Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze



Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze was the Movie of VHS and DVD from 1991,1999 and 2001 and The film follows the further adventures of the four Turtles: Leonardo, Donatello, Michaelangelo, Raphael and Splinter. Roughly resuming from the events of the last film, the villain, Shredder, returns to take back command of the Foot Clan, and work towards getting revenge on the Turtles. When he learns the secret behind the Turtles's mutation, he becomes more dangerous than ever. The film sheds some light on the origins of Splinter and the Turtles, as well as introduces two new villains: Tokka and Rahzar. Unlike the first film, this one rarely showed the use of the Turtles' weapons. They instead fight bare-fisted for much of the film as part of an attempt to tone down the violence of the previous movie.

When the film was released on March 22, 1991, it received mixed reviews from critics. It departed from the darker feelings of the original film in favor of a more light-hearted feel. Nevertheless the film was still very popular, and it was the 12th highest grossing movie worldwide in 1991, 1999, 2001.

Plot
Following the Shredder's defeat at the hands of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the four live with their news reporter friend April O'Neil while they look for a new home, afraid the Foot will attack them if they return to the sewer. On a night out they encounter a pizza delivery boy named Keno fighting a band of robbers and intervene on his behalf. Meanwhile, the Foot Clan have retreated to a large junkyard, where the Shredder's second in command Tatsu declares himself their leader. However, he relinquishes command when the Shredder returns, having survived his encounter with the Turtles and Splinter and now desiring revenge. April interviews Professor Jordan Perry, head scientist of an industrial organization called Techno Global Research Industries (TGRI), on their efforts to neutralize pollutants that have resulted from their experiments. A member of April's camera crew that is a spy for the Foot discovers that toxic waste produced by the company has caused a mutation in nearby dandelion plants, producing exponential growth. Splinter, seeing the report on television, shows the Turtles and April the canister of the "ooze" that caused their mutation, revealing it was manufactured by TGRI.

Shredder dispatches the Foot to obtain some of the ooze that caused the mutation. The Turtles infiltrate the TGRI laboratory seeking answers, but discover the Foot have kidnapped Perry, and after a skirmish the Foot escapes with the last canister of the ooze. The Shredder forces Perry to expose a alligator snapping turtle and a wolf to the ooze, transforming them into Tokka and Rahzar. Though the Shredder is irritated when they act as infants and consider him their "mother", due to Perry secretly modifying the ooze, but the Shredder is impressed with their immense strength and sends them to attack the city. Meanwhile Keno and Raphael infiltrate the Foot by having Keno pose as a new recruit, and the other three Turtles discover a new lair in an abandoned subway station. With Keno's assistance, Raph successfully infiltrates the Foot headquarters located on Lairdman Island, but is captured by the Shredder. Keno escapes to inform the others, but the group is led into a trap and are pitted against Tokka and Rahzar. The Turtles are overwhelmed by their brute strength, but manage to escape into a manhole that the larger mutants cannot fit through, successfully rescuing Perry in the process. Talking with Perry, Donatello is depressed to learn that the ooze was created in a lab accident rather than anything else, but Splinter assures him that he cannot judge his worth based on his origins. Upon learning that the Shredder intends to release Tokka and Rahzar into populated areas unless the Turtles confront them, Perry develops an antidote to counteract the ooze's effects and transform them back into normal animals.

The Turtles meet with the Foot and successfully administer some portion of the antimutigen to Tokka and Rahzar by concealing it in donuts, but are discovered and another fight ensues. The fight spills into a nightclub, where the club's singer Vanilla Ice improvises a rap song to prevent a panic by creating the impression that the fight is part of his act. With advice from Perry the Turtles spray fire extinguishers into Tokka and Razhar's mouths, the carbon dioxide speeding up the antimutagen and reverting the two monsters back to their natural forms. After the Turtles take care of the Foot and Tatsu, the Shredder arrives and takes a woman hostage, revealing he still possesses the ooze. Keno arrives and kicks the canister out of his hands, which is recovered by Perry, but the Shredder retains a small vial of the ooze. Using a sound amplifier to magnify a Keytar, the Shredder is blasted through a wall onto the docks outside. The Turtles follow and find Shredder mutated into a "Super Shredder ", having consumed the vial of ooze. The Shredder overpowers the Turtles, but his rampant destruction of the dock's supports causes it collapse on top of them, crushing him while the Turtles dive to safety in the water. The Turtles return to their lair triumphant, but are confronted by Splinter with a newspaper showing a picture of them fighting at the club on the front page. As punishment, the Turtles are forced to do flips, Splinter quoting Vanilla Ice's rap and laughing as they begin.

Production
Due to the large success of the first film, it was generally expected that a sequel would follow.[4] The film was produced on a budget of $25 million (USD), higher than the budget of the 1990 film, which was $13.5 million.[5] Like the first film, New Line Cinema distributed The Secret of the Ooze. Both the voices of Michaelangelo and Leonardo reprised their roles in the second film, whereas Corey Feldman did not voice Donatello in the second movie. Also, a different actress had been hand-picked for the role of April O'Neil, with Paige Turco replacing Judith Hoag from the first film. The character of Casey Jones, who was a prominent character in the first movie, did not appear here. Ernie Reyes Jr., who was Donatello's fight double in the first film, was cast as a new character, Keno, as the producers admired Reyes and his performance in the first movie, so much they asked him to join in this sequel.[6] Todd W. Langen returned from the first film to write the screenplay.

