning. The turtles teamed up with the Caped Crusader in several comic crossovers from DC and IDW Publishing, which the first crossover was adapted in the video Batman vs Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2019).
Jeff Rowe had in mind a vision of "the ultimate teenage coming-of-age film", and cited the teenage features Stand by Me (1986), Freaks and Geeks (1999), The Edge of Seventeen (2016), Lady Bird (2017) and PEN15 (2019) as an influence on the film.
This movie and its origin stories involved elements from both Mirage Comics and the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles TV series.
During the scene where Splinter is giving the turtles their backstory, a van drives by in the background with the head of an orange triceratops on the side. The Triceratons were an alien race the turtles went up against in the original comics series, that appeared as humanoid triceratops with orange skin (triceratops' were the favorite dinosaur of Peter Laird) and later appeared in several of the cartoon series, video games and later comics (though only the IDW comics has them portrayed as mutants instead of aliens).
John Cena is the second wrestler to play Rocksteady, after Stephen Farrelly in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016).
M.O.P.'s song "Ante Up" plays twice in the film, and is also sampled in "The Time Is Now", Rocksteady actor John Cena's theme music in the WWE since 2005.
This was the second Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles CGI movie to be released in theaters after TMNT (2007).
The filmmakers cited Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) and the 90s live-action films as the main influence for the film.
The turtles discuss Mark Ruffalo improvising during the diner scene in Avengers: Endgame (2019). That scene includes Paul Rudd, who plays Mondo Gecko in this film, and Chris Evans, who is seen in a cardboard cutout.
This was the fifth fully animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie (following TMNT (2007), Turtles Forever (2009), Batman vs Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2019)and Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie (2022)) and the second theatrically released one after the former.
The second animated feature based on the property not to have The Shredder as its main antagonist.
Seth Rogen announced the cast of the film at the 2023 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards.
John Cena (Rocksteady) had previously voiced Baron Draxum in Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2018).
First Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film to be released by Paramount after the merger between Viacom and CBS. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) aired on the latter's television network from 1990 to 1996.
April O'Neil in this incarnation being a woman of colour that wears glasses is somewhat similar to the way she appeared in Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2018).
The first theatrically released TMNT movie to be rated Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, and the third overall following the direct-to-video features Batman vs Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2019) and Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie (2022).
First PG-rated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film since 2007's TMNT (2007).
Donatello getting skewered in the leg by one of Raphael's sai is similar to another Point Grey Pictures film This Is the End (2013) (also produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg) where Jay get skewered in the leg with a knife.
Point Grey Pictures' first PG rated film.
The color scheme of the outfit and glasses that the character Cynthia Utrom wears matches that of the villain Krang from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987). Her last name of Utrom refers to the species that were first introduced in the original comics and earlier media starting with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003) that Krang was based off of, and Krang would later be officially identified as one since the later comics from IDW Publishing that began in 2011. An additional reference to this is their building TCRI which was also where the Utroms were found in the original comics and most media franchises that use it except Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (1991) which did not feature the Utroms (and its name was changed to "TGRI").
Donatello's JoJo's Bizzare Adventure hoodie seen in a few scenes was added as a result of Director Jeff Rowe asking the actors of the turtles during an early recording session for some anime references they could put into the film. The JoJo reference specifically was suggested by Micah Abbey, who voices Donatello.
Toward the end of the film a reporter refers to the turtles as "Hero Turtles" - this references the "Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles" which was the title used for the British television broadcasts of the original cartoon series. Censors changed the word 'Ninja' as, at the time, it was deemed unsuitable for children's television.
When the Mutants are singing "What's Up" by 4 Non Blondes, Mondo Gecko (Paul Rudd) merely repeats the opening line "I wake in the morning and I step outside" over and over again to the beat of the song.
The Shredder briefly appears in a mid credits scene.
During the first heist, when the henchmen are bringing the stolen part into the icecream truck, you catch a glimpse of the license plate that reads D.M.C. Ice Cube started his career as a rapper and has stated that Run D.M.C was his inspiration and one of the main reasons he started rapping.
In the drive-in theater the turtles are watching Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986). In the movie the protagonist fakes been sick to skip school and take the day off. This foreshadows the turtles lying to Master Splinter so they can escape to the surface. This could also point the fact that as Ferris lied because he didn't want to go to school the turtles on the other hand did all this so they can be accepted by society and could go to school.
When the people see Splinter in Times Square in a flashback, a person dressed up in a SpongeBob SquarePants costume was shown and when the turtles were slicing a watermelon one of them mentioned Hey Arnold. Both Hey Arnold! (1996) and SpongeBob SquarePants (1999) are made by Nickelodeon and owned by Viacom which also owns Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and made this film and the two live action films from 2014 and 2016.
The turtles wear there human clothes that match there color scheme and no longer wear the eye mask when they attend high school.
In most media it’s Donnie that has a crush on April. However this is the first time that it’s Leo who has a crush on April. He also goes with her to prom.
The turtles all join a clique that helps separate them from each other in high school. Leo helps April in journalism club by tracking down TGRI. Donnie joins the Computer Club, Raph joins the wrestling club and Mikey joins the improv club.