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

(Writer’s Note: Hadn’t been up to date with my reviews due to the death of my grandmother, RIP Abuelita Carmen Gonzalez, so this review is dedicated to her, and for all my readers, you will have a lot of reviews in the following week.)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows improved story and continues to have cool action, however, character development was lacking, but I still had fun watching it!!!

Rating 4 Stars

So here is the sequel to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) where people either loved or hated the first movie. I personally gave the movie the benefit of the doubt, and enjoyed watching it (which I took some heat for). Maybe it is the fanboy that likes this movie. As far as this sequel goes, I really thought it was going to be worse like most sequels, especially when they were adding many different characters in this film. Sometimes when you expect the worst, it makes the movie better than what you imagined.

What I Like: The story was a lot better. Yes, it may be cliché and remind you of The Avengers movie, but if you’re a fan like me, you know this story pulls from TMNT canon. What I really enjoyed is the chemistry between all turtles. They may all have different ideologies pursuing their own lives as ninja turtles, but they learn to come together and be a team of brothers to take on the enemy. It actually serves as a thought provoking lesson. Master Splinter, voiced by Tony Shalhoub, may have been in this movie very briefly, but when he is there, he speaks some wise words to his turtles that can inspire us. As expected the action was great. It was heavily CGI, but what do you expect for a TMNT movie, especially when they introduced Krang in this film (more on him later). One of my favorite moments is the beginning where the turtles dropped from the Chrysler Building to Madison Square Garden to watch the New York Knicks game. It sets up a funny cameo of NBA player Deandre Jordan slipping on a slice of pizza that they dropped. Its funny moments like this that makes this movie enjoyable, and good for the kids to watch.

The So So: A lot of these characters were underdeveloped. Like Baxter Stockman, played by Tyler Perry. They never really explained exactly why he works for The Shredder, played by Brian Tee. I liked how they focused on his nerdy side when dealing with his experiments, but you’re not sure how he’s benefitting by helping achieve The Shredder’s goals. They also introduced Casey Jones, played by Stephen Amell who was probably the best developed character as a cop trying to make something of himself. As cool as Casey was in this movie, Amell’s acting was cringe worthy and made the beautiful Megan Fox’s character as April O’Neil good to watch in comparison. Fox was just there to look good and give the turtles information. They also introduced Rocksteady and Bebop, played by Gary Anthony Williams and Sheamus. As mutants they were a force to be reckoned with, but they were dumb and juvenile. Yes it added to the comedy, but how can characters that dumb actually give the turtles some trouble. Lastly, you get a look at Krang, voiced by Brad Garrett. At first, I didn’t like his voice being so deep which is contrary to the cartoons as an alien brain with a high pitch voice. It took some time to get used to. What I did like is that he introduced many things that are important in the TMNT lore. Things like his robot body, the Technodrome, and Dimension X. It all sets up for a cool and a little nostalgic final battle between him and the turtles. It does set up for another sequel which I hope the story will be a lot better.

What I Didn’t Like: Will Arnett was back in this movie as Vern “The Falcon” Fenwick. I liked him in the first movie because he provided a lot of comic relief. However, in this movie I found him annoying. He pretty much took all the glory as the hero after the events of the first movie which was arranged by him and the turtles. I just hated how it all went through his head on how famous he is, and really his character was not needed in this film. He wasn’t even that funny this time around. It was completely unnecessary to have him.

Overall: This sequel is better story wise, but as far as action and characters go, it is the same. So pretty much if you liked the first one, you will like this movie. If you hated it, you will hate this one as well. Just remember that this movie is targeted for kids and fans of the original 80’s cartoons. Those are the people that will find this movie enjoyable like how I enjoyed it!!!

Rating: 4 Stars