Turtles Looked Great!

I find them endlessly fascinating to look at. Even in the most unflattering shots, they're a real marvel. Could watch a 9 hour movie of them and not get bored looking at them.

I don't think it should come as a surprise to regular readers of this board that I disagree wholeheartedly. For me it failed on two counts.

Design

Design wise the turtles don't really follow basic rules of what generally works. Their massive size detracts a lot from the whole idea that these are ninjas and supposed to be stealthy and agile.

There seems to be some kind of defense of the designs that this is a "realistic" take on the turtles. Now we can only really speculate on what an actual mutant turtle would look like but I can see what they were shooting for.

But here's a problem; you've got these "edgy" and "realistic" looking turtles dressed in ultra goofy, impractical gear which even Playmates toys would currently scoff at making into variants in their main line.

Likewise their exaggerated proportions detract from the whole realism defense. Some of them could barely stand up right let alone run and do what I assume was supposed to be martial arts.

CGI

This (along with the action) was supposed to be the movie's saving grace. That if nothing else the turtles would look like they were really there and this is something the actually failed at.

There's times the cgi turtles do look real but generally when they are in a mostly cgi environment like the snow chase scene which had some real shots but was mostly cgi mountain and cars etc.

Most times the turtles are in a real space interacting with non cgi actors it's surprising how poor the cgi is. The second rooftop scene when Leo puts his arm around April it's painfully obvious it's not a real arm. It's like late 90s cgi. Same with the scenes with April in the lair the way the light shines off the turtles is very different to how it shines off the set and Megan Fox, it definitely looks like the characters are superimposed which they are but it shouldn't look that way.

I know a lot had to be re-shot and of course re-animated thus they probably lacked the time for a proper job but I think in general they bit off way more than they could chew with six motion captured characters in the budget and time they were given.

I thought they were impressively done, personally. Each came in their own size and shape while all being massive juggernauts. I have large action figures of them sitting on my desk and they look great.

I thought they looked awful. They look like over sized mucus.

I thought they looked okay, though Splinter looked too fake and cartoony to me.

I certainly agree - I thought the motion capture work was fantastic and the design of the individual Turtles really nailed their personalities.

I don't know if anyone has read this - but I found it interesting, I definitely see Eastwood in Raph:

‘TMNT’ Movie Characters Were Modeled After Bill Murray, Clint Eastwood & More
http://screenrant.com/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-2014-modeled-bill-murray-mandela-eastwood/

I totally agree, and I liked it more and more every time a "fan" would complain about it. Leo's samurai look was my favorite.

A boat that floats on water can also sink in it.

Besides the lips I didn't have any actual issues with the design of the turtles. I was not a fan of all their accessories outside of the masks and weapons. Especially Donatello's glasses and electronics.

I did find it interesting Raphael's shell had to be patched up since he would probably get in the most fights.

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