Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem has impressed both dedicated franchise fans and new converts to such a level that the animated reboot is now considered the best TMNT movie. Retelling the origins of the titular four protagonists, Mutant Mayhem finds Raphael, Leonardo, Michelangelo and Donatello navigating their adolescent life outside New York City’s sewers. Hoping to lead the ordinary life of the American high-schooler, these martial arts-trained turtles find themselves embroiled in a larger conspiracy involving many other mutant creatures. With The Mitchells vs. The Machines’ Jeff Rowe returning to the directors’ chair, the movie emerged as a critical success and summer blockbuster.
Starting with the 1990 cult classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and its polarizing sequels, the superhero team went through another live-action makeover in the 2010s with two critically panned movies. Finally, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:Mutant Mayhem comes off as a universally praised TMNT theatrical release, emerging as both the critics and audiences’ favorite. Several factors worked in the movie’s favor, be it the talented voice cast it boasts or just the immersive scope of its hybrid animation style. And with Mutant Mayhem’s mid-credits scene hinting at the presence of an iconic villain, fans will be delighted for more promising sequels.
10 Mutant Mayhem Makes The Turtles Feel Like Real Teenagers
Despite “teenage” sharing space literally in their name, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise has never explored adolescence to the level of Mutant Mayhem. The movie doubles as a superhero adventure and coming-of-age story with a poignantly naive portrayal of its heroes. The turtles aren’t showcased as street vigilantes determined to protect New York. While they are ready to use their fighting skills for good, they do aspire to go to high school, dance in their prom, and just frolic around the city like other children of their age. This wholesome take on the turtles makes them more approachable than ever.
9 TMNT Mutant Mayhem’s Anime References Are Perfectly On Brand
Teenage Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem’s Easter Eggs and references include a few nods to anime. While Donatello wears a JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure hoodie, the turtles also share a fascination with Attack on Titan. In fact, the big villain showdown in the third act is not only a delightful callback to Japanese kaiju cinema but also the titular Titans in the acclaimed anime. These anime references don’t make the movie overstuffed and go in tandem with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ anime-like nature. From the animation style of the ’90s animated series to the inspiring shounen anime-like character development, TMNT was no less of an American anime.
8 TMNT Mutant Mayhem’s Humor Is Better Than Past Movies
While the TMNT comics can occasionally be dark, the numerous animated series have delivered some timeless family-friendly humor. To some extent, the 90s-era movies managed to translate this humor to the big screen. But then came the two Michael Bay-produced ventures that maintained an inconsistent tone between dark themes and gross, low-brow humor. In this context, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem managed to deliver rip-roaring humor that seemed very natural to the characters. Apart from teen comedy tropes, there are many memorable one-liners that find the turtles poking fun at each other while even villains like Superfly and Cynthia Utrom offer delightfully satirical jabs at the superhero genre itself.
7 Superfly Is A Terrifying Villain In Mutant Mayhem
Like many other Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies, it would have been easy to feature Shredder as the primary villain in a rebooted take of the turtles’ origin story. But instead, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem went for an unconventional pick like the mutant Superfly as the chief antagonist. With Superfly voiced to perfection by rapper-actor Ice Cube, he can be simultaneously humorous and menacing. He’s much more than just the leader of a mutant gang when he turns into a gargantuan creature by the third act. This makes him not only a multi-faceted character but also a prominent threat, indicating the franchise has equally interesting villains as Shredder.
6 Splinter’s Father Storyline Takes Precedence
Master Splinter is an all-time favorite in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles lore. He has his fair share of parental concerns as a father figure to the turtles but most previous movies focus on him being their martial arts master. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem changes this trend, thanks to a heartwarming flashback sequence and a hilarious voice performance by Jackie Chan. From bumbling his way through martial arts tutorial videos on YouTube to single-handedly fighting soldiers to protect his adoptive sons, Splinter’s fatherhood is adequately fleshed out. At the same time, the generation gap between him and the turtles leads to some notable moments with emotional depth.
5 Mutant Mayhem’s Animation Style Gave TMNT New Life
Walking in the footsteps of the Spider-Verse franchise and Jeff Rowe’s own The Mitchells Vs. The Machines, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem carries forward the torch of expressive comic book-style animation. Merging 2D elements with computerized animation works as a perfect creative choice for a TMNT story as the end product is heavy on vividly bright splashes of color and immersive enough to capture the thrills of fast-paced combat scenes. The franchise has previously dabbled in conventional 2D animation with the early animated series while movies like 2007’s TMNT even toyed with 3D animation. But Mutant Mayhem has easily surpassed its predecessors with excitingly versatile animation.
4 Mutant Mayhem Respects The TMNT Mythology & Fandom
All anime and other pop culture franchise shoutouts aside, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is gracious enough to acknowledge the most niche of fandom references. Examples include the Pizza Hut logo on the pizza boxes (referencing the longstanding commercial partnership between the pizza chain and the turtles), name-dropping Batman (the Caped Crusader having featured alongside the turtles in many comic specials), featuring older character designs in the credits sequences and even playing Vanilla Ice’s infamous “Ninja Rap” from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Secret of the Ooze. So, while the movie reinvents itself with new dimensions to the turtles’ personalities, Mutant Mayhem even nails fan service.
3 April O’Neil Shines In TMNT Mutant Mayhem Too
The 1990s and 2000s movies, series, and even video games within the franchise mostly featured April O’Neil as either a damsel in distress or a reporter who is mostly befriending the turtles to seek exclusive media footage. This treatment only worsened in the 2010s movies with Megan Fox’s rather bland and unimpressive take on the character. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, on the other hand, reinvented O’Neil as a teenager herself. This makes her friendship with the turtles seem more believable and makes her amateur journalism more mature than ever. The Bear alumna Ayo Edibiri’s lively performance as the character is the cherry on top.
2 TMNT Mutant Mayhem’s Voice Cast Is Stacked
From up-and-coming stars voicing the four masked turtles to veteran stars like Jackie Chan and Ice Cube taking on supporting characters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem cast was a diverse mix of old and new talents. Even characters that appeared for brief moments were elevated thanks to the wit of cast members like John Cena, Paul Rudd, Maya Rudolph, and screenwriter Seth Rogen himself. The sheer creative and comedic potential of this ensemble contrasts against the previous two Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies that boasted comedic talents like Johnny Knoxville and Will Arnett but failed to create a distinct mark like Mutant Mayhem.
1 TMNT Mutant Mayhem Has Themes That Resonate
Beyond the surface of it all, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem isn’t all fun and games. This is easily the most introspective TMNT adventure as it delves into the turtles’ struggle to fit in human society. It even charters X-Men territory to address how humans ostracize the mutant heroes for just exhibiting different biological traits. This is most evident before the final battle when the turtles are trying their best to save New York City and yet face the ire of the city’s human inhabitants. This makes for an unexpectedly serious turn with socio-political realities plaguing the teenage protagonists.
