April O' Neil: Judith Hoag
Casey Jones: Elias Koteas
Shredder: James Saito
Tatsu: Toshishiro Obata
Danny: Michael Turney
Voices For Animatronics:
Leonardo: Brian Tochi
Raphael: Josh Pais
Michaelangelo: Rubbie Rist
Donatello: Corey Feldman
Splinter: Kevin Clash
I have to tell you this before we start.
It should be known that I was
probably the deepest possible in Turtle Mania that swept the country
from the mid 80s to 1992. I was into it from an early age, when it was
cool to be into the Turtles. I was considered too old by the time the
third movie came out so I had to stop there. But while I was in, I was
really into it. I had every toy, nearly every comic, watched the cartoon
on a regular basis. And the movies. I saw the entire trilogy with
absolutely no apathy. I didn't care about the plots. The Teenage Mutant
Ninja Turtles were the coolest bunch of.... turtles around. In fact I
remember every time I saw those movies but strangely enough I can't
remember actually what I thought of the films. Like I said, I didn't
care back then.
With the advent of DVD, fans can go back and see their favorite movies
of yesteryear the way they were meant to be (i.e. widescreen) and
examine them. You know what? This movie is just how I remember it. In
fact it's even better now, being able to pick up the plot more and all.
It's still a great fun movie which has stood the test of time and still
acts as the best of the live-action trilogy.
The movie is live-action. My voices list might throw you off but those
were for the animatronics. Jim Henson Studios made pupper/ suits to be
the ninja turtles and it came off EXTREMELY well. The actors inside can
move with fludity and have to fight in many scenes. The mouths were
moved by puppeteers, then the voices were dubbed at a later time. In
fact, watch the trailer inclued to hear the funny fill ins.
The first film has it's roots from the indepenent black and white comic
that started the craze. The comic was dark and gritty but still had a
cool level of humor to it. This film is more in vein to those as the
rest of the trilogy is more cartoony.
The story is simple. A band of thieves - the Foot Clan - are sweeping the
streets, using teenagers to do their dirty work and dressing as ninjas.
At the center of this web is the evil Master Shredder. Despite the name,
he's a very cool villian. He becomes interested in reports of fighters
who use the same techniques he was taught. Little does he know they're
mutant ninja turtles.
Four human sized turtles live in the sewers below New York City. They
were bandanas to seperate them and carry different weapons. Leonardo
wears blue and carries swords, Raphael wears red and carries sais,
Michaelangelo wars orange and carries nunchucks, and Donatello wears
purple and carries a staff. On top of that, they are smart as a whip and
very comical. They take things seriously but never hesitate to throw in
an anecdote or two. They live with a father figure, get ready, who
happens to be a human-sized rat named Splinter. Cool, huh? They were all
mutated into their present state from a canister of mutagen (which is
explored more in the sequel).
When the Turtles help reporter, April O'Neil they become tied to her as
the Foot Clan tries to silence her. They kidnap Splinter and the Turtles
have to find him and stop Shredder plus the foot clan. What ensues is
smart dialouge (believe it or not), cool characters, and great fight
scenes. Not to mention the end which is a reference to the beat 'em up
style arcade games they starred in.
I used to look at this movie as the more darker of the three. More
violent as well but with kiddie elements thrown in to keep it from
becoming drama like. It still works so well after 12 years that I can't
believe they ever went out of style. There's talk of a comeback planned
for next year with a new cartoon and a CGI movie directed by John Woo.
The kids of today deserve the Turtles more than this Yu-Gi-Oh crap and
the fading yet still popular Pokemon. Don't you miss the days when
senseless fighting was regarded as kid friendly?
Into the disc. This was one of New Line's first discs but unlike Mortal
Kombat, this one is anamorphic. Presented in 1.85:1 widescreen (a 4:3
version is included on the flip side) this never looked better. It's not
great like the recently released sequels (read the reviews of those
soon) but still better than VHS. The colors look great and no
pixelization is evident. Blacks are solid and deep. However, There is a
lot of grain apparent in darker areas but nothing too bothersome. Still
though, this is one of New Line's early transfers and a decent one as
well.
The sound is presented in English 5.1 or French Mono. I obviously
listened to the English track and found that it is suprisingly aggressive.
The fight scenes are loud and impacting. While the dialogue sounds great
interlaced with the action.
Being one of New Line's budget titles, the extras are nil. A theatrical
trailer is included along with trailers for The Adventures of Pinnochio
(shudder), Monkey Trouble (double shudder), and Theodore Rex (massive
shudder). Turtle Biographies are presented and are kind of cool. Files
for the main turtles, Splinter, and Shredder are done with some humore
and fun to look at. Lastly, we are treated to a great (note the sarcasm)
Sewer Maze game that is the same screen over and over minus minimal
changes. Overall, disapointing but hey at least it's on DVD.
Overall, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles still rolls in the fun memories
and delivers the goods. A nice price (despite the list price I've seen
it for $9.99 at most places) and a good transfer make this is a sure
fire buy for fans and non fans alike. Check out the reviews of the newly-released
sequels.
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
