Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

In cinemas now

It’s almost impossible to discuss Mutant Mayhem without making the obvious comparisons to the Spider-Verse movies, given that both animated movies focus on iconic comic book characters using a style that mixes 2D and 3D animation. However, I personally feel that, whilst it’s obvious that this movie wouldn’t exist were it not for the success of the Spider-Verse franchise, it almost feels reductive to compare the two, as Mutant Mayhem certainly stands up on its own.

First of all, the voice cast is stellar. In this iteration, the ‘teenage’ part of the group is emphasised by the fact that they are all actually voiced by teenagers. It’s also very evident that the cast recorded their lines together, because their chemistry is off the charts. On that note, this is just an incredibly funny movie, with the style of humour feeling both fresh and unique, and helping to set this version of the Turtles apart from previous iterations.

The aforementioned animation is absolutely superb. One of my favourite details about the animation is that the lens flares are all simply scribbles. There are other small details like that in the animation that really made it feel special. The movie also feels innately grimey, due to the designs of the environments and the fact that 99% of it takes place at night. The New York setting never feels polished or clean, which I felt was a fantastic choice. The animation also allows for some of the best action sequences I’ve ever seen in an animated movie.

Mutant Mayhem is in a league of it’s own. And it may not be perfect (I found that some emotional beats didn’t hit as much as they could have), but it still manages to be an incredibly enjoyable experience with an incredibly fresh tone and style that finally gives the Turtles a worthwhile big screen outing. I really hope they make several more of these.