(SPOILER WARNING!!! This article does contain spoilers, if you haven’t seen the movie, just see the first paragraph to be informed without spoilers!!!)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles may have a weak and cliched storyline and I may question the marketing of this movie to kids, but if you’re a fan of the Ninja Turtles you can sit back and relax and enjoy the movie, I did. 4 out of 5 Stars.

I’m a big fan of the Ninja Turtles. It all started when I was a kid watching the cartoon in the 80’s, then the movies came out which were awesome to me at the time (now I watch them and see how horrible it was), I dressed up as Leonardo for Halloween, and collected action figures (my mom lost them and I’m still mad). It was my first love and still enjoy it today. Unlike most people, I got excited that they were going to make another live action movie (even though producer Michael Bay gaffed at the turtles for being aliens, but I forgive him). I knew with the tools movies have now, they can make it awesome. At least for me, I wasn’t disappointed. I will start with the so so, to what I liked, to what I didn’t like.

The so so, the storyline was a little weak and cliched. Especially the third act where the villains plan to release a virus in a top of a tower, so they can be heroes in giving them the cure. That’s almost the same evil plot by The Lizard in The Amazing Spider-Man. With that said, I liked the origin story angle for the turtles. It was a little different from the original origin story where instead of the turtles accidentally touched some ooze from outer space, they went with a human lab experiment where they create an ooze and experiment it on the turtles. It was different but they made it work. At least they didn’t go with them as aliens, cuz that would be stupid. (I love it how Michael Bay makes fun of himself in a quote from a movie.) The beautiful Megan Fox playing April O’Neil, a news reporter that is trying to catch her big break, was decent enough for the role. Fox is known as a subpar actress, but she did the best she could do and I give her credit for that. Also I thought the Ninja Turtle van was pretty cool, but looked small for the huge Ninja Turtles.

What I liked, one of things that really worried me about this movie was if this will be a CGI’d mess. I can honestly say that it wasn’t. I believed it had a good balance of reality and CGI. I also liked how this movie paid homage to the original Ninja Turtles movie, for example when Leonardo was serving the pizza with his swords and one slice fell on Master Splinter’s head. I actually liked the way they created the Ninja Turtles, some say it is freakishly realistic, but I thought they look cool and appropriate for a live action movie involving turtles. I thought the character development for the turtles was pretty on point, and they executed great on the turtles personality as we grew up and love. Leonardo, voiced by Johnny Knoxville, as the leader of the turtles that will always do what is right even if it is not the popular decision. Raphael, voiced by Alan Ritchson, as the tough turtle that is stubborn and doesn’t like taking orders and work alone. Donatello, voiced by Jeremy Howard, as the nerd genius and technology turtle. He may sounded a little too nerdy for my liking, but played the role well. Lastly we had my favorite, Michaelangelo, voiced by Noel Fisher, as the fun loving partying turtle and helped with the comic relief in the movie. (As a kid I always like Leonardo, but Michaelangelo has really grew on me as a personal favorite.) Even though his head was abnormally big, but Master Splinter, voiced by Danny Woodburn, was great as the father, teacher, and sensei of the turtles. You can tell that he is respected by the turtles. As for the villain, The Shredder, played by Tohoru Masamune, was a strong and tough villain that gave the turtles some problems. His suit reminds me a lot of the Super Shredder, so it will be interesting to see him in the sequels. The movie was hilarious as well, two of my favorite parts were when the turtles were high on adrenaline and were very hyper, and the elevator scene where the turtles were beat boxing, those two scenes got me laughing so hard. Will Arnett, as Vernon Fenwick provided a lot of comic relief as well, and I’m happy to see Whoopie Goldberg, as Bernadette Thompson, back in movies again.

What I didn’t like, first William Fichtner as Eric Sachs wasn’t necessary to me. He wasn’t even all that evil to me. Just a rich guy with a greed for power like we haven’t seen that before. Also that plot twist where he was actually evil wasn’t all that mind blowing, I knew it was coming. Lastly, I knew this movie was marketed to kids. As a matter of fact, there was a lot of kids in the movie with me. However, I thought this movie may be a little too violent and intense for some kids. The movie is PG-13 and rightfully so, but why market to kids who really needs to be 13 to watch. I don’t know, but something to think about.

Overall, I can understand why some people and critics would hate the movie. However, this movie wasn’t made for everybody. It was made for fans of Ninja Turtles. I’m a fan and that’s why I enjoyed it. Is it the greatest movie ever, definitely not, but it was good enough for me. Cowabunga!!! Final Rating 4 out of 5 Stars.