Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem Review - 7 Ups & 3 Downs

4. The Strong Characterisation

Perhaps the single most crucial thing that this film gets right is its characterisation. More so than any previous Turtles film, Mutant Mayhem appreciates that the heroes are teenagers who so desperately want to attend high-school and do everything else human teens do.

Prejudice looms large throughout the film, with Splinter's previous experiences with humanity causing him to swear them off forever more, while Superfly's distaste for humankind's treatment of his father has driven him to try and subjugate the entire race.

Yet rather than simply shrug and accept that humanity would, in "real life," probably harbour an inherent disgust for the Turtles, this movie settles on a more optimistic note which flies the flag for inclusion and leaving "othering" in the past where it belongs. A great message for a film aimed primarily at kids.

As a result, despite its fundamental wackiness this is by far the most mature and thematically thoughtful of all the Turtles films, yet never in a way where it feels like it's preaching.