Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Cast

James Arnold Taylor - Leonardo, Mitchell Whitfield – Donatello, Nolan North – Raphael / Nightwatcher, Mikey Kelley - Michelangelo, Mako Iwamatsu - Master Splinter, Sarah Michelle Gellar - April O'Neil, Chris Evans - Casey Jones, Patrick Stewart - Max Winters, Zhang Ziyi – Karai, Kevin Michael Richardson - General Aquila, Paula Mattioli - General Serpiente, Fred Tatasciore - General Gato, Kevin Smith - Diner Cook, John DiMaggio - Colonel Santino, Laurence Fishburne – Narrator.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a 2007 film based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise. The film sees the Turtles grown apart after their defeat of The Shredder and their sensei, Master Splinter, is trying to keep the family together. Meanwhile, strange things are happening in New York City. An army of ancient creatures threatens to take over the world and the Turtles must unite again to save the world.

It is the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film to be made of computer-generated imagery (by Imagi Animation Studios), with the previous films being live action. It is the fourth film in the franchise, and the first in 14 years, with the previous film having been released in 1993. Chronologically, the film takes place after the original films. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was released on March 22, 2007 in Israel and Russia, on March 23, 2007, in the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States, and will be released on April 5, 2007 in Australia as well as subsequently in numerous other countries. It was the #1 film in the U.S. on its opening weekend, bringing in $25.45 million dollars.

The film features the four Turtles — Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo — as well as Splinter, Casey Jones and April O'Neil. Its main villains are Max Winters, and Karai and the Foot Clan. Voices are provided by Chris Evans, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Patrick Stewart and Ziyi Zhang. It is also the last film by Mako Iwamatsu.

Production

The first of three films released in the TMNT franchise by New Line Cinema in the early 1990s was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Subsequently, The Secret of the Ooze was released in 1991, and finally Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III in 1993. The 1993 film was the last TMNT film released until 2007. A CGI TMNT movie was first announced in 2000, with John Woo supposedly at the helm. That movie languished in development hell, however, and John Woo ultimately moved on to other projects. TMNT departs from the previous films' live action style, and is the first TMNT film to be CGI. Writer/Director Kevin Munroe, who had previously worked with video games, comics and television animation said that he wanted to do total CGI instead of live action and CGI turtles because it would be easier for the audience to "suspend disbelief for such an offbeat story" as there would be no break in the reality between CGI and live action. Producer Tom Gray explained that the decision to depart from the live action franchise was due to escalating budgets for the three films, and with each film making less than its predecessor, a CGI film became a reality. For example the first film made $132 million on a budget of $11 million, and the third made $42 million on a budget of $20 million. The rights expired with Golden Harvest, and Gray, at an animation company, said the question arose there over a CGI TMNT film in 2004.

Before Kevin Munroe was hired as director and writer, Munroe first had to gain the approval by Turtles co-creator Peter Laird. Not knowing if they'd ever meet again, Munroe brought an original copy of the first issue of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic book for Laird to sign. After spending a day discussing his ideas with Laird, Munroe left the meeting unsure if he would get the film. Later, he would open the comic to see a drawing Laird had done of Raphael, one of the turtles, with the words "Dear Kevin . . . make a good movie . . . or else."

Munroe stated in terms of the story line that ideas were floated as extreme as the Turtles being in space, but eventually it just came back to New York City, and the theme of the family that had fallen apart. When scripting the screenplay, Munroe wanted to take on a less lighthearted tone as shown in the 1987 animated series and emphasis on dark elements as shown in the original comics to appeal to the mature audience. "I had a very specific tone because mixing that sort of action and comedy is a very specific thing. Most people were just coming and wanting to make it too funny. I think that version of the movie could do really well, but we wanted to do something where it sort of pushes the envelope a little bit more and says that animation is more than just comedic animals bumping into each other and farting!" Munroe said that both in design and in the rendering of the animation he was after the feel of a comic book.

