TMNT (film)

TMNT (also known as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 4) is a 2007 film based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) franchise, although it posseses elements from the 2003 series. This is the fourth and final installment in the original  film series. The film sees the Turtles (Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo), grow apart after their defeat of The Shredder. Meanwhile, strange things are happening in New York City. An army of ancient creatures threatens to take over the world and the Turtles must unite again to save it.

It is the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film made with Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) by Imagi Animation Studios. The previous films in the series were all live-action. It is the first film in the franchise in 14 years. Chronologically, the plot of he film takes place after the original live-action films.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was released on March 23, 2007, in a number of Eastern Europe an and Asian countries, on March 23, 2007, in the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States, and April 5, 2007, in Australia as well as subsequently in numerous other countries. It was the #1 film in the U.S. on its opening weekend, bringing in $25.45 million. It was a commercial success, grossing $95 million worldwide, but received largely negative reviews from film critics. Its tie-in products included toys, comics and video games. It made its television debut on Cartoon Network on November 1, 2009. The film features the four Turtles (Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo) as well as Splinter, Casey Jones and April O'Neil. The main villains are Max Winters, the Stone Generals, Karai, and the Foot Clan.

Written and directed by Kevin Munroe, voices are provided by James Arnold Taylor, Nolan North, Chris Evans, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Kevin Smith, Patrick Stewart, Zhang Ziyi, and Laurence Fishburne, (who provides narration). It was the last film that Mako Iwamats made before his death and was co-produced by the franchise's co-creator Peter Laird for Warner Bros. Pictures.

Plot
After defeating the Shredder, the Turtles have grown apart. Leonardo has gone to Central America to train for a year, Raphael continues fighting crime secretly as the vigilante known as the Nightwatcher (though Casey Jones is the only person to easily figure out Raph's secret identity), Michelangelo attends children's birthday parties as "Cowabunga Carl", and Donatello works as tech support over the phone. As he struggles to keep his family together, Splinter realizes that something strange is happening in New York City.

Industrialist Max Winters is really an immortal warlord named Yaolt who tried to conquer the world 3000 years ago by opening a portal containing an army of monsters. He became immortal, but at a price; his brotherhood was turned to stone and thirteen monsters ravaged their army and their enemies at the same time. It seems that he's going to try again when he awakens his siblings, the four Stone Generals that April O'Neil unwittingly took to him. Also, Winters has enlisted the help of Karai, the new leader of the Foot Clan, wanting them to be his eyes and ears around the city, stating that he has some "friends" coming that he would like them to greet and bring to him. With the help of the Stone Generals, the Foot Clan roams the city searching for the thirteen monsters that Winters is looking for.

Leonardo returns to New York City and reestablishes himself as the leader of the group. This leads to some tension between him and Raphael, who feels like Leo abandoned them. This tension comes to a head later in the film, when the two duel after Leo finds out that Raph is the Nightwatcher, the vigilante he was planning on stopping. Raphael comes out the winner, with Leo pinned to the ground and Leo's swords broken with Raph's sais. Fearing what he's become, Raph runs away. Suddenly, Leo is hit with a dart and kidnapped by the Stone Generals. Hearing Leo yell, Raph runs back to help, but he's too late.

Much like Leo did when he returned, Raph goes to Splinter for advice. Raph admits to his master he sees why Leo is the leader rather than him. Splinter tells Raph that he may not be the greatest student, but that doesn't make him any less of a son. He goes on to say that Raphael, like Leonardo, is a great warrior, but a leader must have other qualities like patience and humility. Splinter decides that the time to hide is over, and the Turtles must rescue Leonardo and stop Winters. Splinter goes to help as well as April and Casey Jones. They break they're way through the Foot ninja guarding the stronghold and rescue Leonardo. Raphael gives Leonardo a pair of new swords, asks Leo to lead them, and says the team needs him. Leonardo responds by saying he needs Raphael as well. With that, the team is restored.

Though April, Casey, Splinter and the Turtles believe that Winters is a villain, they later discover his true intentions to send the thirteen monsters back from whence they came to redeem himself and his siblings of the atrocities they've done to the world. Technically after capturing the first twelve monsters earlier, General Aquila learns of this and rally the other Generals to mutiny against Winters, intending to not only preserve their wish for immortality but also use the portal to bring out a new army of monsters so that they can finish their conquest of the world. The Stone Generals demanded that the Foot swear allegiance to them, but Karai states that they are honor-bound to work for Winters. With that in mind, Karai and the Foot work with April and Casey to find the thirteenth monster. Back in the stronghold, the Turtles fight against the Generals while Splinter and Winters throw back any new monsters that come through the portal. Ultimately, the thirteenth monster is returned through the portal, along with the Generals.

