Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is blasphemy
Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is blasphemy. There are so many changes that it only slightly resembles the cartoon we all know and love.
Sigh…the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles most know and love are no more. They have been given a redesign that flies directly in the face of everything in the pizza devouring universe. This is not the Turtles. This is something else.
Most negative commentary has revolved around some pretty obvious issues. The art and animation is drastically different. Simple art changes, however, were apparently not enough. So much has changed from canon that this new series may as well be called Rise of the Adolescent Dissimilar Martial Artist Testudines. Not quite the same ring to it.
The animation is unpleasant.
Look, I get it. It’s much cheaper to make 2D animation than it is to make 3D animation. There is a line, however, that gets crossed making this difficult to watch. The frame-skipping is atrocious. There are moments when it’s so choppy that you have to wonder if it’s not just a stylistic decision, but instead sections of lost animation. Splicing non-adjacent frames together produces some difficult to watch product. It’s like sitting front row at an IMAX when there is a fast-paced action movie – let’s use The Dark Knight as an example – flashing nearly indecipherable moves in your face. Content is missed. If this is the animation choice, they might as well throw in a frame of Tyler Durden while we’re at it.
The character redesigns stink.
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This is the biggest gripe many Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fans have. The design just stinks, like a sewer. It’s one thing to reboot a series. It’s an entirely other issue when so many liberties are taken with well-established canon.
In general, the sharp edges are highly distracting. The non-fluid lines give off the appearance of some cubist influence, but it’s way to inconsistent. Furthermore, the googly eyes look so out of place that it’s absolutely distracting (Donatello is wall-eyed?). And let’s not even talk about Raph and Mikey having the “odd, missing, sharp teeth”-thing. And for some reason, Splinter looks like the late, great Victor Wong.
More issues with the redesign are clear. There is one scene at 1:02 of the following video where Leonardo’s katana is wider than his body. And Donny’s head is ridiculously long in several scenes. So much so that it becomes the main thing to stare at if the animation weren’t flashing as it does.
Not to mention the inconsistency at 2:28 where Raph lets go of the wire first but somehow defies the laws of physics and lands in the pool last. Maybe it’s because he’s bigger (eye roll). It just looks sloppy overall. Speaking of things the wrong size…
The Turtles’ size dissimilarity is striking. It’s absurd. They used to all be modeled after red-eared sliders, but family apparently doesn’t matter anymore. Mikey looks far too feminine and dainty compared to the others. And then there’s Raphael.
Raphael has always been known as the larger and rougher turtle, but making him nearly twice the size and on steroids is too much. Speaking of Raphael, there is something else wrong. Where are the sais?
The personality switch is a horrible move.
Repeat after me: Leonardo is the leader. Making Leonardo the jester of the group is just wrong on so many levels. The look of everything is bad enough, but now the actual content is getting a redesign? Furthermore, it appears Leonardo and Raphael has almost switched bodies. How trite. This switch will go down in the body switch pantheon somewhere south of Rob Schneider’s atrocity The Hot Chick.
Let’s talk about the elephant in the room.
April O’Neil is white. Other than a brief moment, she has always been white. This is not up for debate. Educate yourself if you still disagree. Making her black serves no real purpose. It’s for diversity you say? Pssh.
First of all, the Turtles are unique because they are already outcasts. They are literally talking turtles (i.e. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles). This show is about the turtles, not the humans. Race is not something that needs to be put in the forefront.
Additionally, this is one of the more diverse cartoons in history. Given the whole ninja aspect of things, there are a ton of Asians. Yoshi, Shredder, and Karai are the main three. Oh, and Tatsu. Oops, forgot about Oyuki Mashimi. Then again, there’s Tang Shen, Yoshi’s wife. The list goes on and on.
If that’s not enough, there’s Baxter, Carter, Angel, and several others. If a black character was the intent, then Kenya Leavitt would have been the perfect choice.
Next: Skyscraper: Action that stays true to intent
On the positive note, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles can’t be worse than the Michael Bay version. What do you think? Do you agree that too much has been changed? Leave a comment with your thoughts on the future of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise.