We all know the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) as a fun kids cartoon but you may also remember the horrible 90’s TMNT movie trilogy, however, one of these movies isn’t so bad. In fact it’s one of the best comic book stories ever told on the big screen, and it’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990). The film stars Judith Hoag as April O’Neil, Elias Koteas as Casey Jones, Brian Tochi as Leonardo, Josh Pais as Raphael, Corey Feldman as Donatello, and Robbie Rist as Michelangelo and they play their part beautifully. Donnie and Mikey have a real and believable brotherly relationship and the comic relief of the film, and Leo and Ralph are both respectful of who their characters are and how they behave.
The plot is simple with the Turtles rescuing April and bringing her back to their lair with a Foot Clan member following. Then after the foot invades both April’s and the Turtle’s home. They go to April’s old farmhouse with Casey tagging along, until the final showdown with the Shredder, it ends with Casey crushing Shredder to his presumable death in the back of a garbage truck.
In my opinion, TMNT(1990) with a budget of only 13.5 million dollars, is one the best comic book movie adaptations ever made, up there with Tim Burton’s “Batman” and Richard Donner’s “Superman”. Jim Henson, and his genuine love for the source material, makes an amazing movie I would highly recommend.
