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Things you liked and disliked about the movie? (SPOILERS)

posted 10 years ago by Horror_Metal
19 replies | jump to latest

My personal likes and dislikes:

Likes:

- The personalities of the Turtles were all pretty dead on. Leonardo was heroic and virtuous, Raphael was wild and rebellious, Mikey was a cool partying surfer type, Donnie was a genius who actually used his intellect throughout the movie.
- How it showed the Turtles as babies and then growing up and training over the years through flashback.
- Eric Sachs was a pretty interesting and charismatic villain (just wish they would have renamed him Baxter Stockman).
- Everything about Splinter was pretty well done.
- The elevator scene was kind of funny and reflected how they were all fun loving teenage brothers.
- The final battle on the rooftop was pretty action packed and exciting.

Dislikes:

- I absolutely HATED the way the Turtles looked. Huge and hulking ugly mutants that were way too overdone and garbed in too much crap. Why did they have to make their faces so realistically like an actual turtle? It just didn't work at all.
- Shredder was an overly exaggerated Transformers reject with arms made entirely of knives. I don't know who thought this would be a good idea. I also hated how he lacked a backstory, was never referred to as Oroku Saki, and how he seemed to play second fiddle to Eric Sachs.
- They eliminated the Hamato Yoshi character and instead had Splinter (who was never in Japan) and the Turtles begin as April's pets, a silly coincidence which has become an overused cliché in recent times.
- Splinter became a master of ninjutsu by reading a copy of Kung Fu for Dummies which just happened to be in the sewer and I guess somehow learned to read before then teaching these "skills" to his Turtle apprentices.
- The whole movie mostly followed Megan Fox as April, with not enough focus on the Turtles.
- The Turtles seemed to get their asses kicked a lot, and when they did manage to get the upper hand it was usually due to brute force and not martial arts skills.
- Raphael's silly emo speech near the end of the movie while they're falling. Ugh...
- Some of the jokes were really lame and had me rolling my eyes and groaning way too much. How many cringeworthy lines can one movie have?
- The ending didn't make it clear what Shredder's fate was.
- They had the perfect opportunity to finally bring in some of the characters we've been waiting over two decades to see, but for whatever reason didn't.
- This movie brought nothing new to the Turtles saga, and was basically just the same origin story we've all seen so many times before, just not done as well this time. The 1990 version is far superior and is still the best Turtles movie by far.

Despite having so many dislikes, I actually enjoyed this movie a lot more than I thought I would and was never bored while watching it. However, it could have been way better. I'm thinking I will enjoy the sequel way more as they are reportedly introducing several elements that we've been waiting to see in a live action Turtles movie for fifteen years. So anyway, what are some things you liked and disliked about this new Turtles film?

Horror_Metal

[–] WhoopsieThree-D 10 years ago

Likes:

- The opening animated sequence was pretty good.
- The scamming on April aside, I liked Will Arnett. I know a lot of people didn't, but I did. I thought he made a likable Vernon.
- The sewer lair was pretty cool looking.
- Johnny Knoxville did surprisingly solid as the voice of Leonardo.
- The actors playing the turtles did good all-around.
- The motion-capture was great.
- I liked Brian Tyler's score.

Dislikes:

