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For the article about the NES port of the 1989 arcade game, see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game. For the article about the 1991 Game Boy game, see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Back from the Sewers.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze is a 1991 American live-action film based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles characters published by Mirage Studios. It is the sequel to the 1990 film, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The Secret of the Ooze was followed by a third film in 1993, and a fourth film (TMNT) in 2007. The movie is distributed by New Line Cinema. It was internationally distributed by 20th Century Fox.

The film follows the adventures of the four Turtles: Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, Raphael, and their Master Splinter. Resuming from the events of the last film, the villain, The 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' 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.[1] The film was released on March 22, 1991, and received mixed to negative reviews from critics who felt it departed from the much darker tone of the original 1990 film, and was more light-hearted. Despite this, the film was financially successful, and became the 13th highest-grossing film domestically in the year of its release.[2]

Plot[]

Following the Shredder's defeat at the hands of the 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 Jordon Perry, head scientist of an industrial organization called Techno Global Research Industries (T.G.R.I.), 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 before Perry had a chance to dispose of it. With the imminent threat to April's safety by the Foot, the turtles start to actively look for a new home. The Shredder forces Perry to expose an 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, 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. Keno does well during the fighting portion of recruitment but had one test to pass before being accepted: remove as many bells from a suit within 15 seconds and he will fail the test if one sound from any bell is made and he has to do this in the cover of a smoke bomb. When the test starts, the cover was thick enough for Raph to sneak in, remove all the bells from the suit without making a sound, slip them into Keno's hands and escape. When the time expired, and the smoke cleared, Keno was shown with all the bells from the suit. With Keno's assistance, Raph successfully infiltrates the Foot Headquarters, 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 anti-mutagen 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 anti-mutagen 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 to 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, violating the sacred ninja code of invisibility. As punishment, the Turtles are forced to do flips, Splinter quoting Vanilla Ice's rap and laughing as they begin.

Cast[]

Production[]

Due to the large success of the first film, it was generally expected that a sequel would follow.[3] The film was produced on a budget of $25 million (USD),[4] 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 Michelangelo 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.[6] Todd W. Langen returned from the first film to write the screenplay.

Originally, the studio wanted Bebop and Rocksteady, from the 1987 TV series, to appear. However, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird were not in favor of it, so Tokka and Rahzar were created.[citation needed]

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.[6] Some filming took place in North Carolina,[7] much like the first, where the New York City skyline was created at the North Carolina Film Studios.[8] 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 Muppets creator 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 Iwamatsu.

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".[9] 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.[10]

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."[11] The film opened at number one in North America on its first weekend of release, taking in over $20 million (USD),[12] eventually making $78,656,813 in total.[4] The film was a success at the box office, but made less than the first film.[5] 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.)[13]

Like with its predecessor, the second Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles installment was censored in the UK due to usage of forbidden weapons (the nunchaku). 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 including toys, posters, luchboxes, trading cards, t-shirts and books. An official comic adaptation was also released by Archie Comics and a collectors edition with cardstock cover by Eastman and Laird.[14]

Playmates Toys released action figures of the new characters of Tokka, Rahzar and Super Shredder and were available for purchase around the time of the film's release.  One year later the hugely popular "Movie Star" sub line was released. The series contained toys of all four Turtles plus Splinter and a Foot Soldier in authentic movie stylings. In contrast to the usual Turtles' figures, these figures had a "real rubbery reptilian feel" to them from the soft PVC plastics used, to better reflect the look of the animatronic costumes used in the films. They also featured ball joints at the neck, shoulders, and hips adding a better range of motion. Each of these figures came with their signature weapons and movie faithful accessories as well as a small, plastic ooze canister. 

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.[15] The boxes included various recipes involving ooze in some form.[15]

Soundtrack[]

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 was set to have six encores of each movie. On 30 May 2009, once again the first three movies aired on ABC Family.

Home Video releases[]

The film was first released on VHS format by New Line Home Video with a partnership through Columbia Home video throughout North America. While in the UK the movie saw release via Fox Video.

The film was later released to DVD in Region 1 on 3 September 2002 by Warner Home Video in September 2002[16]; it contained only minor special features and interactive menus.

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

DVD[]

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 Answers
  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. Weird Science
  24. Pre-Fight Doughnut
  25. Ninja Rap
  26. Shredder Showdown
  27. Go, Ninja, Go
  28. 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

Sneak peeks[]

VHS[]

DVD[]

See also[]

Trailer[]

References[]

  1. Maslin, Janet (1991-03-22). Turtles Clean Up Their Act But Still Try the Patience. NYTimes.com. Retrieved on September 18, 2015.
  2. 1991 Domestic Grosses. Boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved on September 19, 2006.
  3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze. culturedose.net. Archived from the original on June 25, 2006. Retrieved on September 21, 2006.
  4. 4.0 4.1 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II (1991). Box Office Mojo.
  5. 5.0 5.1 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990). Boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved on September 21, 2006.
  6. 6.0 6.1 Trivia for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze. IMDb.com. Retrieved on September 21, 2006.
  7. Filming Locations for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze. IMDb.com. Retrieved on September 19, 2006.
  8. TMNT I. ninjaturtles.com. Retrieved on September 24, 2006.
  9. Taglines for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze. IMDb.com. Retrieved on September 21, 2006.
  10. Release Dates for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze. IMDb.com. Retrieved on September 19, 2006.
  11. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 - The Secret of the Ooze (1991). Rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved on October 5, 2010.
  12. "Weekend Box Office A Nice Little Start for 'Turtles'", The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved on 2010-11-09.
  13. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: the Secret of the Ooze. filmsy.com. Retrieved on December 9, 2006.
  14. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (Paperback). amazon.com. Retrieved on September 24, 2006.
  15. 15.0 15.1 Snacks from the Sewer. x-entertainment.com. Retrieved on September 22, 2006.
  16. TMNT: Original Movie DVD (English). Mirage Studios (September 2002). Retrieved on March 7, 2020.

External links[]

  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Films [view]
Theatrical releases

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)  · The Secret of the Ooze  · Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III  · TMNT  · Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)  · Out of the Shadows  · Mutant Mayhem


Direct-to-video
Coming Out of Their Shells  · Operation Blue Line  · We Wish You a Turtle Christmas  · Turtle Tunes  · Turtles Forever  · Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles  · Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie  · Turtle Power: The Definitive History of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles  · 35 Days of Kevin Eastman  · The Making of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Behind the Shells

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