Tmnt movies12/31/2022 That's something we talk about a lot – just to be aware of as filmmakers. They are legitimately funny and star comedy stars. Not to say you should not make those types of films, but know that's what audiences are seeing, and that, when you see those movies in theaters, they are playing like comedies. That is the benchmark that people expect! If you're going to make a big huge comedy, just know that your competition is like Marvel. There are $200 million comedies out there, and so that's something, as a comedic filmmaker, to be aware of. Even the follow-ups in New Line's original "Ninja Turtles" trilogy went too far over to camp with 1991's "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze" and its embarrassing Vanilla Ice cameo, or the 1993 trilogy capper "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III" and its absurd/lazy time travel conceit. This fidelity to the material proved to be much harder than Barron made it look. ![]() Their subway lair looked like a real sewer, not something sanitized for children. Casey Jones looked like Casey Jones with his trademark hockey mask. Rather than being hokey, the tragic flashbacks of Splinter's master dying play like outtakes from "Shogun Assassin." The costume designs and animatronics by Jim Henson's Creature Shop (overseen by Henson himself shortly before he died) stayed true to their nature from the comics and cartoon show, walking the line of pop without being too kitsch.īy the time "Ninja Turtles" came to theaters other films had tried and failed to tap into the same kid-friendly comic book tone, namely George Lucas' tone-deaf take on Marvel's "Howard the Duck" and Cannon Films' hopelessly schlocky "Masters of the Universe." The biggest sin both of those efforts committed was deviating too much from the source material, something "Ninja Turtles" took to heart by maintaining the look and feel of the characters and their NYC setting. The fighting elements are handled with aplomb, no doubt due partially to the film's Chinese production company Golden Harvest, which had helped to popularize martial arts movies in America with "Enter the Dragon" years before. Barron didn't shoot it with the bright/flat Walmart lighting you often see in kids movies, nor did he stage it with the slapstick silliness of Richard Lester's "Superman" films. Why was it successful? Because in between jokes about pizza and turtle wax were legitimate moments of violence, struggle, and loss. ![]() Even the legendary critic Roger Ebert could barely put a dent in it, admitting it was "probably the best possible 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle' movie.'" Based on the comic book by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird (itself a parody of Frank Miller's "Daredevil" run), the IP had evolved into a popular cartoon show, a toy line, and even an addictive Nintendo video game before it was brought to the screen to enormous success. In 1990, music video director Steve Barron cracked the code on combining superheroics and laughs with New Line Cinema's sleeper hit "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," which went on to become (and maintain as its status through the '90s) the highest-grossing independent film of all-time, taking in $200 million worldwide on a $13 million-dollar budget.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |