scottsc@microsoft.UUCP (Scott SCHULTZ) (03/27/91)
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES 2
"Secret of the Ooze"
A film review by Scott Schultz
Copyright 1991 Scott Schultz
Yes, the Turtles are back and I got a chance to preview them at a
local S.I.D.S. foundation fundraiser. Vanilla Ice was even there (ohh,
ahh!) but I'm not a rap-fan so I didn't pay too much attention to him.
This film has many of the same flaws of its predecessor.
Unfortunately, it also suffers from "How do we end this?" disease. The
filmmakers come up with some interesting ideas during the first half of
the film and then they fail to develop any of them. The last one-third
of the film is one corny, illogical scene after another. The first
Turtles film was made to cash in on the craze, but it had a certain
amount of story to it that was based on a mixture of Eastman and Laird's
comics, the animated series, and the writer's imagination. This is
strictly mind-candy that is designed to entice kids into talking their
parents out of some pocket money.
Without giving away too much of the plot, the story follows these
lines:
The Turtles are living with April O'Neil while looking for a new
hideout. They make a new friend, a pizza delivery boy who also knows
martial arts. The Shredder comes back; I'd consider that a spoiler
except that the TV ads have not only been showing that information but
they have actually been showing pieces of the "surprise" ending. How
the Shredder survived a 7-8 story fall into a garbage truck and
subsequent crushing by the trash masher is unexplained. The rest of the
movie involves the Turtles discovery of the origin of the radioactive
ooze that created them and Shredder's simultaneous discovery of it and
his use of it in his revenge.
This is a kid's film all the way. More than half of the jokes are
drawn from the first movie though some of the rest are funny. The
violence is toned down a bit from the first movie though there are more
actual confrontations between the Turtles and the Foot Clan. My son
enjoyed it and I didn't see anything in the film that would harm any
child's psyche. My prediction is that this film will be out of the
theatres in a few weeks and appear on video in November, just in time to
be put in a bunch of Turtle Kid's stockings.
Bottom Line: Thumbs down if you're an adult. Kids are less
critical and just want to see Turtles. I have to admit that I was
disappointed because I was one of the minority of adults who liked the
first movie. It wasn't Oscar material but it was a decent rendition of
the Turtle's story. SECRET OF THE OOZE is the dog that I was afraid
the first movie would be. C'est la Vie.
--
Scott Schultz -- uunet!microsoft!scottsc or uw-beaver!microsoft!scottsc