1. Where do they come up with this stuff? - Using The Eclectic Origins Of The Comic
As many fans know, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles originally started out as something of a joke. It was a parody of Daredevil, The New Mutants, and Frank Millers Ronin (this author just learned that Cerebus also played a role in the Turtles conception). The early comic book stories of the Turtles were indeed a product of the times and reflected a mélange of other influences, from science fiction to subversive punk rock, told with ridiculously fantastical backdrops spanning the universe(s). But like anything that develops a following, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic eventually began to settle into its screwball world and take itself at least somewhat seriously, genuinely caring about its characters and what they found themselves going through. The 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film plays on the origins of the comic brilliantly, but not through tongue-in-cheek. It takes the same concepts and influences which created the Turtles and creates a reality-based iteration out of them, which turns out to be immensely entertaining for what the filmmakers wanted to do. The movie flows effortlessly between comedy, drama, science fiction, and martial arts. The Turtles live in a sewer, building their lives from the garbage no one else wants or cares about within the lived-in world. Their home is shaped from a hodgepodge of materials, old and new. Their human friends, despite living above ground, are still outcasts in their own right with similar but not as obvious standards of living. This focus not only creates a branching point for drama, but it creates great possibilities for humor as well. April and the Turtles are endeared to one another not just through original conversations, but impersonations. Not Cagney. They have all grown up in mishmash worlds guided by fathers who valued compassion; they have seen similar things and react in similar ways. Casey Jones gathers together a melting pot of sports gear with a mask very reminiscent of Jason Voorhees to scare the criminals he confronts, and also knows his pop culture, if not his psychology terminology. The Turtles and their friends all creatively demonstrate a deep fondness for pop culture, referencing The Grapes of Wrath, Vanna, Jose Canseco, bossa novasChevy Novas?and Sony payments. The Turtles do their own riff on Tequila, and theres nothing quite like seeing intelligent turtles react to The Tortoise and the Hare. In their world, everything has been done, and paradoxically, that is an awesome reality in which to explore and be entertained. The movie is very interested in exploring the status of children growing up in a world like this, and brings this point home through Dannys arc. Even the Shredder is given a very interesting role in this sense, not only in using a collection of children like Fagin in Oliver Twist, but in using propaganda with a persona built from samurai and Darth Vader (also conceived from samurai) to commit the astoundingly mundane crime of miscellaneous consumer electronics theft. Hes a black market pawn shop dealer. The Turtles and their allies care about this hybrid, jumbled, diverse world thrown haphazardly together, and the Shredder wants to profit from it. The restbut mostly Sam Rockwellare left in the middle, trying to figure it out. Platinum Dunes does not usually linger far from the literal mechanics of sequential events, and the use of a telling underlying theme is probably a big step and too much to hope for. But even if it only tries, it will be a step in the right direction. This point is both final and Number 1 for a reason. Click "next" below for our conclusion...