Jumping on the Bed!

Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve seen the Turtles. I skipped work for a couple of hours today so Sabrina and I could watch the matinée before all the kiddies got out of school. We were at the first showing! The theatre was having a fun little promotion for it and had the place decked out with green cellophane covering the lobby lights, posters all over the place and even had three-foot Donatello and Leonardo figures hanging from ceiling. Raphael and Michaelangelo were “popping out” of a sewer lid on top of the Nacho case. The overall effect was pretty cool. When we got to the actual auditorium, the lights on the sides were swapped out with green coloured ones. Totally awesome!

Decorations aside, the movie was visually and aurally crisp and clean thanks to the digital projector. There were only a dozen and a half people there including some friends from our seasonal work. The movie is obviously tuned for kids, but it isn’t nearly as “cartoony” as the original cartoons in the 80’s. It has a darker feeling closer to the original comic books, but not as violent, so the new movie is kind of a mix of the two.

The story is pretty simple but well thought out, with the exception of one glaring continuity hole (the last monster). Well, perhaps it wasn’t a hole, and just something that was poorly explained. Anyway, it was still fun to watch, and the animation was spot on. The character designs were impressive, even though April reminded me a bit of Lara Croft in the beginning, she ended up kicked ass in the end.

If you loved the cartoons as a kid, you should go watch the movie. Not the live-action ones, but this new one by Imagi Studios. Plus there are a lot of really cool voice actors in there, including a few surprise cameos. I just wonder when the sequel will be coming out. Cowabunga Dudes!