Note: This from an older post on my other blog of my top 10 childhood movies. I will post the rest of that in a few days. This is in wake of release of pile of crap(17% RT) TMNT in theaters yesterday. Go rent this...Forget the newest one.

Also Cult Film Club did a great podcast on this movie. Check that out!

When I saw the teasers and trailers for this movie I could barley contain myself. I would jump up and down at the TV and foam at the mouth. It was one of the first movies I saw on opening day. Not only did I see it on opening day I saw it three times in the first three days of its release. Every friend was calling me asking if I could watch it. It was no doubt the biggest movie release of our young lives. I would only put such movies as Ghostbusters 2, Indiana Jones TLC and BTTF 3 in the such company.

I can still remember sitting in the theater with my mom with a turtle doll that the theater was giving to the first 100 kids. The theater was a buzz. The lights went down and you can feel every kid on the edge of their seat. Hey its foot soldiers! Oh my god there is April O' Neal! She is wearing a yellow rain coat! Then the Turtles save April and you see Raph's eyes as he watches his weapon being picked up April. He mutters "Damn".. SHOCKING! A cuss word right off the bat. Not a big one but wow. Then all you hear is Turtle chatter as they walk down  the sewer. The theater at this point was about to burst. Then this title flashes on the screen with Leo jumping into frame!
The theater goes fucking nuts! Kids screaming and cheering. I still haven't experienced anything like that at a movie since. It was like TMNT had hit its peak and we couldn't get enough.
After reading the comic I will say this movie does a pretty damn good job of sticking to elements in the comic. It isn't spot on(April is still a reporter here and no Baxter Stockmen) but it hits the tone pretty well. I remember hearing how pissed parents were at the dark tone and language in the movie but it was really just being faithful to the source the best it could while maintaining a PG rating. I guess showing kids smoking,drinking and playing a NARC arcade was a bit much but they need to show the kind of kids the Shredder attracts.
Jim Hanson knocked it out of the park again with the turtle suits. The faces moved great, they were believable and the actors could still do all the ninja work without any hold ups. In part 2 and 3 the suits got worse and worse. In 3 they look almost comical they are so bad.



Five Top Scenes

5.Splinters heart to heart with Raphael
Raph comes home after watching "Critters" at the theater and his rough run in with Casey Jones and he is no mood to chat but Splinter isn't having it. Its a good heart felt scene that shows the father like connection. He also says "hey we know you are like the Lebron James of TMNT but your anger holds you back". Something like that.

4.When April meets the Turtles/Splinters talk with Daniel
This scene does a good job of selling the origin of the turtles without it being the whole movie. When I was a kid I thought the story was all wrong here. But like a lot of kids we had no idea that the Turtles were born in comics. In the movie you hear that Splinters master Hamato Yoshi and Oroku Saki were fighting over this babe named Tang Shen but she only loved Yoshi and so Saki killed them both and left Splinter without his master(and the rat scarred his face so he hides it). Comic goes a little deeper with that. Yoshi and a man named Oroku Nagi were apart the most feared assassins group in Japan called the Foot Clan(origin of the foot). Nagi loved Shen but she only loved Yoshi. When Yoshi comes home to find Nagi beating Shen within a inch of her life "Yoshi's world vanished in a red haze". Yoshi ends up beating Nogi to death.
Since Yoshi killed another clan member he was to end his own life or run from Japan. So Yoshi and Shen run to NYC. Nogi's younger brother Oroku Saki who was 7 at the time(intense 7 year old) vowed Vengeance on Yoshi. Over time Saki became the best foot clan member and was even better then his teachers. Saki was sent to NYC to start the Foot on US soil. Saki also knew that his revenge would come full circle now. Once in the USA he became the Shredder(no reason is given to why he goes with Shredder) and went to Yoshi's home and held his wife until Yoshi came home. Once home he killed Tang Shen in front of Yoshi and then killed Yoshi as well. The movie just cut some of the fat and saw no reason for Nagi. Either way you go its some pretty edgy shit for a kids movie. The flash backs in the movie are all grainy and dark. You still see Yoshi and Shen murdered. Its real heavy stuff and can't believe it wasn't cut or pushed to a PG-13 but god damn its good and faithful.

Now the rest of the movie just does it own thing. Splinter is never captured by the Shredder and in the comic its pretty clear the Turtles are used for his revenge on Shredder. But the movie stays true to the tone and that counts for something.

3.April's apartment fight
This was always one of my favorite parts of the movie. Raph is almost beaten to death and the turtles have this long fight that leads to the basement where Casey Jones shows up to help kick some ass. The Turtles also struggle at times and the foot get their shots in which makes it feel different because in the cartoon the foot are about as dangerous as a infant to the turtles. They never got punches in. The turtles have to retreat which is also just bizarre when they never had to. My only complaint is that at times in can venture off with "funny" stuff during the fight when its a pretty serious situation.

2.Shredder's Entrance
At this point all we have of the Shredder is his voice so they do a good job of building this moment up. You also gotta love the music and the wrap around camera shot. The scene builds him up as one big bad mother fucker. There isn't a whole lot to say about the scene other then its just gives you chills.

1.Final Fight
I loved this final act as a kid and I love it even more after reading the comic. A lot of elements are there. Shredder on a building taking on the Turtles to the death(or so we think). The turtles are of course are cocky at this point and Shredder wipes the floor with them one at a time.
Shredder then pokes the bear a bit by hinting at Splinter possibly being dead. All of a sudden the jokes are over. Every Turtle giving their best shot at Shredder. Leo gets the best shots in as he slices Shredders arm but Leo loses his cool and gets owned by the Shredder and is put on his back with a spear at his neck. Splinter shows up to save the day and Shredder is thrown off a building and smashed in a garbage truck(Casey does "whoops" as he pulls the leaver... Like no big deal...JUST MURDERING)
Now in the comic, Shredder gets some shots in but the Turtles really mess him up. He is stabbed, catches a few throwing stars and once defeated is told to SEPPUKU for honor. Yes it fucked up and awesome all at the same time.
While the movie isn't as gory or follow everything to heart it still feels like a great adaptation to the comic and for a PG "kids" movie it pushes the envelop. As a kid it was the best thing I've seen since Ghostbusters and watched it everyday for about a month once I got my VHS copy. In fact I still have a sealed VHS copy that I found in a bargain bin for 50 cents.
I hope one day a proper Blu-ray is released that is cleaned up and with some extras for the fans. The current BR is just terrible. Tons of grain and hasn't be touched at all. The latest movie coming out from Michael Bay sounds like a joke. Call me a hater but I am not at all looking forward to it. I expect pure shit with Meagan Fox's bizarre thumbs mixed in. Bay might find a way to to top the giant dump that was Turtles 3 but I doubt it.

Tags: comics, movies, tv, tmnt, total recall, 1990