Once the battle is over, Karai and the Foot part ways with the Turtles, saying they'll return for revenge. Karai also says that in the near future, they will see a familiar face from their past. With that, the Foot disappear in a puff of smoke. Winters thanks the group for their help and disintegrates into dust, leaving his helmet.

Back in the sewer lair, Splinter puts Winters' helmet on a shelf along with the Shredder's helmet in honor of Winters' redemption. Raphael asks, "Is there room for one more?" and places the Nightwatcher's helmet on the shelf as well. Michelangelo asks if he can put his Cowabunga Carl mask there too.

The film ends with the Turtles jumping across the rooftops, helping each other get across, for example, Mikey lets Don jump on his shell to get to the next rooftop. In a voice over, Raphael says, "We live together, we train together, we fight together, we stand for good, together. We are ninjas. We strike hard, defend, protect and fade into the night. And there ain't no bad guy or monster gonna ever change that. That's what's important. That's why we'll always be...brothers. Oh, I love bein' a turtle!"

Cast
Additional Voices provided by Dee Bradley Baker, Greg Baldwin, Jeff Bennett, Jim Cummings, Grey DeLisle, Chris Edgerly, Kim Mai Guest, Tom Kenny, Tress MacNeille, Jennifer Hale, Jess Harnell, Rob Paulsen, Phil LaMarr, Paul Michael Robinson, Tara Strong, and Billy West.

Production
The first of three films released in the TMNT franchise by New Line Cinema in the early 1990s was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Subsequently, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze was released in 1991, and finally Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III in 1993. A CGI TMNT movie was first announced in 2000, with John Woo supposedly at the helm. That movie languished in development hell, and Woo ultimately moved on to other projects. TMNT, executive produced by Peter Laird, Gary Richardson, and Frederick U. Fierst, departs from the previous films' live action style, and is the first TMNT film to be CGI. Writer/Director Kevin Munroe, who had previously worked with video games, comics, and television animation said that he wanted to do total CGI instead of live action and CGI turtles because it would be easier for the audience to "suspend disbelief for such an offbeat story" as there would be no break in the reality between CGI and live action. Producer Tom Gray explained that the decision to depart from the live action franchise was due to escalating budgets for the three films, and with each film making less than its predecessor, a CGI film became a reality. For example the first film made $135.2 million on a budget of $13.5 million, and the third made $44 million on a budget of $21 million. Golden Harvest's rights expired, and Gray, at an animation company, said the question arose there over a CGI TMNT film in 2004. Munroe stated in terms of the story line that ideas were floated as extreme as the Turtles being in space, but eventually it just came back to New York City, and the theme of the family that had fallen apart. When developing the screenplay, Munroe wanted to take on a less lighthearted tone or "less Cowabunga" and place an emphasis on dark elements as shown in the original comics to appeal to the mature audience. "I had a very specific tone because mixing that sort of action and comedy is a very specific thing. Most people were just coming and wanting to make it too funny. I think that version of the movie could do really well, but we wanted to do something where it sort of pushes the envelope a little bit more and says that animation is more than just comedic animals bumping into each other and farting!" Munroe said that in design and in the rendering of the animation, he was after the feel of a comic book. Development and pre-production for TMNTbegan in June 2005 at Imagi's Los Angeles facility and then the state-of-the-art CG animation were produced in Hong Kong, followed by post-production in Hollywood. In designing the New York backdrop, art director/concept artist Simon Murton stylized the familiar Manhattan skyline and urban landscapes to make them appear uniquely "TMNT". "We began with cinematic cues from certain black-and-white films from the 1940s and '50s," notes Murton. "I really wanted to push the lighting and the environments to create the look and feel of an alternate reality." The animators that worked on the fight sequences were inspired by Hong Kong action films. Animation director Kim Ooi explains since it was in CG, they were able to "push and stylize beyond the limits of live action". Imagi used Maya with Pixar’s RenderMan for the production pipeline’s back-end.