Originally, the studio wanted Bebop and Rocksteady, from the cartoon, to appear. However, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird were not in favor of it, so Rahzar and Tokka were created.[7]

The abandoned subway station, which serves as the new lair for the Turtles, is based on real-world decommissioned New York subway City Hall Station, of the former Interborough Rapid Transit company. However, the station is not completely abandoned as it appears in the movie. Trains currently pass through the station daily as they turn around to head uptown, passengers are allowed to ride through the station, but the train does not stop and so they cannot disembark. During filming of the scene where the Turtles are trapped in the net and fall to the ground, one of the stuntmen broke an ankle. Some filming took place in North Carolina, much like the first, where the New York City skyline was created at the North Carolina Film Studios. The building used for the entrance to April's apartment is the office of the New York location of Jim Henson's Creature Shop, which did the animatronics work for the film. The film is dedicated to the memory of Jim Henson. This makes it the first movie dedicated to Henson, the second being The Muppet Christmas Carol. This is also the first TMNT film to include a dedication, the second would be TMNT which was dedicated to the late Mako.

Reception
The film was released less than a year after the first, using the taglines "Back by bodacious demand" and "Cowabunga, it's the new turtle movie". Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze was released in theatres on March 22, 1991, in the United States, and was subsequently released in numerous countries from June through to August.

Based on a sample of 27 reviews, the film holds a 36% "rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes with the consensus "Not only is the movie's juvenile dialogue unbearable for adults, but the turtles' dopey and casual attitude towards physical violence makes them poor kids' role models." The film opened at number one in North America on its first weekend of release, taking in over $20 million (USD), eventually making $78,656,813 in total. The film was a success at the box office, but made less than the first film. Some fans noted that there was also a reduction in the use of weapons by the turtles in the film, perhaps due to violence in the first film. (Leonardo and Raphael only use their weapons once each in the movie, for example.)

Like with its predecessor, the second Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles installment was censored in the UK due to usage of forbidden weapons (the nunchuku). The edits were waived for the DVD release in 2002. The German version was not censored visually; however, funny cartoon sound effects to soften the violence were added to the fight scenes (as already with the first film).

Merchandising
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise was arguably at the height of its popularity around the time that The Secret of the Ooze was released in theatres. A number of tie-ins were brought out alongside the release of the film. A new line of toys were introduced for the release of the film, including "Movie Star" toys of all four turtles, with the box art depicting stills from the film, as well as a cartoon rendition of the turtles gathered around a canister of ooze in the top right corner of the package. In contrast to the usual Turtles' figures, the film series figures were softer and more rubbery, to better reflect the look of the animatronic costumes used in the films. They also featured ball joints at the neck, shoulders, and hips, and each figure came with a small, plastic canister with a sticker of "Ooze" wrapped around them. An official film adaptation was also released by Eastman and Laird.

Figurines of Super Shredder, Tokka and Rahzar were also available, though they were not as closely aligned to the film as the four turtles were. The Playmates company produced the figurines. The Turtles franchise had by now also immersed itself into the food industry, with characters from the franchise appearing on numerous food products. Royal Gelatin Desserts adapted the "Ooze" name into their product, and featured the Turtles on the packages. The boxes included various recipes involving ooze in some form.

TV releases
On ABC Family, on 5 May 2007 marked the first time the movie was on TV since August 2000, last aired on USA Network. On 28 February 2008, Logan from Loogan's Channel announced that a marathon called The Green Teen Leen Mean Fighting Machines Marathon will be placed. It will have 6 encores of each movie. On 30 May 2009, once again the first three movies aired on ABC Family.

Reception
The film was released less than a year after the first, using the taglines "Back by bodacious demand" and "Cowabunga, it's the new turtle movie". Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze was released in theatres on March 22, 1991, in the United States, and was subsequently released in numerous countries from June through to August. Based on a sample of 27 reviews, the film holds a 37% "rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes with the consensus "Not only is the movie's juvenile dialogue unbearable for adults, but the turtles' dopey and casual attitude towards physical violence makes them poor kids' role models." The film opened at number one in North America on its first weekend of release, taking in over $20 million (USD), eventually making $78,656,813 in total. The film was a success at the box office, but made less than the first film. Some fans noted that there was also a reduction in the use of weapons by the turtles in the film, perhaps due to violence in the first film. (Leonardo and Raphael only use their weapons once each in the movie, for example.)

