"Out of the Shadows" lacks even a modicum of escapist joy that the live-action Ninja Turtles films of the '90s had. The film is bogged down with more action-figure-friendly supporting characters—oh yeah, "Arrow" star Stephen Amell plays hockey-mask-wielding hero Casey Jones—than even the most over-stuffed superhero movie. The plot is essentially lifted from several other Ninja Turtles-related stories. The film is pre-visualized-to-death with its ugly-looking CG protagonists, who still look like the California Raisins' olive-skinned, Mini-Cooper-sized cousins. The jokes feel like place-holders for actual jokes, especially Michelangelo's mediocre, sub-knock-knock jokes mugging. The action scenes, while more technically accomplished than the last Ninja Turtles' film's set pieces, lack any fun grace notes. And there's just so much dialogue that boils down to characters leaping to impossible conclusions that don't follow an internal logic.
But none of these complaints matter as much as the realization that some day soon, a kid is going to rewatch "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turles: Out of the Shadows," and want to buy something (toys, t-shirts, video games, Blu-rays, whatever). This kid may enjoy the film for a while since the hold of nostalgia is powerful. But this movie will let him or her down because it was not made to last. Pandering ferociously to young viewers with jokes about "tentacle mucus," Lionel Richie song cues and other mercilessly unfunny no-brow gags can only win you so much favor. There is something insidious about the dumb mirthlessness of "Out of the Shadows," and it's not the kind of thing that kids are completely blind to. So go ahead, take your children. Any disappointment that leads them to better age-appropriate entertainment is a worthwhile, healthy rite of passage. Their inevitable disillusionment may even hasten a growth spurt.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7s7vGnqmempWnwW%2BvzqZmq52mnrK4v46tnJ6mkZyybrnUrZinrF2jtq%2B2wGarrqqkobK0ec6uq2anlmLBqbGMrJ%2BanJ%2BswG5%2Bj2pt