The cast is new compared to the older films. Jim Cummings and Frank Welker (who voiced Tokka and Rahzar in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze) are the only past TMNT actors to appear in this film. Cummings has previously contributed voice-work in the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series. TMNT was Mako Iwamatsu's last film prior to his death. Mako was announced as the voice of Splinter at the San Diego Comic-Con on July 20, 2006. He then died the next day. A dedication to Mako appears at the end of the film's credits. This is the second TMNT film to include a dedication, the other being Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze, which was dedicated to Jim Henson.

Promotion
The first teaser-poster featured the logo of the 2003 TV series, which was eventually abandoned and then recovered in 2004. In addition to the main poster, there were several others including individual ones for each turtle. At the 2006 Comic-Con, the TMNT panel screened an exclusive preview that contained a Splinter voice-over with shots of monsters, jungles, Foot Ninjas, facial tests, concept designs, muscle tests, dynamic fight tests, and some comedic scenes. Also, a sneak peek booklet containing storyboards, environment designs, and character designs by comic artist Jeff Matsuda was distributed. The teaser-trailer was released in July 2006. It starts out with the camera moving above the buildings on a dark night. When it finally stops moving, the Turtles open their eyes and all that can be seen is the whites of their eyes against the dark background. Then, the Turtles start maneuvering across the tops of the buildings, finally jumping down and landing in a dark alleyway. As each one lands, they perform kata with their respective weapon. After Leonardo finishes with his kata, Michelangelo can be seen falling into a dumpster. As Donatello opens the dumpster, Michelangelo says "I'm okay." A police siren is heard and then the car pulls up. The officer shines his light down the alley, but the Turtles have already disappeared. The camera pans down the alley to show a manhole cover being slid back into place, with the name "TMNT" on it. The movie's full trailer was attached on December 15 to the films Eragon and Unaccompanied Minors. It is currently available on Apple Trailers, MTV.com, and Yahoo! Movies. It also debuted on the G4 show Attack of the Show!. On February 26, two television spots debuted and began airing. Later, two more TV spots, geared specifically toward the young children demographic aired on 4Kids TV, the channel that broadcast the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003 TV series. In February 2007, Warner Bros. began an online campaign by creating a MySpace page for each of the Turtles. Within a week before the release date, several clips were unveiled through various websites. The McDonald's fast-food chain promoted TMNT, having eight toys to collect with the purchase of a Happy Meal. There is a novelization based on the film.

The film was originally set for release domestically (USA and Canada) on March 30, 2007, which would have been the seventeenth anniversary of the release of the first film. The March 30 date was advertised in the teaser trailer and early posters, but the release was moved up to March 23, 2007.

Video game

 * TMNT is the video game version of the 2007 CGI movie. It was released three days before the actual movie's release. Ubisoft secured the rights and released the games on March 20. Ubisoft won the rights from Konami, who had produced all the previous games. The game is available for PlayStation 2, PSP, PC, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, GameCube, Wii, and Xbox 360 game systems. Reviews for the games ranged from horrible to mediocre to exemplary, due to the vastly different games produced. The home console games were identical, and given bad to mediocre ratings; the PSP and Nintendo DS games were identical to each other but not the home console versions, and were given abysmal ratings; and the Game Boy Advance version was entirely separate, but received good ratings in contrast to the other versions. It was lauded for its excellent use of the side-scrolling beat-'em-up style, which evoked nostalgia for older games in the series such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time. There is no multi-player mode in the GBA version. "The TMNT movie is all about the emotions associated with family and teenage angst," said Nick Harper, the game's creative director. "We've taken that philosophy and turned it into gameplay mechanics that will be fun and challenging. The game features collaborative team-ups between the Turtles. The game also features single-player campaigns for the brothers.
 * TMNT: Power Of Four is the mobile game version of the 2007 CGI movie. It is produced by uclick and developed by Overloaded.

Soundtrack

 * 1) Gym Class Heroes - "Shell Shock"
 * 2) Jet - "Rip It Up"
 * 3) Cute Is What We Aim For - "There's A Class For This"
 * 4) Cobra Starship - "Awww Dip"
 * 5) Meg and Dia - "Roses"
 * 6) Pepper - "Bring Me Along"
 * 7) Amber Pacific - "Fall Back Into My Life"
 * 8) Billy Talent - "Red Flag"
 * 9) This Providence - "Walking on Water
 * 10) Ever We Fall - "Youth Like Tigers"
 * 11) P.O.D. - "Lights Out (Chris Vrenna Remix)"
 * 12) Big City Rock - "Black Betty"
 * 13) Klaus Badelt - "I Love Being A Turtle (Score)"
 * 14) Klaus Badelt - "Nightwatcher (Score)"

Reception
The film received good reception from critics and performed well at the box office making almost three times the production cost.