Production
Due to the large success of the first film, it was generally expected that a sequel would follow. The film was produced on a budget of $25 million (USD), higher than the budget of the 1990 film, which was $13.5 million. Like the first film, New Line Cinema distributed The Secret of the Ooze. Both the voices of Michaelangelo and Leonardo reprised their roles in the second film, whereas Corey Feldman did not voice Donatello in the second movie. Also, a different actress had been hand-picked for the role of April O'Neil, with Paige Turco replacing Judith Hoag from the first film. The character of Casey Jones, who was a prominent in the first movie, did not appear here. Ernie Reyes Jr., who was Donatello's fight double in the first film, was cast as a new character, Keno, as the producers admired Reyes and his performance in the first movie, so much they asked him to join in this sequel. Todd W. Langen returned from the first film to write the screenplay.

The abandoned subway station, which serves as the new lair for the Turtles, is based on real-world decommissioned New York subway City Hall Station, of the former Interborough Rapid Transit company. However, the station is not completely abandoned as it appears in the movie. Trains currently pass through the station daily as they connect to another station, but passengers are not allowed to ride through it. During filming of the scene where the Turtles are trapped in the net and fall to the ground, one of the stuntmen broke an ankle. Some filming took place in North Carolina, much like the first, where the New York City skyline was created at the North Carolina Film Studios. The building used for the entrance to April's apartment is the office of the New York location of Jim Henson's Creature Shop, which did the animatronics work for the film. The film is dedicated to the memory of Jim Henson. This makes it the first movie dedicated to Henson, the second being The Muppet Christmas Carol. This is the first TMNT film to include a dedication, the second would be TMNT which was dedicated to the late Mako.

Merchandising
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise was arguably at the height of its popularity around the time that The Secret of the Ooze was released in theatres. A number of tie-ins were brought out alongside the release of the film. A new line of toys were introduced for the release of the film, including "Movie Star" toys of all four turtles, with the box art depicting stills from the film, as well as a cartoon rendition of the turtles gathered around a canister of ooze in the top right corner of the package. In contrast to the usual Turtles' figures, the film series figures were softer and more rubbery, to better reflect the look of the animatronic costumes used in the films. They also featured ball joints at the neck, shoulders, and hips, and each figure came with a small, plastic canister with a sticker of "Ooze" wrapped around them. An official film adaptation was also released by Eastman and Laird.

Figurines of Super Shredder, Tokka and Rahzar were also available, though they were not as closely aligned to the film as the four turtles were. The Playmates company produced the figurines. The Turtles franchise had by now also immersed itself into the food industry, with characters from the franchise appearing on numerous food products. Royal Gelatin Desserts adapted the "Ooze" name into their product, and featured the Turtles on the packages. The boxes included various recipes involving ooze in some form.

Soundtrack

 * Awesome (You Are MY Hero) - Ya Kid K
 * Ninja Rap - Vanilla Ice
 * Find The Key To Your Life - Cathy Dennis and David Morales
 * Moov! - Tribal House
 * (That's Your) Consciousness - Dan Hartman
 * This World - Magnificent VII
 * Creatures of Habit - Spunkadelic
 * Back to School - Fifth Platoon
 * Cowabunga - Orchestra On The Half-Shell
 * Tokka & Rahzar: The Monster Mix - Orchestra On The Half-Shell

Home Video releases
The film was released to DVD in Region 1 on 3 September 2002; it contained only minor special features and interactive menus.

On 4 August 2009, the film was included in a special 25th-anniversary boxset, released to both DVD and Blu-ray formats. It contains Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, and 2007's animated release, TMNT.

Movie Thump

 * Widescreen
 * Fullscreen

Scenes

 * 1) Opening Credits
 * 2) Pizza Fight at the Store
 * 3) Keno's Message
 * 4) Couch Surfing
 * 5) Toxic Junkyard
 * 6) Shredder's Awnsers
 * 7) Shredder's Mutant Dandelions
 * 8) Splinter's Decision
 * 9) Ooze Football
 * 10) Keno and Splinter's Rainy Tales
 * 11) The Sewer System
 * 12) Raphael is Gone
 * 13) New Recruit
 * 14) Momma's Little Monsters
 * 15) Keno's Test
 * 16) Escape from Headquarters
 * 17) Rescue Mission
 * 18) Larger Problems
 * 19) Teeth and Claws
 * 20) Breaking News
 * 21) Allies and Gullies
 * 22) Mutant Message
 * 23) Wierd Science
 * 24) Pre-Fight Doughnut
 * 25) Ninja Rap
 * 26) Shredder Showdown
 * Go, Ninja, Go
 * 1) End Credits

Features

 * The T Files
 * Raphael's DVD Games - Pick That Flick and Splinter Gets Cake
 * 2 DVD-Rom Games - Raphael's Pizza, Cake and Candy Train Maze Game and Coloring Creation
 * Deleted Scenes
 * Making of the Film
 * Read Along
 * Music Videos
 * Web Fun

Spoken Languages

 * English
 * French
 * Spanish

Subtitles

 * English
 * French
 * Spanish
 * None

Register Your DVD

 * The Register DVD Has the WWW.TEENAGEMUTANTNINJATURTLES.COM

Sneak Peeks

 * Austin Powers The Spy Who Shagged Me
 * Theodore Rex
 * Monkey Trouble
 * Friday
 * The Wedding Singer
 * The Little Vampire
 * Pizza Hut Commercial
 * New Line E-Buzz