Title – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023)

Directors – Jeff Rowe (The Mitchells vs The Machines) & Kyler Spears (feature debut)  

Cast – (voices of) Micah Abbey, Shamon Brown Jr., Nicolas Cantu, Brady Noon, Ayo Edebiri, Maya Rudolph, John Cena, Seth Rogen, Jackie Chan

Plot – Living a solitary life under the streets of New York City, a group of mutant turtles make their way to the surface and discover they must help stop a new threat to the city before it’s too late. 

“Our dad’s definitely not a giant rat”

Review by Eddie on 19/09/2023

I’m not entirely sure the world was crying out for another reiteration of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles brand but thanks to some noteworthy animation, a banging soundtrack, some great voice acting turns and a witty script overseen by comedy kingpins Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, Mutant Mayhem is an unexpected winner that is sure to please old school fans and newbies alike. 

Undoubtedly taking its inspiration from the recent Spider-Verse films, Nickelodeon’s newest take on the Turtles brand, that thankfully farewells the Megan Fox and Johnny Knoxville era of the series, is the type of energetic and creatively alive type of film that does the property proud, mostly steering away from too much of the origin story formula we sometimes get from this type of film to give its audience a quick, savvy and colourful adventure that doesn’t provide anything of a deep nature but certainly excels in the entertainment stakes. 

Bringing the world of sewer dwelling turtles Donatello, Michelangelo, Leonardo and Raphael to vivid life with a cartoony but impressive animated style and some enthusiastic voice performances from its young cast (that benefits greatly from not looking to enlist A-lister’s in these roles), Mutant Mayhem never goes out of its way to create a storyline that doesn’t follow a fairly safe trajectory but co-directors Jeff Rowe and Kyler Spears are constantly delivering great content throughout and whether it’s creative action set-pieces (a late set piece with the Jackie Chan voiced Splinter a highlight), enjoyable character interactions or fantastic fan service moments, Mutant Mayhem crams a lot into its brisk sub 100 minute runtime that never outstays its welcome. 

Moving quickly as we first meet our team of leads as young everyday turtles that are transformed into the ninja attired heroes we get too later on, Mutant Mayhem has a blast letting the pizza loving brothers lose on the streets of New York City where they come into contact with Ayo Edebiri’s April O’Neil, discover a new threat in the form of Ice Cube’s Superfly and cross paths with the likes of notable voice performers such as John Cena, Seth Rogen, Rose Byrne and a scene-stealing Post Malone, ensuring there is always something going on in this breezy outing that is hopefully the foundation for more yet to come, despite a rather muted box office reception that deserved to make more of a mark in the loaded Summer of releases. 

Final Say – 

Against the odds Mutant Mayhem makes yet another version of the Teenage Mutant Ninja brand work thanks to a charming delivery and an adventure that oozes charisma. An animated film that has enough to appeal to a broad age group and demographics, this is one of 2023’s most genuinely surprising successes. 

3 1/2 unfortunate giraffes out of 5