Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows

I'll be honest, I was dreading the existence of this movie. After suffering through the last one, I vowed never again. Michael Bay (via producing, not directing) ruined one of my childhood favorite cartoons.

Then I heard that Bebop, Rocksteady, Krang and to a lesser extent, Baxter Stockman would be in this movie. I knew I was doomed. I was going to hate watch this film. Now keep in mind, I am well aware that I am part of the problem with movies like this getting made.

Anyways, back to the movie. Let me just put this out there. This is a terrible movie. It is terribly flawed. I understand they wanted to work in fan favorites, but the ham fisted way they do it is inexcusable. I so badly want to say how they get Bebop and Rocksteady to their mutant forms, but I don't want to ruin this for anyone that hasn't seen it yet. It's really stupid.

There's also a lot of over the top action set pieces. Splinter still looks terrible. Thankfully they limit his involvement in this movie. It was good to see Krang, but he was kind of annoying in this movie. I know I hated on Shredder in the last movie, but he is practically a non factor in this movie.

Now I know it sounds like I hated this movie, but I liked it in spite of itself. There is a greater sense of fun in this movie. You get to see all the Turtles bouncing off each other. Again, they get the characterization of the core group correct. Everyone has their defined roles. Megan Fox's April was less annoying. In fact, I didn't mind her in this movie. It's hard to see Stephen Amell as anything other than Oliver Queen. He did nothing to change that with this movie. He was a breath of fresh air though. Will Arnett got to chew some scenery as Vernon.

What surprised me the most though, was how much I loved Bebop and Rocksteady. For me, they made this movie. The chemistry of their friendship felt real. It's also refreshing to see that they never fought with each other. They were always on the same page. Surprisingly, that's rare to see with henchman characters. With that goofiness, they never really feel like threats, but were fun to watch. So yeah, this was just like the cartoon.

In the end, this movie had enough of the turtle lore. (Technodrome, Krang, Bebop and Rocksteady, Karai). I feel like they might have wasted everything in this movie, but we'll see.