TMNT ranked number one at the box office on its opening weekend, beating out 300 (the top film of the previous two weeks), The Last Mimzy, Shooter, Pride, The Hills Have Eyes 2, and Reign Over Me. Weekend estimates showed that the film made $25.45 million over the weekend of March 23–25, 2007. The film grossed over $95 million worldwide during its 91 day run in theaters.&#91;20&#93;

Critical response
SuperHeroHype.com posted a review for TMNT with an overall score of 7/10, stating the film had a good balance of dark aspects and kid-friendliness. IGN.com also gave it 7/10, calling it "by far, the best Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie yet." The film received an 8/10 from reviewers on JoBlo.com, CHUD, and Moviesonline. Despite minor problems with the overall design of the human characters, they praise the film for its unique animation style and top notch voice acting. Comic and animation related websites like Newsarama, Comic Book Resources, and Toon Zone were also favorable in their reviews.

Mainstream critics were less impressed with the film, resulting in mixed to negative reviews. Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a score of 33% based on 113 reviews, with selected top critics giving it an even lower score of 18% based on 22 reviews. Critics generally pointed to lack of originality as the film's main flaw. Richard Roeper expressed this in his review, saying, "I guess if you read the comic strip and you played the video games and you watched the TV show and dug the earlier movies, you’ll dig this new version. For me, I didn’t do any of that stuff." In contrast, users of RottenTomatoes.com rated the movie with a "Fresh" score of 63% as of June 15, 2010.

Box office
TMNT ranked number one at the box office on its opening weekend, beating out 300 (the top film of the previous two weeks), The Last Mimzy, Shooter, Pride, The Hills Have Eyes 2, and Reign Over Me. Weekend estimates showed that the film made $25.45 million over the weekend of March 23–25, 2007. The film grossed over $95 million worldwide during its 91 day run in theaters.

Home media
TMNT was released on August 7, 2007, for DVD, HD DVD, and Blu-ray Disc.

The DVD contains the following bonus features:
 * Commentary by Writer/Director Kevin Munroe
 * Alternate Opening and Alternate Ending
 * Deleted Scene
 * Side-by-Side Comparison of Storyboard and CG
 * Interviews with Voice Talent

In 2009, a tetralogy with all four TMNT films was released to celebrate the 25th anniversary. It is also available on Blu-ray.

Trivia

 * The end of the film holds an homage to the other films, as well as the Mirage comics. The "shrine" in Splinter's room holds the TCRI canister, Shredder's helmet and staff, a Foot Ninja's mask, the Time Scepter, Walker's hat, pieces of armor that the Turtles wore, and finally Lord Norinaga's helmet, Mouser parts, and a Triceraton space helmet.
 * This movie was released in the month of March, just like every TMNT film before it.
 * The whole script for the movie can be downloaded in a PDF from NinjaTurtles.com here.
 * This is the second TMNT film to include a dedication, the other being Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze, which was dedicated to Jim Henson.
 * During Raphael's finishing lines, the phrase "We strike hard and fade away into the night" was used. That was also the ending line in the first TMNT comic. Also, the very last line, "I love bein' a turtle!" has been said in the live-action movies.
 * In several parts in the movie, it has been shown that Raphael is left-handed. During the "Breakfast scene", Raphael is fully seen eating his cereal with his left hand.
 * While Leonardo, Raphael and Donatello all have brown eyes Michelangelo has blue eyes. According to the film's director, this was done to make Michelangelo seem a bit more innocent and younger than the other turtles.
 * It should be noted that Leonardo, Raphael, and Donatello all have a different shade of brown eyes. Leonardo has an golden-amber color, Raphael has a dark hazelnut color, and Donatello has a chocolate brown color.
 * The first entirely animated Ninja Turtles movie.
 * According to Kevin Munroe, he has stated that they are in the 18–19 years old range.
 * In this movie, from oldest to youngest, it goes Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, then Michelangelo.
 * This was Mako's last film. He was announced as the voice of Splinter at San Diego Comic Con the day before he died. Fortunately, he had finished the majority of his acting. This film is dedicated to him.
 * Some of the 13 monsters are based on actual 'monsters' from popular myth - the first one that appears in the unfinished building is based on the Yeti, the next one to be captured is obviously the Cyclops, the one that eats a pigeon on a building is clearly modeled on gargoyles, and the one in the diner brings to mind the Jersey Devil.

