…Dude its a Cartoon

This piece was meant to come out when TMNT Out of the Shadows was released, but life was kicking the shell out of the author at the time, apologies. 

Do you remember what the original TMNT movie promised us, dudes?

“Hey Dudes, This is No Cartoon.”  That was the promise from marketing and the film was true to this.  Part of this was obviously due to the technology available at the time, but the tone,  look and the feel of the flick was akin to any 80’s action flick.  The violence on screen even had a level of real world consequence, Ralph spend half the film essentially in a coma.  Splinter is beaten to the point he needs to be carried away by Casey and Danny.

A Cartoon can have these elements as well, just like a live action flick can just be a cartoon.  Secret of the Ooze and TMNT III were cartoons.  The sound from a keyboard solo knocks Shredder through a wall.  That’s a cartoon.  While the 2007 TMNT was animated it was less of a cartoon than the previous two entries in the film.  This brings us to 2014’s reboot and this years Out of the Shadows sequel.  We are clearly in cartoon territory.  Not just because the turtles are animated, but because they are giants who hang off the sides of planes.  I sometimes  wonder what a live action director does when every element in a sequence in CG animation.  Beebop and Rocksteady vs the Turtles, this is entirely animated with no concept of reality.  This would be fine if there was an effort to create a real sense of danger or emotional attachment to the characters, but that is not there.  It is essentially an old Bugs Bunny cartoon, cool to watch visually with no connection to our real world.

M.R. Gott does not exist you are not reading this and this is not his website…you crazy crazy bastard.