Saturday, June 11, 2016

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2

Let me first apologize for the small delay in this review. It has been a crazy week. We viewed the movie last week on Thursday evening, but we were out early Friday morning to volunteer at the Special Olympics Vermont Summer Games for the weekend. I strongly encourage all of you to reach out to your local Special Olympics program and get involved. Even if it just for a couple of hours at one of their events, it will be one of the most rewarding experiences of your life. Apart from the amazing weekend, the whole family is also getting ready to walk in the Relay For Life for the American Cancer Society as Team Jeremy. Team Jeremy was formed in memory of my brother and the World Wide Blog of Movies Founder, Jeremy Boquet. If you would like to learn more about our team and the Relay For Life, please check out this link http://main.acsevents.org/goto/TeamJeremy

Now, on to the review.

“Heroes in a half shell. Turtle Power!” Many of us remember having fun singing along with those lyrics when we were kids. “TMNT 2” is all about that kind of fun. After the first movie in this series drew a lot of criticism for its base story being so similar to “The Amazing Spider-Man”, the sequel movie goes back to what made the Turtles fun to begin with.

The Turtles, of course, are all back. Maybe not, but it sure looks like a few minor changes were made to character design. They seemed to look a little more turtle like and less alien this time around. The overall portrayals work well. Yes, they are mutant turtles with incredible martial arts skills, but they are also teenagers, dealing with living in a sewer, beneath the city they love.

Also returning is Megan Fox as reporter, April O'Neil. This is another character that benefited from the studio embracing the spirit of the cartoons. In some parts, she does seem to be written more as a segway to advance the turtle's story. Although if you consider that was basically the intent behind creating the character in the first place, then on a whole, she does very well.

Joining April and the Turtles is Casey Jones. Stephen Amell plays the goalie mask wearing vigilante. Casey is given a backstory this time. Although it isn’t extremely in depth, it is nice to get some idea of why he does what he does. They even have one scene where he hits a hockey puck at a distance to take down a bad guy. So Stephen Amell plays a masked vigilante with expert aim. That sounds familiar. Despite that similarity, he creates a character that is very different than Arrow but just as fun to watch.

There are also a few characters making their first big screen appearances. Who else was excited to see Beebop and Rocksteady join the movie universe? Even if Beebop’s trademark mohawk and glasses looked a bit out of place in the present day setting, they were essential to capture the essence of the character. Krang, the evil brain, also makes an appearance, although it was a little brief. There are some things that happen with this character that will be interesting to see play out in the next movie.


While the TMNT movie series may not be the next “Avengers”, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. “TMNT 2” brings you back to what the Turtles are all about. Fun, excitement, and energy. For those who remember the original cartoon series, this is is a great flashback. For anyone who doesn’t, this is still a lot of fun and may leave you heading to the store to by the series on DVD.

After you have seen the movie, please let us know what you think in the comments below.  Please remember, NO SPOILERS!!! and no offensive language.

See you at the movies!


-Brad-

Thank you to ESSEX CINEMAS and T-REX for being the theater of choice for our movie reviews. When you are looking for the best place to check out a movie, make it ESSEX CINEMAS and T-REX at the Essex Outlets Center in Essex, VT! 

The T-Rex Theater is AMAZING!!! With the 60 foot curved screen and 124 speakers which is part of 7.1 Digital Surround Sound, there are 401 extra wide luxury seats with memory-foam headrests making a movie theater trip you will never forget! T-Rex stands for “Theater Real Extreme” 

Also check out movies in Plattsburgh, New York at Cumberland 12!

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