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UPI
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- UPI
Movie review: 'Ninja Turtles' re-release showcases ideal adaptation
1 of 5 | The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Splinter return to theaters Friday. Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures LOS ANGELES, Aug. 14 (UPI) -- The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have appeared on movie screens seven times in the franchise's history. The original 1990 live-action film, returning to theaters Friday, remains the most impressive. Inspired by the '80s comic books by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, TMNT included a popular weekday afternoon animated show and toy line by 1990, making a movie a foregone conclusion. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie became a phenomenon in the pre-summer movie season. The film, directed by Steve Barron, introduced anthropomorphic turtles Michelangelo, Leonardo, Donatello and Raphael in a realistic New York City. The brothers live in the sewers and fight crime in the shadows. The Foot Clan, led by Shredder (James Saito), recruits kids to commit theft on his behalf. The group kidnaps the Turtles' master, Splinter, leading the TMNT to team up with reporter April O'Neil (Judith Hoag) to rescue him. In 1990, the way to bring talking turtles to life was to make turtle suits actors could wear. The production went with the best in the business, the Jim Henson Creature Shop, which made the characters' animatronic heads with moving eyes and mouths. The most impressive aspect of 1990's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is the martial arts choreography. The four turtles perform martial arts choreographed by Pat Johnson, who worked on the Karate Kid films, and martial artists from Golden Harvest, the Hong Kong studio that co-produced it. Martial artists are already impressive, but performing moves comparable to Jackie Chan and Jet Li while wearing bulky turtle suits and heavy heads they probably couldn't see out of, was a miracle. The 2014 and 2016 CGI turtles may be more flexible, but technology can animate a turtle doing anything. Human beings performing martial arts in the confines of the time is amazing. Some of them also skateboard in those suits and manage not to fall off, at least not in the takes they used. The Henson puppets are more expressive than the animated turtles anyway, because they are subtle, albeit not very comfortable for the people wearing the costume. The way the turtles are brought to life means each character is a combination of performers. Josh Pais is the credited performer and voice of Raphael, while Michelin Sisti is the performer for Michelangelo, who is voiced by Robbie Rist. Donatello is performed by Leif Tilden and voiced by Corey Feldman. For Leonardo, David Forman performed the character while Brian Tochi provided the voice, but an array of stuntmen also took turns in the suits. Saito didn't speak as Shredder, either; David McCharen is credited as his voice. Raphael even goes out into the city wearing a trench coat and a hat, his turtle head and feet still showing. The joke is that New York is so used to weirdos that he blends in well enough. Splinter is fully animatronic, and his flashback as a baby rat practicing ninja moves is a highlight. Kevin Clash, who was performing Elmo on Sesame Street at the time, performed his voice. The Turtles movie came under some fire for depicting real violence for a family audience, including by the late Jim Henson himself, who allegedly did not appreciate the Turtles using nunchucks, swords, sais and a staff in one of the last projects before his death that May. It seems like the violence could have been previously addressed in the '80s, however. The four turtles are primarily distinguished by their weapon of choice, although they also wear different colored headbands. Ninja is 25% of the entire brand. Perhaps kids might imitate their heroes, and indeed the weapons were minimized in the 1991 sequel. For viewers just admiring the choreography, with no interest in engaging in real-life combat, the 1990 film really captures what fighting turtles would look like in the real world. This film also followed 1989's Batman, a breakthrough for portraying comic book worlds on screen. Batman went with a gothic, heightened look for Gotham City, but the intent was to show what characters like the Joker and Batman would look like in real life. So Turtles had humanoid amphibians, but April wears a real yellow raincoat and vigilante Casey Jones (Elias Koteas) has his street hockey gear. Shredder got a suit that reproduced his metal armor but with mostly a flexible material in which Saito could fight. The sewers, alleys and Foot Clan hideout contributed to Turtles' noir-ish aesthetic. Sequels would become brighter, though still fun and impressive with the turtle suits, but the first film allowed the Turtles to exist in a gritty world. Their human allies contributed to that too; Hoag portrayed April as a hard-nosed reporter, while Koteas was formidable. The film also introduced Danny Pennington (Michael Tunney), a bit of a Hollywood version of a troubled youth but a sincere vehicle for Splinter connecting with a kid being indoctrinated by a gang. Tunney only acted in three movies before moving into directing. It would be a young Sam Rockwell as Danny's senior Foot thug who would go on to a storied acting career. Raphael emerged as the main character of the film. He's the one who desires connection with the outside world, and who goes through the greatest arc by putting himself in harm's way and recovering. It's Raphael who rescues April and brings her back to the Turtles' sewer hideout, which leads the Foot Clan to Splinter. With guilt over that, Raphael is too anxious to find Shredder and makes himself vulnerable to an overpowering Foot Clan. Raphael also goes through sibling rivalry with his brothers, particularly Leonardo. Michelangelo and Donatello are comic relief, but four individual personalities come through, with Raphael becoming the film's heart. Out of five live-action movies and two animated ones, with new animated series still streaming, the 1990 Turtles benefits most from leaning into its martial arts roots. They pulled off believable turtles in late '80s New York, thanks to the commitment of performers and filmmakers. Fred Topel, who attended film school at Ithaca College, is a UPI entertainment writer based in Los Angeles. He has been a professional film critic since 1999, a Rotten Tomatoes critic since 2001, and a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012 and the Critics Choice Association since 2023. Read more of his work in Entertainment.
The Star
05-05-2025
- Business
- The Star
Big blow as Terengganu and six other clubs on FIFA ban list
File photo of Turtles' top scorer: Safawi Rasid (front), did well this season by scoring 17 goals in 32 matches in all competitions for Terengganu. PETALING JAYA: Super League side Terengganu is one of the seven Malaysian football clubs that have been banned by FIFA. Under the FIFA Registration Bans database, the Turtles have been given a ban since April 14, while other clubs like fellow Super League side Kelantan Darul Naim and A1 Semi-Pro League club Putrajaya Athletics were banned from April 7 and March 14 respectively. The other four in the list are Sarawak United, Perlis FA, Melaka United and Kelantan. The transfer ban on Terengganu is surely a blow as it is learnt that the club have planned some signings for the new season, with loan moves for striker Syafiq Ahmad and Haqimi Azim Rosli from Johor Darul Ta'zim (JDT). The ban is three years and it is not stated how much is needed to be cleared in order for the ban to be lifted. Sources close to the club said that the ban is not linked to the recent wage issue related to Croatian Ivan Mamut. The former player had claimed he wasn't paid a few months salary by the club due to injury.