Production for TMNT began on June of 2005 with a budget estimated between $35 to 40 million. Other sources stated the budget is $34 million. Development and pre-production took place at Imagi's Los Angeles facility and then the state-of-the-art CG animation were produced in Hong Kong, followed by post-production in Hollywood. For designing the New York backdrop, art director/concept artist Simon Murton stylized the familiar Manhattan skyline and urban landscapes to make them appear uniquely "TMNT." "We began with cinematic cues from certain black-and-white films from the 1940s and '50s," notes Murton. "I really wanted to push the lighting and the environments to create the look and feel of an alternate reality."[11] The animators that worked on the fight sequences were inspired by Hong Kong action films. Animation director Kim Ooi explains since it was in CG, they were able to "push and stylize beyond the limits of live action." Imagi used Maya with Pixar’s RenderMan for the production pipeline’s back-end.

The cast is basically a new one compared to the older films. Jim Cummings is the only past TMNT actor to appear in this film. Cummings has previously contributed voice-work in the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series. TMNT was Mako Iwamatsu's last film prior to his death. Mako was announced as the voice of Splinter at the San Diego Comic-Con on July 20, 2006. He then passed away the next day. It has been reported that he had previously recorded a majority of his dialogue for the film, making this his last film. A dedication to Mako appears at the end of the film's credits.

Plot

After the defeat of their old arch nemesis, The Shredder, the Turtles have grown apart as a family: Leonardo has been traveling the world for the last year, honing his skills. Raphael has been scouring the streets at night as a masked vigilante, the Nightwatcher, taking a page from Casey Jones' book. Michelangelo, in order to bring money in, has taken a job as a masked children's birthday party character (known as "Cowabunga Carl"), and Donatello works as an information technology consultant. Struggling to keep the family together, Splinter then realizes that strange things are starting to happen in New York. Immortal tech-industrialist Max Winters, who attempted to conquer the world three thousand years ago by amassing an army of monsters using an ancient device to open a portal during an alignment of nine stars, is seemingly at work at the plot again. In the process, he reawakens his siblings, called the "Stone Generals", from their sleep (the four having been recovered unknowingly by April). Furthermore, Winters has enlisted the help of Karai, a minion of the erstwhile Shredder, who is intent on restoring the glory of her late master. Karai has assumed leadership of the fearsome Foot Clan and throughout the majority of the film, she is an elusive, adept ninja and commander who directs her troops in accordance with Winters' wishes of opening the portal.
As the film progresses, the Turtles reacquaint with one another and enlist the help of their old allies, Casey Jones and April O'Neil, in order to put a stop to Winters' plans and save the world. Leonardo returns to New York City and re-assumes the leadership of his brothers, though this creates much contention between Raph and Leo; much of the second half of the film focuses on the discord between the two, ending in a duel between the two that Ralph feels will determine the true leader of the Turtles. The battle grows on and ends with Raphael the victor. Raphael's sais were intertwined with Leonardo's katanas and the last strike was waiting to happen. Raphael made the strike, breaking the katana blades and pinning Leonardo to the ground. Coming to the realization of what he had done and fearing what type of being he had become, Raphael runs off in complete shock. Suddenly, Leonardo was hit by a dart that weakened his senses. Added the fact that he had broken katana blades and was all alone, Leonardo was subject to capture by the Stone Generals. Hearing Leonardo's painful scream, Raphael runs back to track the usurpers, though to no avail. He returns to his deep-sewer home and, much like Leonardo before him, calls upon Master Splinter for leadership advice. He admits to Splinter that he understands why Splinter chose Leonardo as the leader over him (as proven on the roof where Raphael gave into his rage to deliver the final blow). Splinter tells him that he is no less or more than his brother and confirms that Raphael's aggression is partially the reason he was not considered as the leader of the Turtles, though that it not to say that Raphael lacks the potential. The three brothers then set out to save Leonardo and, with the help of Splinter, Jones, and O'Neil, they took on the Foot in their attempt to rescue Leonardo. They were finally able to do so and Raphael had new katana blades for Leonardo. Raphael then asks Leonardo to lead them and mentions that they needed him. In a touching scene of brotherly love, Leonardo returns the statement, "I need you, too [on this team]!" With that statement, the team was finally whole.
Though Winters is considered evil by the Turtles and their allies throughout the film, he ultimately is redeemed by his good intentions; his motives for opening the portal were to return thirteen beasts already released to where they came from, return his siblings to mortality and flesh, and restore his own mortality. One of the Soldiers realizes Winters' true intentions and begins to rally the others into mutiny, though the Turtles ultimately thwart this attempt, with the help of Jones, O'Neil, the Foot Clan and Master Splinter.