Being one of the last movies to be released during the Hollywood Writers’ Strike, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is the fourth highest-grossing animated movie of the year, and has satisfied most of its viewers. Today, I’m going to be showing a deeper look into the movie, and why it has been a hit among many audiences, young and old.

Basic Summary

So, basically what happens in this movie is the four main characters (Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo), who happen to be turtles that mutated (hence “mutant” and “turtles”), try to become heroes so they won’t be shunned by humans. They do this with the help of April, a journalist who wants to gain fame so she won’t be remembered only for her humiliating past. In order to do so, the turtles need to take down “Superfly,” another mutant who wants to get rid of all humans.

Main cast

Leonardo’s voice actor is Nicolas Cantu, known best for his roles in The Walking Dead: World Beyond (as Elton Ortiz) and The Amazing World of Gumball (as Gumball Watterson from season five episode 11 to season 6 episode 44).
Raphael’s voice actor is Brady Noon, known best for his roles in The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers (as Evan Morrow) and Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2021) (as Greg Heffley).
Donatello’s voice actor is Micah Abbey, known best for his role in (subject movie).
Michelangelo”s voice actor is Shamon Brown Jr., known best for his role in (subject movie).
April’s voice actor is Ayo Edebiri, known best for her roles in The Bear (as Sydney Adamu) and Spider-Man: Across the Spider Verse (as Glory Grant).

And now to actually review this gosh diddly darn movie

When I walked into the movie theater with my friend on a hot August day, I didn’t know much about what this movie would be like. I thought it would be another movie in the franchise where a bunch of scarily buff turtles go around New York looking for random villains to destroy. My guess, however, was far from the actual plot of the movie. What I instead witnessed was the story of four teenagers who just wanted to fit in with humans. Sure, they were still powerful and everything, but unlike their past selves I actually found these versions somewhat relatable. Like any other teenager, they were up to date on modern events, somewhat annoying (but in a good way), and they even share similar interests with modern teenagers (eg. anime, skateboarding, social media, etc).

The plot line was very engaging, although sometimes things seemed a bit… strange (I’m not bringing up those moments, you can’t make me). Despite that, though, the story line and characters were really well created. Personally, my favorite character was Donatello, and near the bottom of this article, you too will be able to share your input on who your favorite character was. (That is, if you’ve watched this movie.)

Overall, the quality of this movie was really great. The art style was intriguing, the characters were well crafted, and the plot altogether was just really interesting.

So how would I rate it?

Personally I think this movie deserves a solid 9.5/10. Sure, a few minor things could’ve been different, but the overall story makes up for that. I mean, it’s the fourth highest-grossing movie of the year for a reason, and that reason is because this movie is awesome.