DVD Review: TMNT

Long before Al Gore's global warming documentary, the world was going green. Only in the form of Turtle-mania, where the masked vigilantes with a background in aquatics and martial arts were sweeping the nation by storm. Starting out as a little known comic book, the characters have found their permanent place in modern pop culture. From animated TV shows, to live action films, even a few concert tours, all the way down to their popular line of action figures. And now, fourteen years since their last foray in to film, they're back!

Taking place several years after the previous live action films, we find our group of shelled crusaders disbanded. Leo has taken a sabbatical to South American where he has spent the past few years trying to learn what it means to be a leader; Raphael is roaming the streets under a new guise of "The Nightwatcher" and tries to keep the city as safe as one possibly could by their lonesome; While Michaelangelo and Donatello have taken up menial jobs as both a children's party entertainer and tech support analyst. The good ol' days of fighting off Foot Soldiers are nothing more than fond memories to them now.

The one thing about the movie that makes it a bit too hard to bare is the actual plot. Were we have Alex Winters, a billionaire businessman who, three thousand years ago was an exalted warrior that opened up a portal and unleashed thirteen monster on the world. That action then turned four of his generals to stone and made himself immortal. Now, realizing the errors of his ways, he has the opportunity to fix his wrong doings by recapturing all thirteen of the monsters with the help of the four generals -- who are now living statues -- and sending them back to where they came. When they figure out his plan, they turn on him. Now only the Turtles can save the day -- if they can manage to work together.

April O'Neil and Casey Jones are still around, and the film continues their relationship from the prior movies, only it's not handled as well as it could have been. They seem to be in a constant flux of "nearly breaking up" to happily together. It's certainly the films one weakness. And it's never fully explained why April quit her job as a news anchor in favor of becoming someone who now hunts down old statues in far off countries, either.

Mikey and Don have also been pushed to the wayside in this story, in favor of focusing on the mounting tension between Raph and Leo. And while some may be disappointed at this (I was always a big Donatello fan growing up), it's important to the story that these two finally reconcile their differences. After the first two movies, it was only a matter of time before the brothers would finally settle this long standing grudge, and it was wise of them to make that the main focus of this film. Still, here's hoping the others will get some of the spotlight if and when a sequel comes out.

The new incarnation does a wonderful job of paying homage to all of the thing we loved about the heroes in a half shell, while leaving all of the late 90's baggage behind. Although, it does tend to focus a bit heavily on the more modern Turtles that have made their way to TV in recent years. So there is certainly a little bit of everything here for both new and old fans to enjoy.

There are numerous send ups in the film to both the live action and animated incarnations, one that made me grin from ear to ear was a reproduction of the early teaser poster to the very first Turtles live action movie, the one with a turtle peeking through a slightly opened sewer cap. It's those little things that make the film fun, but it's the story that Kevin Munroe has crafted that will make this film live on, and be put in the same league as the previous films.

In a time when we're seeing countless franchises brought back with movies like Superman Returns and Batman Begins, I never imagined that this group of heroes would ever see another chance to appear on the silver screen. TMNT has reminded me why I fell in love with these characters when I was a kid, bringing back fond memories of playing with their plastic counterparts while I watched the animated TV show in my parents living room.

While many people were turned off by the notion of watching a Turtles movie without foam rubber suits and Corey Feldman, after watching TMNT I couldn't possibly think of a better medium to portray these characters than CGI. The actions scenes in the movie are some of the most entertaining things I've seen all year, director Kevin Munroe choreographs the fights to take full advantage of the animated world the turtles inhabit. While Ratatouille is being heralded as the best animated film of the year, TMNT is certainly the best comic book film of 2007.

The DVD

Video:
(Presented in 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen)
For something that is a direct digital-to-digital transfer, there sure seems to be quite a bit of haloing and edge enhancement throughout the entire movie. They aren't overly obtrusive, but people watching on larger screen will surely notice them. Some occasional aliasing/jagged lines also pop up in several scenes. Those few problems aside, the film looks absolutely beautiful. Colors pop off the screen and are reproduced nicely. The lighting and texture add so much depth and realism that it makes to film both enjoyable to watch while also allowing audiences to appreciate it a lot more as a piece of cinematic art.