Quotes

 * [Casey quickly looks around, and picks up the alarm clock and starts bashing it on the coffee table.]
 * Casey Jones: It-it's broken.


 * Raphael: Spoken like a true has-been.
 * Donatello: Well, look who woke up. I suppose you think Nightwatcher is some kind of hero.
 * Raphael: Beats sitting around doing nothing while dirtbags run free.


 * Casey Jones: You think you own these rooftops? I happen to think you could use my help. And I could use a sidekick. You may have everyone else fooled, but you haven't fooled me, Raph.
 * "Nightwatcher": Yeah, well guess what... Hey, wait a minute...
 * ["Nightwatcher" removes his helmet, revealing Raphael in the costume.]
 * Raphael: How'd you know it was me?
 * Casey Jones: It wasn't that hard, man. You look like a big, metal turtle.
 * Raphael: It's that obvious, huh?


 * Michelangelo: Did anyone get the license plate of that thing that hit us last night? It looked like your mom dude!
 * Donatello: Yeah. That would make her your mom too, doofus.
 * Michelangelo: Leo! Is that really you? I'm dreaming, aren't I?
 * [Gives him a big hug.]
 * Leonardo: No, Mikey. You're not dreaming.
 * Michelangelo: Good. I had nightmares about birthday parties.


 * Michelangelo: I heard his [Nightwatcher's] bike, turns into a plane, or like, a jet pack. Don, you're so smart, how come we don't have jet packs?
 * Donatello: Yeah, that's good Mikey, except I don't even trust you with a drivers license. Have you seen the way this guy is--
 * [Donatello is interrupted by a roar coming from a construction site.]

[Raphael has just been revealed to a shocked Leonardo as the Nightwatcher}
 * Leonardo: Alright, but remember, we're up here for training.
 * Michelangelo: Y'know what I always say: Train by doing, dude.
 * Donatello: Mikey, when have you ever said that?
 * Raphael: You are so smug, y'know that? You think that the world revolves around you, don't you? That we couldn't possibly survive without the mighty and powerful Leonardo to guide us through our problems, huh?! Well I've got a news flash for ya: We got along just fine without you!
 * Leonardo: And this qualifies as "just fine"?! Dressing up like it's Halloween every night, risking the safety of our family?! I mean come on, what were you thinking?!
 * Raphael: Don't push it Leo! You can't leave home and come back expecting us to fall in line again, like your little soldiers!
 * Leonardo: Hey, I was training! Training to be a better leader! For you! Why do you hate me for that?!
 * Raphael: Whoever said I wanted to be led?! I'm better off calling my own shots, now get used to it.
 * Leonardo: You aren't ready! You're impatient, and hot tempered, and more importantly... I'm better than you! [Raphael laughs coldly]
 * Raphael: Oh, y'know something, big brother? I have to disagree with you on that one.
 * [Raphael makes a "Come get some" motion with his sai.]
 * Leonardo: Don't do this, Raph.
 * Raphael: I'm done taking orders.


 * Donatello: That would be the swirling vortex to another world, I assume.
 * Michelangelo: Cool. I want one.
 * [Raphael hands Leonardo new katana blades to replace the broken ones.]
 * Raphael: You're going to need these, if you're going to lead us out of here.
 * Leonardo: I'm going to need you, too.
 * [The stone Generals have just thrown Winters across the lobby of the Winterscorp building.]
 * April O'Neil: Winters.
 * Michelangelo: Looks more like fall, get it?
 * Donatello: Mikey, remember our talk.


 * General Aquina: You fight well. You should join us.
 * Raphael: No, thanks. I'm good.
 * Leonardo: They better hurry up with the last monster!
 * Raphael: You know my man Casey's got it all under control!
 * Leonardo: That's what I'm afraid of.
 * (while April is driving)
 * Casey: Can't this piece of junk go any faster?!
 * April: You wanna drive?!
 * Casey: I would as a matter of fact!
 * Karai: You would think they would be more concerned about the thirteenth monster.
 * [Foot Ninja silently nods in agreement.]
 * [Winters has just vaporised, due to the curse being broken. Golden particles fall to the floor.]
 * Michelangelo: Okay, just a little creepy. AACHOO! Oh, gross! I think he's in my no- my no-CHOO! Aw, gross. Somebody give me a hankie! [Michelangelo makes gagging noises.] Now he's in my mouth. [More gagging noises.] Tastes awful!