- The used, dastardly plot of Sacks and Shredder taken right from Amazing Spider-Man.
- The overly-busy designs of the turtles. Sunglasses, toothpicks, tattoos, whatever all that sh!t was on Donnie's shell... it was just too much.
- The filmmakers making Donatello into a ridiculous nerd stereotype and throwing in every cliche they could into him: taped-up Urkel glasses, tall and lanky, snorting laughter, etc.
- Megan Fox's horrible performance.
- The turtles having way too many physical advantages: huge, reliant on brute strength, bulletproof. They defeated the purpose of them being ninjas.
- April fights tooth and nail to convince her boss of the turtles' existence, but can't be bothered to show her the hard proof she has, yet marches right to Sacks and shows him without a second's hesitation.
- Mikey sexually harassing April every chance he got.
- I didn't see anything "emo" about Raph's speech and I'm not really sure what constitutes as "emo" considering the overuse of that word. Personally I felt like Raph's speech was unearned. We didn't see him doing any of the stuff he divulged. Yeah, he talked about going out on his own, but never deserted the group.
- Shredder wanted the mutants to drain their blood. He beats Splinter to a pulp, and for whatever reason, just leaves him there in the sewer, and can't even be bothered to look for the presumed-dead Raph. More blood for him to drain, and he literally leaves it laying there.
- Inconsistencies in the turtles' brute strength. Raph can throw shipping crates and burst through a side of a van like the goddamn Kool-Aid Man, but 30 seconds later he can't break a panel of glass. They can send people flying with a punch, but struggle to lift a gate.
- Inconsistencies with Splinter. At the beginning he says the turtles' training is incomplete. That's fine. Then in the flashback scene he explicitly says "they were ready", and even has a weapons ceremony and names Leo the leader, then when Raph asks about going to hunt Sacks and Shredder down, he's back to "you're not ready". He was inconsistent.
- April rescuing the turtles and Splinter... by throwing them into the sewer.
- A middle-aged Karai who was nothing but a henchwoman.
- Black Ops Foot Clan.
- They're called The Foot because they "step on people".
- Ninjutsu for Dummies.
- The doing away with the Shredder/Splinter history.


Logan, buddy. It's me, Deadpool! I shot youuuuuu....

[–] Horror_Metal 10 years ago

- April fights tooth and nail to convince her boss of the turtles' existence, but can't be bothered to show her the hard proof she has, yet marches right to Sacks and shows him without a second's hesitation.

Can't believe I forgot this one. That might have been the stupidest part of the whole movie. What awful writing!

- I didn't see anything "emo" about Raph's speech and I'm not really sure what constitutes as "emo" considering the overuse of that word. Personally I felt like Raph's speech was unearned. We didn't see him doing any of the stuff he divulged. Yeah, he talked about going out on his own, but never deserted the group.

You're right I should have used a different word. And I agree, it's like they just threw that scene in as to say "Oh we forgot to actually show Raph doing all those rebellious things so let's just have him apologize about it at the end so the viewer knows that he did act like that before." Such a poor choice.

- Inconsistencies with Splinter. At the beginning he says the turtles' training is incomplete. That's fine. Then in the flashback scene he explicitly says "they were ready", and even has a weapons ceremony and names Leo the leader, then when Raph asks about going to hunt Sacks and Shredder down, he's back to "you're not ready". He was inconsistent.

I agree but maybe the first time he meant that they were ready to train or ready to be able to defend themselves. I haven't watched the movie since the theater so I could be wrong though. It was very inconsistent though, I agree.

Horror_Metal

[–] Dblshotz 10 years ago

These are two great breakdowns of the film and i could not agree more. The turtles were so huge and were too busy with the looks. Both shouldve been toned down. This film got very little right but a lot wrong. Hopefully the sequal is better. I think fans love the characters so much that just that was worth the success at the box office because honestly this was a horrible film.

[–] q_leo_rahman 10 years ago

LIKES
- The Turtles themselves. They were their own classic characters yet also were updated to be contemporary (being more mutant-like with superhuman abilities, and more urban with tattoos and tech) while also holding references to past versions (specifically all three cartoons)

- Master Splinter. His voice actor Tony Shalhoub was an unusual but good choice, and his fights were awesome for a ninja rat.

- The Shredder. He had a great suit of armour, great fights and a great voice actor (Tohoru Masamune, a little-known but awesome voice)

- The action is more brutal and badass (which is expected from a MBay production)

- The origin. The lab subject concept works in not only being done before (IDW comics) but in being a realistic and acceptable premise for how they mutated into humanoid beings.

- Mikey actually had some more-or-less decent humor (Mc Mikey, Chopsticks cat, ).

- The downhill sequence. It actually helped make use of their shell-sliding, I’m not sure if that would have helped anywhere else.

- The animated intro was wonderful.

- Shell Shock. It was a catchy song, and no better than Turtle Power or Ninja Go.

- “Ninja Mutant Turtle Teenagers.” That line is ridiculous, but it sets the tone of the film just right.

DISLIKES
- The bad guys’ plan. They just wanted to use the mutagen as a cure for a plague they were going to unleash on New York? Not only is that unoriginal (Amazing Spider-Man) but such a lack of creativity, they could have used the mutagen to make their own army of unstoppable beast-humanoids.

