TMNT: OUT OF THE SHADOWS
Cowadunga!
released 24 october (blu-ray/dvd)/10 0ctOber (digital) 2016 | 12 | blu-ray, blu-ray 3d, 4K blu-ray, dvd, vod, download Director dave Green Cast Megan Fox, Will arnett, stephen amell, brian tee
It’s important to note, first of all, that Out Of The Shadows is a dramatic improvement on its 2014 predecessor, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
The tone, for instance, is more faithful to the ’80s animated series, especially in its embracing of fun, out-there elements like warthog-rhino duo Bebop and Rocksteady and alien villain Krang. The Turtles too no longer look like the stuff of nightmares, having been given a subtle, cartoonish makeover. Nor are they as obnoxiously inane. It also has a better script; a better story; a better look and feel. And yet all that still only just brings it up to the level of “bearable”.
Although produced, again, by Michael Bay, directorial duties have passed this time from Jonathan Liebesman to Dave Green, whose emotional storytelling shone in 2014 sci-fi Earth To Echo. There is only so much he can do here, however. For having inherited most of the first film’s writing team, he is stuck executing a script tailormade for the stupidest of 12-year-olds; ones that need exposition fired into their faces; that need Megan Fox dressed as a sexy schoolgirl; that need six villains because they couldn’t possibly concentrate for long enough on one. And if that sounds insulting then that’s because it is.
Extras On DVD: a piece on the actors behind the CGI (eight minutes), a tour of the Turtles’ van (four minutes), and three deleted scenes (five minutes) – including a wisely-cut cameo from original April O’Neil Judith Hoag. The Blu-ray adds bits on the new characters, the Turtles’ pad, ILM’s effects, and Easter Eggs (27 minutes). Stephen Kelly
Kevin Eastman, co-creator of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, has a cameo role as a pizza delivery guy.