Marking an event that was 25 years in the making, I really hoped that Turtles Forever would be able to aquedately honor the silver aniversary of TMNT. But man, they just went way above "adequate," and my already high expectations were just blown away.
I think easily the best part of this movie is that, even with all the craziness of three different TMNT incarnations clashing and teaming up to fight the Utrom Shreder, this movie still feels like it could fit perfectly with the established 2K3 universe, and perhaps the other two universes as well. Knowing that this special would be all about nostalga for many viewers, the writers could have just skimped on the plot and focused totally on making fun of the various Ninja Turtles incarnations. Instead, we got all of that and a suprisingly coherent and well-executed plot that manages to both be entertaining and in line with the 2K3 canon. Shredder's motivation makes sense even without the cut line Greg X quoted, and even with the ridiculous premise, the characters don't deviate much from their established personalities, if at all.
This is helped along by how well the artists replicated the 80's toon style and the black and while Mirage style so well - the latter in particular looks
exactly like the original comics animated, and the smoother, lighter style of the first cartoon is also represented nicely. Both the old and new designs look fantastic, the animation is as smooth as can be, and there's tons of explosions and more characters and objects on screen that ever before. The moment where the Technodrome blazed its way through 2K3 New York and decimated an entire army of tanks and fighter planes was particularly impressive, as was the fight agains the 80's Foot and the trashing of the 2K3 turtles' lair.
Of course, the prime reason for this special was to showcase the inevitable humor that would result from three versions of Ninja Turtles and villians working together and fighting, and the movie doesn't let down. From the opening moments to the final confrontation, viewers are assualted by a constant flow of jokes, ranging from 80's Raph's fourth wall breaking to Ralph and Mikey's disaproval of the Party Wagon and Turtle Blimp. 80's Shredder and Krang steal the show whenever they appear, and the remarks about their universe's nonsensical tech are great as well. However, although the humor definitely has an 80's toon focus, the 2K3 turtles also get poked fun at, primarily through the relentlessly dark Mirage Turtles - who even the second toon's Turtles can't beat when it comes to sheer coolness.
Really, there's so many awesome moments in this movie that it truly feels more than worth the wait. Although I wish both versions of April and Casey had gotten more of a spotlight, I still was immensely satisfied in practically every way. Turtles Forever really is the ultimate finale to 25 great years of TMNT, and the makers pulled all the stops to making it immensely entertaining. Hopefully we'll be getting a DVD release within the next couple of years, as I can only imagine how much more fun it will be without commercials.
Finally, here's a few minor details that particularly caught my eye, including a couple of minor continuty errors:
- When the 80's turtles realize they are surrounded by the police, you can see officers Eastman and Laird in the background, who appeared in some of the earliest episodes of the show
- During the U.S. Army's attack on the Techndrome, you can briefley hear and see what appears to be the general that lead a similar attack on the Utrom's T.C.R.I headquarters in season two.
- In one of the early scenes, 80's Shredder mentions that there are no results for "Krang" in the 2K3 universe. However, in the season Two episode "Secret Origins: Part 3," one of the Utrom's boarding the teleportal complains about walking on his tentacles and is subsequently refered to as "Krang" by another Utrom. Since this shout-out was a rather minor detail in the grand scope of the 2K3 series, it's understandable that the producers probably didn't remember it, but it's still worth noting.
- Finally, it was rather strange to hear 2K3 Shredder's voice coming out of Chr'ell's mouth, as it was established in season Two that his normal voice is far different from his Shredder voice. A minor quibble, but again, still worth a mention.
BTW, my signature has been totally blank up to this point, and what better way to fill it up then by adding my absolute favorite quote from Turtles Forever?