- the Turtles were the only mutants in the film (as above – we could have got Bebop and Rocksteady)

- Megan Fox comes a bit weird in some scenes (sometimes it was her looks, sometimes it was her acting)

- Not enough martial arts (the Turtles relied too much on their super-abilities and not enough on their skills)

- The origin. They had to remove Hamato Yoshi, perhaps reasonably so, but still it’s a bit bizarre that Splinter would take to martial arts and Japanese culture so eagerly and easily.

- No resolution for Eric Sacks (did he die from that blow to the head or will he appear in the sequel)

- Karai was nothing more than a fan name in the film

- Too much left out for the sequel: the Shredder’s alien origin, and the possible introduction of Hamato Yoshi and his sons (like in the IDW comics)

07/08/06... 786... the sentinel of Allah has arrived.

[–] tag1981 10 years ago

Liked:

- The Turtles personalities and their camaraderie was pretty much spot on. Great job by the actors.

- Some funny moments with the Elevator scene being a great addition to TMNT lore.

Disliked:
- Whenever the Turtles weren't around the movie really sucked. Bad. Even Fichtner hamming it up in a few scenes couldn't save it.

- WTF did they do with Karai?! IMO the actress playing her looked too old, was unattractive, and had a distracting hairstyle that just didn't seem to fit her head. I thought she was wearing a wig at times. She didn't even use any Ninjutsu. A complete waste of space TBH.

- The story. It was obvious the writers didn't give a damn. But did anyone bother to proofread first before giving the final ok.

- Splinter was too creepy looking and too damn mean. A wise Ninja master I did not see. Why the big black eyes? No need to get too realistic.

- The Turtles were too big. If they're superhuman what the hell is the point of them being ninjas?

- The self taught Ninjutsu out of a book is one of the worst ideas ever conceived in the entire Turtle Franchise.

- The Foot are mercs with guns? That is just an excuse for the filmmakers to be lazy with the action scenes.

- The fight scenes. How is it that guys in turtle suits were able to provide more impressive Martial Arts scenes than top grade CGI where the imagination and creativity can be limitless.

- No drama. ZERO emotional weight. This had about as much depth as a bottle cap.

Hate:
- People giving this a pass because its a kids film. Well so was the 1st film in 1990. So are Pixar, Disney Animation, and Dreamworks Animation films. But yet they manage to deliver good films with depth. Why should this be any different? All your doing is giving these cash grabbing filmmakers an excuse to be lazy.

- All the Michaelangelo sexual harassment talk. I wish people would give that a rest. I get that the "shell tightening" line was probably in poor taste but everything else was fine. Remember this is a teenager simply not hiding his attraction for a girl. So relax. People act as though he was trying to cop a feel or something. Plus I felt the song he sang at the end was a genuinely sweet moment.

- The trailer showing Raph hitting the humvee. I was very interested in seeing that action sequence because I wanted to see what other badass moments we would see that would equal Raph's. Well no other moments came close to that one. So for me that made that entire scene a let down.

WOLVES DON'T LOSE SLEEP OVER THE OPINION OF SHEEP!

[–] nickerboy 10 years ago

I agree with what you said about the turtles personalities.

What I disliked was a complete lack of any connection between shredder and the turtles. Physically it seemed impossible for the turtles to ever actually be able to use their shells like a turtle (which has been seen both in the old movies and the cartoons). Shredder was completely wasted and the having him become Super Shredder right away just ruined him.

[–] fallingapart20 10 years ago

Like--- that I got too tmnt
Dislike --- the shredder suit
The turtles did really looked way over exaggerated, the foot clan with guns really !!! Come on

[–] hernandez_harold12 10 years ago

What's to like?

Showing off is the fools idea of glory

[–] Little_Sparrow25 10 years ago

Likes:

The Turtles themselves. They got their personalities down pat and I loved the banter/camraderie between them. The actors also did a fantastic job.

I thought I was alone in like Vernon as well. Will Arnett did a great job and I found him genuinely funny.

Their lair looked really cool... It was sad to see it get blown up.

The action sequences. While they were the usual atypical, OTT affair associated with Michael Bay *I'm aware that he wasn't the director*, they had me on the edge of my seat and were a lot of fun. The fight scenes were pretty cool as well.

The animated intro was unexpected yet really cool.

