MOVIE REVIEW: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993)

Oh boy, do I have some catching up to do! To make a long story short, I've got several important events coming up, combined with work that have completely turned my life upside-down until the beginning of April. But no matter, whenever I find a few minutes to myself, I do what makes me happy, like writing. So ever since I saw TMNT, I realized I'd never actually seen Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III of the original series. While I have been told by all accounts that it is terrible, I saw it, and I was surprised by how entertaining at the core it actually was. Sure it's dated as sin, and cheesy enough to make four large pies (get it? Nah, didn't think so). But it put a smile on my face for the nostalgia kick.

On a regular visit, journalist April O'Neil gets sent back in time by a mysterious artifact she brings back to the Ninja Turtles. Determined to rescue her, the turtles go back in time to Feudal Japan, and encounter a kingdom under siege by a ruthless warlord and a corrupt British colonist. Meanwhile, April finds herself in hot water when she accidentally convinces the people she's a witch, and Splinter, along with Casey Jones need to acclimatize a group of warriors accidentally sent back in place of the turtles. Oh yeah, and there's the obligatory brother-issues between the turtles on top of that.

If this movie were made today, it would be no different than anything released straight-to-video, production-wise. The whole movie is so cheap-looking, I'm surprised it actually made it to theaters. Even for the 90s, it looks as though it were a TV-movie, straight off of the Family Channel. Still, I wasn't too bothered by this, since the whole time I knew what I was getting out of it. The action is fast, fun and the comedic gags are childishly silly, but I found it all to be very enjoyable, as someone who was once young when this originally came out. Granted by biggest problem was that there were some awkward moments; a lot of jokes fell flat, and Leonardo gives CPR to a child one scene, but everything was really all in good fun. As an unashamed "Turtles" fan, I found it fairly enjoyable.

7/10

Peace,
- Jon