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I don't care for the new, modernized TMNT, but damn this is f*cking awesome. For those that don't know, this is a made for tv movie (you can catch it on youtube) and it's basically a crossover between the new TMNT cartoon, the 80s cartoon and the original Mirage comic book.
It could have just been a quick cash in crossover but it's actually very well done, all the references are fun and a lot of the jokes are actually pretty funny.
Not to mention how cool it is to see the old 80s Ninja Turtles again, and the old Shredder and the old Splinter and the old April, not to mention Krang, Bebop, Rocksteady and the Technodrome. THAT's what I'm f*cking talking about. How they tie the old and the new together is pretty clever and I love how these guys pay homage to the old cartoon but poke fun of it at the same time.
How the 80s turtles always laughed at their corny jokes, how they break the fourth wall, how they could instinctively tell when April was in danger (which was basically all the damn time), how bizarre the old Shredder's plots were and how the old Donny could come up with ridiculous solutions for everything.
Some great quotes too. My favorite line.
"Wait, you're April? Um... what's with the yellow jumpsuit? Do you work at a car-wash in this dimension?"
I LOLed at that.
But while the writers are poking fun of the old cartoon they obviously have a lot of love and affection for it as well and I love how they throw in a lot of easter eggs for the turtle nerds. Also the way they recreate the look and animation of the old cartoon is downright perfect. There's even a cameo by Tokka and Rahzar from TMNT II, cool.
I also love how it pays homage to the turtles from the original comic book, which was itself a parody of Frank Miller comics, it's fascinating to see the different phases of the turtles.
I haven't watched the new cartoon, and that's mostly because I don't care for the "new" look. I admit that's rather ignorant of me as it seems like a pretty solid kids show and it's apparent that the writers have a good sense of humor and a geniune love for the franchise. Nothing will match the colorful whackiness of the 80s cartoon and that's not just nostalgia talking (ok maybe it is) but I realise that times change and that now there's a new generation of little turtle fans, the new turtles aren't so bad, even if they're not the turtles I grew up with. Overall, this is a fanservice extravaganza and turtle fans old and new will love it.
I only have some minor complaints but here they are.
1. How the new turtles consistantly use the phrase "What the shell?", I find it ironic that this movie pokes fun of the old turtles for their cheesy jokes while the new turtles have such a lame pun of their own, at least the jokes from the old cartoon were so corny that they're funny nonetheless, but "What the shell?", that's just lame.
2. The fact that they didn't get the original voice cast. Sometimes this isn't too noticable, most of of the voices are downright uncanny, but old 80s Shredder kinda sounds like cobra commander, I mean c'mon, they couldn't even get Uncle Phil to revive his role as the Shredder? That would have been awesome.
3. I don't follow the new show but uh... why does the new Shredder resemble a demonic Pacman ghost?
Overall, I really enjoyed it. Cowabunga.