As Tartarugas Ninjas

The once-very-popular Turtles, who are trained in the martial arts courtesy of their master, a rat named Splinter, are duty-bound to save the city from a group of youths that are known as The Foot, who have been stealing and committing crimes within the area. They end up befriending a young reporter named April O'Neill, who reads the news on the local TV station, after she is rescued from an attack from The Foot. Once she is home our shelled friends find that The Foot has captured Splinter, and so must rescue him and face the might of The Foot's leader -- Shredder! I was already familiar with the cartoon series (that had apparently been censored somewhat on its arrival in the UK for fear that children would copy the martial artistry), so I was a little dubious as to whether this would work in live-action. Strangely enough, even when I saw it for the first time in 1991, aged 18, I enjoyed it! It was brilliantly done, Shredder looked particularly menacing (as did his right-hand man Tatsu), and Splinter's voice sometimes moved you almost to tears, especially with the charming musical score. The martial arts action is quite well done (although Michelangelo did not have his Nunchaku weapon that his comic-book and video game version does), and the dark look of the whole thing suits it perfectly. This is certainly worth a look.