One thing striking about Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon’s upcoming CG-animated “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” feature is the four characters themselves.
This take on the turtles sees the quartet acting like genuine teenagers for once, albeit those who are skilled at handling deadly weapons.
It’s helped along by the voice cast, which includes actual teenagers Micah Abbey (Donatello), Shamon Brown Jr. (Michelangelo), Nicolas Cantu (Leonardo) and Brady Noon (Raphael).
Speaking with Empire, director Jeff Rowe (“Gravity Falls,” “The Mitchells vs. the Machines”) says the tone is very much akin to several coming-of-age film classics and not like past Ninja Turtles films:
“We wanted it to be like Stand By Me and Lady Bird. But, you know, with Ninja Turtles. The ultimate teenage coming-of-age film… They’ve got a lot of that inauthentic confidence that teenagers have: when you’re a teen, you don’t know any better, so you operate with this hyped-up sense of, ‘We can do anything!'”.
The film begins as the Turtle brothers seek to win the hearts of New Yorkers by performing heroic acts they hope will get them accepted as normal teenagers.
They also take on a mysterious crime syndicate with the help of new friend April O’Neil (Ayo Edebiri) but find themselves over their heads when a mutant army is unleashed.
Nickelodeon’s first theatrical CG-animated movie, it also stars Jackie Chan as the voice of wise rat mentor Splinter, Seth Rogen as Bebop, John Cena as Rocksteady, Giancarlo Esposito as Baxter Stockman, Paul Rudd as Mondo Gecko, Ice Cube as Superfly, Rose Byrne as Leatherhead, Hannibal Buress as Genghis Frog, Natasia Demetriou as Wingnut, Post Malone as Ray Fillet and Maya Rudolph as Cynthia Utrom.
Brendan O’Brien (“Neighbors: Sorority Rising”) penned the script, while Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, and James Weaver produce.
“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” opens in cinemas on August 4th.
