Joey Magidson
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is perhaps the first big screen effort to really get these characters right. As a lover of TMNT growing up, especially the animated series, I’ve seen several efforts try, but none succeed fully. Well, at least until now. That ridiculous amount of fun and understanding of the characters made me very keen to talk to the creatives here, and today, I’m please to present a discussion with filmmaker Jeff Rowe!
In my review, I had this, in part, to say about Rowe’s work on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem:
Jeff Rowe co-directs with Kyler Spears, while co-writing with Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Dan Hernandez, and Benji Samit (Brendan O’Brien shares a story by credit with Rogen, Goldberg, and Rowe), imbuing it all with the spirit you want out of these characters. This feels like the turtles, even if it’s clear the style is visually playing off of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and its sequel. It looks great, the jokes almost all land, and the score from none other than Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross rocks.
Below, you can see my chat with Rowe. We recorded this a while ago, but with the film now in the thick of the Oscar race, it’s a perfect time to share. We talk about the fun that goes into a movie like this, as well as the work. Rowe is really funny, easygoing, and clearly proud of this project. It all comes out in the conversation. If you somehow haven’t seen Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem yet, make it your business to rectify that now.
Here now is my interview with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem filmmaker Jeff Rowe. Enjoy:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is available to watch right now!
The 1990 original directed by Steve Barron remains the best film iteration of the Turtles and remains one of the best comic book adaptations. It perfectly captured the essence of the Mirage comics, with some scenes being lifted right from the page! The movie managed to add the quirky humor found in the popular cartoon of the time but melded it with a sincerity that still has been unmatched.
Mutant Mayhem, while a good movie and made with an earnest heart, has many flaws – as do the other iterations.
One of the biggest is having classic rogues be allies in this movie. Another is removing Baxter Stockman from the board without utilizing who is arguably the Turtles second biggest foil following the Shredder.
There is a lot of fun to be found in the newest movie, and I did like it. My son enjoyed it and seeing him like this version of the Turtles is heartwarming.
Overall, I enjoyed Mutant Mayhem, but if polling the fandom-at-large, one would find the original classic from 1990 to be the superior film.
Duly noted.