I’m beginning to wonder how insulted I should be that my childhood is, for the lack a better phrase, being optioned left and right for feature-length capsules of nostalgia. On the one hand, it’s hard not to get excited about the potential of all the scenarios you played out in your head with your favorite action figures coming to life on screen; on the other, there exists the very real possibility that watching your favorite characters reimagined on screen will cheapen those memories. This year brings the most egregious, and most promising, examples of this practice, with July’s Transformers and this month’s TMNT.

TMNT takes on the same mentality as Superman Returns, acknowledging the first two big-screen adventures of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the early 90s and rebooting the franchise from there. Their nemesis Shredder defeated, our reptilian heroes have grown lazy as crime fighters and apart as a family. Donatello runs his own 24-hour help desk over the phone, Michaelangelo dons a mascot costume and visits birthday parties, Leonardo is moping in the Central American jungle after being sent there by Splinter to learn more about leadership, and Raphael sleeps all day and is a rogue vigilante at night. When a tech tycoon (given life by the voice of Patrick Stewart) brings to life four ancient warriors (explained rather confusingly in a prologue that looks three millennia into the past) and mistakenly sets off a chain reaction that brings 13 monsters to New York, the team must rejoin and overcome their frustrations at each other to save the city.

For casual fans my age, there are immature jokes and “Cowabungas” to spare, giving an immediate connection to the reasons kids fell for the Turtles in the 80s. For those of us who formed deeper connections with the themes of the movies, this iteration does a magnificent job of more deeply exploring the power struggle between Raphael and Leonardo if not satisfyingly closing that arc. We even get to see April O’Neil (voiced by Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Casey Jones (Chris Evans) fulfill their romantic tension from the first movie; here, they’re sharing a living space and career in ancient artifacts.

Where the movie trips up is in introducing the Turtles to a whole new generation of kids who aren’t already watching the new Saturday morning cartoon. The story isn’t necessarily worthy of a full movie’s treatment, and the smarter step might have been to throw Shredder, Krang or even Baxter Stockman at the Turtles instead of a confusing cavalcade of creatures. But the CGI is brilliantly executed and the sound is phenomenal, justifying the need for a trip to the movie theatre. And while all the jokes or plot points aren’t directed at a younger audience, it opens the door for those interested to embrace the Turtles. Don’t be shell shocked if the treatment is better when the sequel (you heard me) comes along.

Rating: * * * of 5

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