On the Big Board |
Position |
Staff |
In Brief |
36/48 |
Kim Hollis |
Better than I was expecting. I'd watch it again. |
They're heroes on the half shell! Turtle Power!
Those are words that are familiar to anyone who was faithful to the animated cartoon series that began airing in 1987. The show ran for 11 seasons and was based on a comic book that made its debut in 1984. In 1990, the fighting turtle teens made their big screen debut. That 1990 film spawned a couple of sequels and eventually put the radical team into the territory of overkill. In the past few years, though, the turtles have seen a resurgence in popularity, leading to the production of yet another big budget movie release that goes under the simple moniker of TMNT.
Where the earlier movies incorporated puppetry from the Jim Henson Puppet Shop to bring the turtles to life, this 2007 release will be far more cutting edge as director/screenwriter Kevin Munroe will utilize CGI animation to give the boys an entirely new look.
The story will start smack dab in the middle of the turtle timeline and assume that viewers have a passing familiarity with their history. The Turtles - Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo - have at long last defeated their constant arch nemesis, The Shredder. With no nefarious enemy constantly demanding their attention, the boys have grown apart both as a superhero fighting team and as a family. However, their sensei, the rat Master Splinter, soon becomes aware of an evil plan by technological industrialist Max Winters, who is gathering a massive army of ancient monsters in an attempt to take over the world. The turtles will join with their old allies April O'Neil and Casey Jones as they fight Winters, who might just be employing the assistance of some old enemies in his scheme.
The voice cast for the film is quite solid, and includes Patrick Stewart, Chris Evans, Kevin Smith, Sarah Michelle Gellar (we'll forget Happily N'Ever After for the moment) and Ziyi Zhang. Fans of the old animated series, the films and the comic books all have a little something to look forward to - and we're hoping not to be disappointed! (Kim Hollis/BOP)
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