Review Roundup: TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES Return to Fight Crime on the Big Screen

Everyone's favorite crime-fighting reptiles return in the first installment of the reboot of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series, which opens today, August 8th. The film was produced by Michael Bay's production company, Plantinum Dunes.

Following the format of the original TMNT films, New York City is once again threatened by the evil villian Shredder, and it's up to four unlikely heroes (you guessed it, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) to save the city and derail Shredder's evil intentions.

The film features Noel Fisher, Alan Ritchson, Jeremy Howard, and Pete Ploszek as the Ninja Turtles, alongside Megan Fox as April O'Neil, a Brave reporter who aids the TMNTs in their efforts to save the city.

Let's see what the critics had to say!

Nicolas Repold, New York Times: The four unruly sewer-dwelling title characters look streamlined but no longer sweet in their goofy freakishness as they battle Shredder and his minions in a New York City that's as plain as the movie.

Ross Miller, The Verge: The movie is far from perfect ("generic" is perhaps the most appropriate term), but it's exactly what a Turtles film has always been: silly fun.

Jordan Hoffman, The Guardian: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a recognizable and marketable intellectual property, so it's had more than its share of relaunches. But movies dictated from boardrooms aren't always this dreary.

Justin Chang, Variety: If nothing else, Paramount's attempt at a bigscreen "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" reboot should make for a fascinating case study in the power of fan outrage.

Sandie Angulo Chen, Washington Post: After enduring more than a year of rumors and studio delays, some "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" devotees may be appeased by Paramount's fairly faithful film reboot of their beloved reptilian superheroes. But more are likely to be disappointed to discover that the talking Turtles have been reduced to sidekicks to the actual focus of this film: summer-movie sexpot Megan Fox.

Justin Lowe, Hollywood Reporter: ...the drawn-out 101-minute running time and the nonstop cartoonish violence may deter some would-be fans, or perhaps the adults who pay for their movie tickets.

Kyle Anderson, Entertainment Weekly: Is it the kids drawn to the hit animated Nickelodeon reboot or the middle-aged crowd looking to reconnect with yet another thing they loved in their youth? The filmmakers never came up with a resolution, which is why we have a reported $125 million effects parade with a crippling identity problem.

Kyle Smith, New York Post: The turtles' mix of fighting prowess and jaunty middle- school chatter (lots of uses of "bro") might work for the Nickelodeon crowd, but for grown-ups, the comedy-action mash-up is as weird as if the Dark Knight took a break from belting the Joker to plug Pizza Hut and bang out a hiphop beat on his nunchucks.

Scott Mendelson, Forbes: The rushed 100-minute picture spends too much time on plot that needlessly connects all of the main characters while leaving next-to-no time to actually build relationships.

Kofi Outlaw, Screen Rant: In the end, TMNT reflects many of the criticisms now inherent in just about any Platinum Dunes remake (polished and prettier, but lacking the depth, substance and fun of the original) - but as with many of those same remakes, that doesn't qualify it as a terrible movie.

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