Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem: These Ain’t Your Daddy’s Turtles

With a new cast of turtles: Leonardo (Nicolas Cantu), Raphael (Brady Noon), Donatello (Micah Abbey), and Michelangelo (Shamon Brown Jr.), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem sets off a new iteration of everyone’s favorite heroes in a half-shell. With a new twist on the many versions of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles that people know from the comics, 90s movies, and TV shows, Mutant Mayhem takes the turtles in a whole new direction: they are actually teenagers. Yes, there are several other changes that this film does as well, but for the first time, the heroes in a half shell actually feel like they live up to the “teenage” part of their title.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem starts by immediately setting the status quo, showing the origin of not only the turtles, but also the other mutants that show up throughout this movie. There is a heavy theme here about trying to fit in, with Baxter Stockman (Giancarlo Exposito) starting the film with a monologue about how he’s not accepted in society, inspiring him to create his own family with an ooze that gives animals human characteristics. This theme is further explored in the movie when Splinter (Jackie Chan) reveals the origin of the turtles where he had a horrifying experience with humans who did not accept him and responded violently to his appearance. Because of this, Splinter decided to train his sons in multiple forms of combat, via scavenged video tapes, so that they could defend themselves from humans. The flip side of this coin is Super Fly (Ice Cube) who shared a similar experience to Splinter, deciding to act on the offensive rather than the defensive, plotting to destroy the humans by making mutants the dominant species. This fear from both characters, and their reactions to the threat of humans serves as an excellent microcosm for the themes of fitting in, with Splinter reconciling that he may have judged the humans too harshly, just like they had done to him.

This leads into the film’s second overarching theme, family and relationships. As much as Splinter is afraid of allowing his boys to try and assimilate to society, he is also content and happy with the family he has. This is further juxtaposed by the turtles themselves when their aspirations to be accepted in society begin to conflict with their family unit, with Raphael even claiming that he would like to branch off from the rest of the turtles. The turtles themselves are constantly at odds with a world that refuses to accept them no matter how hard they try, leading to their big scheme to stop Superfly in order to win over humanity. This is where they meet the other mutants, like Mondo Gecko (Paul Rudd) and Leatherhead (Rose Byrne), who are immediately identified as their cousins, with neither group being able to find a more apt term for their relationship. This may seem like a throwaway line, but the significance lies in the turtle’s powerfully understated understanding of what it actually means to gain the trust of others. This is oversimplified by their plan to win over humanity by being heroes, when in actuality, all they had to do was be honest with the world and form honest relationships to prove that they are not the monsters people fear them to be. The turtles more easily can identify with the mutants due to their equal shunning from society, yet it is their developed relationship with the human, April (Ayo Edebiri) that actually sets them on the path to acceptance, later inspiring the other mutants to follow suit.

April is an interesting character in this iteration, as she, much like the turtles themselves, is a teenager. She is actually fighting to fit in with her peers, mirroring the journey of the turtles, which is what sets this plot into motion. Initially, April and the turtles are in a symbiotic partnership, which slowly turns into a genuine relationship as they all get to know each other better. This growth between the turtles and April is exemplary of Mutant Mayhem’s version of their friendship, with the trust they build in one another organically guiding them to their goals instead of acting as a business transaction. By the end of the film, there is a genuine connection between April and the turtles, that is wholly unique from anything that’s come before. April is often seen as the ride along character for audiences, but here she feels more like a building block for the themes that drive this film.

The turtles themselves are also developed in a fun, unique way here, with many of the tropes from prior iterations taking a backseat. Instead, Mutant Mayhem gives each turtle a defining trait that gives each turtle their own identity without making that their entire personality. The best example of this is Donatello, who is the turtle that notoriously gets put on the back burner in favor of the others. In this version, Donatello still is the nerdier one of the group, but he isn’t completely defined by that. He gets an equal role amongst his brothers and is constantly viewed as an equal rather than just a member of the team. That is this film’s unique take on the turtles (other than leaning into their teenage title), the turtles act more cohesively as a unit rather than as individuals. No one gets more screen time than the others, which serves as a constant reminder that this film is about them as a family. The stellar casting also helps with this, with the actors genuinely being teenagers just like their characters. This gives their characters yet another layer of authenticity that makes this iteration just that more unique.

Another way this film leans hard into the relationship between the brothers is through its unique take on the comedy and banter. The turtles genuinely feel like brothers here, with them constantly bouncing ideas and thoughts off of one another in a way that almost feels improvised. This comedy style branches out to the rest of the cast as well, with the interactions between all the characters feeling natural and honest rather than like formulaic set pieces. This style of comedy lends well to the multiple rewatches, with the quick one liners coming and going fast enough that audiences may not catch every joke in just one viewing.

The visual style of this film is being compared to Into the Spider-Verse, which in some ways is accurate, and in others, could not be more wrong. Yes, the animation does take notes from the recent Spider-Man animated films, but only in as much as it doesn’t conform to a traditional style. Whereas Into the Spider-Verse feels like a comic book come to life, Mutant Mayhem feels like a storyboard come to life, with none of the characters or settings having any hard edges or identical structure. The visible sketch lines give a grittiness that makes it feel more honest in its presentation, while also allowing the character designs to range from standard to out of this world. This new trend in animation works perfectly for this story of film, with the TMNT mythos lending well to the over-the-top designs and graphics that come with it.

Another defining aspect of this film is the music from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. This score consistently keeps up with the action on screen, accentuating every detail of this film in a wonderful manner. The film also makes use of an East Coast hip hop soundtrack which works perfectly for the New York backdrop. This also is a nice change of pace from the same classic rock needle drops that seem to be in every blockbuster nowadays, once again giving this film a unique style that sets it apart from everything else. 

While everything in this film exceeds on almost every facet, there is one aspect of the script that may hurt this movie in years to come. Remember in Avengers: Endgame when Thor was playing Fortnite? Well, this movie has a ton of that. Limited to not only a reference to Avengers: Endgame, Mutant Mayhem makes several references to pop culture in 2023. Characters reference Korean pop group BTS, apps like TikTok, and even discuss/show specific actors who are popular in Hollywood today. This is all well and fun for audiences watching this movie now, but in a few years this stuff is just going to date the movie.