Turtles III

The turtles are at it again with their 3rd Turtle movie, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3 but unfortunately, it isn't as good as the first two, the first one was a classic and the 2nd one was very good but the 3rd one is fairly dissapointing, the worst thing about this movie is Splinter's voice was awful and going back to time was a cheesy idea, but fortunately Elias Koteas returns as the immortal Casey Jones although he only gets to appear in about 10 minutes of the whole movie and Corey Feldman returns as the voice of Donatello (he couldn't make it to the 2nd one due to heroin addiction).

This movie gets 2 out of 5 stars instead of 1 since this movie does have Casey Jones and it's not a total waste of time.

I'm only a fan of this movie for the nostalgia. As a kid, I was obsessed with 1993 ninja turtle Saturday morning cartoon. I distinctly remember getting this movie as a reward for getting good grades in every subject on my report card that term. I must've watched this movie at least a dozen times that summer.

sorry for the tangent. corey feldman does the voice of a lifesize puppet. how can that possibly be a good sign? the heroes of the movie are irritating in every scene. the consistently bad puns will make you want to slam your head against a wall. the portrayal of the fictional early 90's new york that exists in this movie is about as funny as rick moranis's career. avoid avoid avoid.

Originally when I saw this movie, it had only just come out in theaters and I was just a kid. At the time, I thought the movie was a steaming pile of crap, no where near in comparison tot he first two. Hell, I overlooked the inclusion of Vanilla Ice for YEARS, insisting that even if he was in the second movie, it was still better than the third. However, now that I am older and a touch wiser, I've gone back and watched all three movies (I've been on a serious TMNT-a-Thon ever since I heard a new movie was in the making). While I admit the third is indeed the worst of the three, it is far from the travesty I originally thought (and thought for years). Aside from the silly story and the poor quality turtle costumes, the dialog is given several moments to shine with some surprisingly funny jokes and one-liners and minor giggles. I'm not saying every TMNT fan should go out and buy this. I don't even own it myself. However, I think you should get a few friends together, grab some snacks, some source of caffeine, order a pizza, and rent TMNT III for a night of absurdity and laughs. That's what my friends and I did <3

All in all, this is a fun movie. After the first two TMNT movies, this one breaks with the Shredder theme (fortunately as Shredder seemed about as hard to kill as the first Terminator) and takes the brothers back in time. Warring families in feudal Japan provide the backdrop for teenage Turtle-jinx while Elias Koteas (Casey Jones) displays an enlightening dual role capability. The costumes look more comfortable at the expense of realistic but otherwise, the puns - I mean fun - keeps flowing. If you enjoyed the first two then see this one.

The story of the turtles gets even more far-fetched in this inferior installment, with the turtles going back in time to 1603 Japan. The Jim Henson's Creature Shop obviously didn't provide for the turtles, which is a major blow to the overall production. There are a couple of pros that save the film from being a total disaster, including: the return of Casey Jones (Koteas), who's reprisal may make some fans feel that the second installment had a void with his omission; some fun parallels between 1603 Japan and the turtles' life in 1993 New York; wonderful set production for the Japan scenes; and well-developed new characters. While the omission of any references to the Foot Clan may heavily separate this film from the others in the series, it executes an entertaining and solid story. It's also nice to see the turtles and Splinter are still living in the abandoned underground train station from the second film, as well as Turco NOT suffering a recast of April O'Neal like Hoag did; which shows some attempt at continuity despite its major differences from the first two. However, the flaws are too great for its pros to overcome mediocre status. Right from the get-go the movie seems like a lost cause, with the opening credits being accompanied by a ridiculously, terribly unnecessary, spontaneous turtle-dance. Also, couldn't they have found a way to throw Chief Stern (Serra) in for some extra comedic-relief and continuity?

** (out of four)