I liked how they portrayed Splinter - Not physically, cause I thought he looked a bit... Eh, but the voice actor did a good job, and his fight sequences were impressive.

Shell Shock. I CANNOT stop listening to it. It's so damn catchy.

I know that they went a bit OTT with Donatello in their attempts to make it GLARINGLY OBVIOUS that he's the nerdy, techy smart guy... But I love the fact he wore glasses. I don't know why, I just do. Though I might be biased as he's always been my favourite turtle.

I really feel as if I'm the only one who doesn't mind how the Turtles look. It took some getting used to, but the fact that they're mutants who were exposed to mutagen over a seemingly prolonged period made me feel like their new look makes sense.

Dislikes:

At times I felt like I was watching 'The April O'Neil Origins Story' as opposed to a film about the Turtles. Way too much focus on April, not enough on the Turtles.

Shredder's armour was just ridiculous. I could have maybe lived with it had his arms not deployed numerous blades, but it did and he looked like a hulking, menacing Edward Scissor Hands.

Having Splinter learn ninjutsu from a tatty old book and seemingly being able to self teach himself enough to be considered on the level of a great ninja master who has been doing it for two or three times as long as he has.

Karai being reduced to a middle aged nobody who got her ass handed to her so easily.

The Foot Clan were nothing more than hired guns.

The film not having the balls to stick with their original plan of having Fitchner as Shredder. I only say this as the re shoots with the Shredder they eventually cast were so painfully obvious - A shoddy cut and paste job.

Not making the fates of Sachs a bit clearer. I felt like it was obvious that Shredder's going to be back, with him nicking a bit of the mutagen as he lay splatted on the sidewalk, but with Sachs you don't know if he regained consciousness and ran off, or was found by the police and arrested.

Things that I feel I should dislike or mention but don't see the point due to the subject matter of the rest of the film:

Overdosing the Turtles on adrenaline can apparently make them fully recover from MASSIVE blood loss, and they're up and fighting and kicking ass with no signs of any ill effects.

"The building was on fire, and it wasn't my fault." - Harry Dresden

[–] DeviantHitman 10 years ago

Only the Turtles.. everything else I hated.

"If at first you don't succeed, troll harder."

[–] actionmanrandell 10 years ago

I love megan fox's ass in that one scene.

and overall i liked the movie

i did not like that they were so *beep* strong. like what would be the point of learning ninjutsu they can can simply kill almost anyone they hit.

i would have rather had them focus on skill instead of making them over the top in super strength

[–] samkaysam 10 years ago

Likes:-

-It's a movie about sewer dwelling turtles who are ninjas, thus can get away with most implausible scenes.
-The ninjas were nicely rendered. Could have gone badly.

Dislikes:-
-Shredder. No personality at all. Ridiculous suit.
-Splinter too realistic. Made me want to lose my lunch.
-Couldn't help thinking, being animals and living in sewers, they must have stunk a big one
-Pictures of talking, mutant turtles and pictures of men wearing turtle suits, which is more plausible? April's mission to convince her editor was too stupid. For that matter, why did Will Arnett think he was talking to a real turtle, instead of, you know, a man in a turtle suit.

[–] klanky 10 years ago

It's a movie about sewer dwelling turtles who are ninjas, thus can get away with most implausible scenes.

I disagree. Putting aside that within the context of comic books TMNT's world was never meant to be implausible (or a parody as people like to promote) but all the best writers that have worked on the popular versions of TMNT have all said variations of the idea that TMNT as a ridiculous idea on the surface has to be done straight.

Traditionally TMNT has never worked when done "too stupid". It's generally accepted (even by the head writer) the 80s animated series jumped the shark after it quickly became too silly. There's no reason for such a drastic drop off in interest between Steve Barron's 1990 movie and Secret of the Ooze released a year later when turtlemania was at it's peak other than it was too silly for people.

-Splinter too realistic. Made me want to lose my lunch.

While I agree that Splinter was terrible to look at I don't know how people think he was too realistic. I'm not an expert on rats but he certainly didn't look like any rat I've seen.

Is he supposed to be a bald(ing) rat? Does he shave his face and body save for the parts he needs to emulate the look of humans with his fu manchu style? He didn't even resemble the rat from Sack's lab.