Audio:
(English, French and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1)
The audio is one of the best features on the disc. Klaus Badelt's music here is simply perfect for the tone of the movie and when it come blasting out of the speakers you find yourself being pulled even further into the story. The action scenes give the subwoofer plenty of things to do, and when it rains in the movie the rear speakers provide a nice atmosphere to envelope the viewers.

Extras:
Audio Commentary - Writer/Director Kevin Munroe sits down alone for this one and remains relatively modest; giving everyone who worked on the film a pat on the back for all of their hard work. I just loved how he managed to talk about so much of the films history and production in such a short period of time. This was 80 minutes of a guy talking passionately about what it was like to make a movie and going in to full detail on the troubles/happy accidents. Very entertaining.

Alternate Opening (3:02) - Seems like it tries to bridge the gap between the three live action movie and this new incarnation. It's told in a very unique way of sketches, drawing, and photographs edited in a very classy way. While it certainly evokes more of an emotional reaction, the entire scene was written back when the film had a much different story structure. But it's still nice to see what could have been. A commentary track is included with Munroe and is the only audio option, and can't be turned off. This is a common problem with almost all of the bonus material.

Alternate Ending (1:16) - Shows a different end were Casey proposes to April on the motorcycle that Raph gives him. This isn't nearly as interesting as the final ending that was used because it brings the story to a halt and then tries to build up steam again. Munroe talks about why he liked the idea, but still shares how he liked the general idea of the scene.

Mikey's Birthday Party Full Sequence (3:16) - This is seemingly meant to be a big reveal at first, but with Munroe's commentary talking over the entire scene, it takes away any enjoyment viewers could have found from watching it. Which is a shame because simply watching the animation shows a very interesting scene that would have been nice to see without interruption.

Raphael's Rough House Fight Test (1:41) - Here we get a previs that was made so the animators could see how far they could take the fight between Leo and Raph. Munroe says the footage was created in early 2005 and served as a starting point and has clearly evolved over time. The scene shows a much darker tone to the fight.

Monsters Come Alive (2:50) - Your simple garden variety storyboard comparison, with a commentary that can't be turned off.

Donny's Digital Date Files (1:56) - Is one of the shortest EPK pieces I've seen in years. They go over the difficulty of finding the balance for the properties and textures of the turtles skin, the way they approached the human characters and how much work was required on Splinter. They breeze through one of the most fascinating parts of the entire movie, and that's a shame.

Roof Top Workout (5:34) - Is a deleted scene that never went past the pre-vis stage. Munroe is once again on a commentary that can't be turned off, talking over the entire thing. The scene is about Raph and Leo in a bit of a tussle, it's a very confusing scene and probably wouldn't have been made much clearer by being finished. While it would have been nice to see another seed planted for their ultimate fight, this just seemed silly.

Still Wanna Fight?! (3:09) - An alternate scene where we get a better look at where Casey and April's relationship has gone. The scene better explains the Casey character and how he misses the old days of beating up street thugs. It winds up ending on the roof top where he discovers that Raph is the Nightwatcher, only in this version Casey isn't quite so quick at putting the pieces together in terms of outing Raph.

Additional Scene: Splinter Gets Cake (2:09) - The first half of this is the same scene of mikey coming home from the kids party, only for some reason they chose to use unfinished greyscale footage instead of replacing it with the final footage. Anyway, from there we see Splinter enter the room, brooding, but quickly lightening things up by asking if Mike brought him home a piece of cake. Don takes it away but Mike hands him another piece behind his back. It looked funny but, sadly, the footage is once again ruined by having a commentary track that can't be shut off.

TMNT: Internet Reel (3:52) - What we get here is basically an elongated trailer, too bad they couldn't include the films wonderful teaser trailer instead.

TMNT: Voice Talent First Look (5:04) - For something that's named for the vocal talent, this feature hardly ever talks about the voice actors in its short runtime. In fact, the only voice actors who are interviewed here are Sarah Michelle Geller and Patrick Stewart, the voices of two background character. The majority of this has the director and producers talking about the project, and barely even cover the vocal work, outside of a quick joke about coming in to work with sweat pants and no make-up.

Final Thoughts:
While it's certainly one of the most entertaining Ninja Turtles movies, the DVD remains a bit lackluster. Even with a highly entertaining commentary track for the feature film, it hardly makes up for the poor assortment of special features. And the irremovable commentary tracks on said special features aren't even remotely as entertaining as the full length version. Turtle fans will want to pick this one up, but for everyone else this is best left as a rental.

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