Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is an underrated series that lasted two seasons, with fans bashing it for being a comedy and not having many established characters outside the Turtles, Splinter, and April O'Neal (even going as far as to make Shredder a secret while having new character Baron Draxum, voiced by professional wrestler John Cena, as the recurring enemy), but I found it to be a better comedy than Teen Titans Go! And this movie could be the farewell the series needs (unless it does well enough to warrant a third season happening0.
In the year 2044, the world has been taken over by the Krang, a race of aliens, who even defeat the resistance led by the Turtles. However, Casey Jones (not Cassandra Jones), the apprentice of Leo, is sent back in time to stop the Krang from entering Earth via a mystic doorway. Meanwhile, Leonardo's goofing off is getting on Raphael's nerves, which gets to a breaking point when the Foot Clan steal a mysterious object. Meeting Casey and learning the object is the key, the Turtles must stop the Krang and change the future, a task made more challenging when the aliens steal their mystic powers.
Being a Netflix movie, this movie does a lot of things that the TV was now allowed to (one scene had Future Leo swearing, the Krang mutating people in horrific ways). But the movie does keep the style and humor the show was known for. The movie reunites some of the cast of the show (Ben Schwartz is back as Leonardo, Eric Bauza as Master Splinter, and Omar Benson Miller as Raphael, among the other Turtles, April, and some of the villains that appear in this movie). Haley Joel Osment joins the cast as the voice of Casey Jones, while Jim Pirri and. Toks Oglagundoye voices two of the Krang leaders. This movie feels like it topped the series finale, as it has the Turtles fighting the Krang, which is a known character in the TMNT franchise, to prevent a dark future from falling not only on New York City, but the rest of the world as well.
