TheRetroCritic

Following the success of the first two films, it was obvious the turtles trilogy would soon be completed and, sure enough, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III was released in 1993 and it did well enough at the box-office despite receiving mostly negative reviews. The plot this time sees April O'Neil (Paige Turco) get sent back in time to feudal Japan because of some magical sceptre she found in a flea market. The turtles soon go after her but they find themselves quickly separated and in the middle of a local conflict between Lord Norinaga (Sab Shimono) and his own children who disagree with his desire for war and his dealings with shady English trader Walker (Stuart Wilson). Meanwhile, back in the New York sewers, Casey Jones (Elias Koteas) returns to babysit Splinter (now voiced by James Murray) and the Japanese warriors who have exchanged places with April and the turtles. The time travel aspect of the story is promising and yet you get the feeling right off the bat that it c

In 1991, everyone's favourite ninja turtles came back for a live-action sequel with a rather long title. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret Of The Ooze wasn't as violent or as dark as its predecessor, much lighter in tone, but it still did well at the box-office. Critics weren't quite as enthusiastic about this one since it clearly wanted to stay closer to the cartoons rather than introduce a moody element the way the first movie did but audiences still enjoyed the turtles' ninja antics. The plot, this time, involves the "ooze", the toxic green goop which once turned the titular teens into mutants as the scientist who created it (played by David Warner) is kidnapped by The Shredder with the goal of creating two monsters powerful enough to get rid of the turtles for him. A pizza delivery boy who practices martial arts (Ernie Reyes Jr's Keno) helps the turtles on their quest to find out the truth about their origins and defeat the bad guys.

With the popularity of the cartoon series reaching its peak, it was inevitable that Hollywood would attempt to make a live-action movie based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and so, in 1990, we got to see Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michaelangelo in their first film. As excited as we were about that prospect as kids, the odds that the film itself would be any good were pretty low. It would later spawn two sequels and countless tie-ins, so it certainly did its job at the box-office and came out at the right time. But this wasn't just a lucky shot in the dark, this was a decent TMNT movie, believe it or not. The tone of the film was slightly darker than the popular cartoon, and therefore a touch more in line with the comics, but it still captured the fun, cheesy aspects we all enjoyed about the animated series. The turtle costumes looked great for the time and were more consistent/convincing than in later films, especially in terms of puppeteering, and the voice ca