Marval Movie

If there was an argument that you could look at movies like time capsules then Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II Secret of the Ooze is the equivalent of a smoking gun of evidence for that argument.

The movie was released a year later after the first movie and picks up where the last movie left off. But in-between the movies it seems like only a few weeks has past since then. Their now living with April (re-cast by Paige Turco) and it seems as if their still fresh off their victory over the Shredder.

The character of Keno (Ernie Reyes Jr.) is added to the movie just about at the start. He's and asian kid that knows martial arts and wants to help with Turtles is stopping the bad guys. He's not a bad character and it is nice to see some diversity being added to the movies, its just that he really isn't that interesting or engaging of a character. He may be a teenage ninja but not a mutant turtle.

This time the movie leans more towards the cartoon by making it less risky with the language and the action. There are no more "Damn's!" and the Turtles use their weapons less. They resort to using whatever props they can get, like instead of his bow-staff Donatello will use a foam bat (cause that will incapacitate the enemy), or Michelangelo with use hotdogs (Huh?). It seems like all the edge to the first move has been smoothed over to make it more kid friendly. But it was the edge that made it more than a run of the mill movie that was made from a children's cartoon, it was simple and accessible enough for children to watch and enjoy it but also there were enough adult images and themes for the adults to get into as well give the kids a reason to re-watch the movie when they got older. Now all that's gone.This movie is a live action cartoon complete with swish and sploosh sound effect when the Turtles move or throw something.

This movie focuses on the origin of then Turtles and the question I'm sure people have about the details of their mutation. We learn that it was a big super lab company that made the Ooze which was the cause of their mutation. The scientist in-charge of the laboratory is played by the great David Warner. He brings so much credibility and fun to the role and injects it to the movie as a whole.

Being that Shredder and his Ninjas lost to the Turtles last time it stands to reason that they need an edge this time, as-well as up their scale as any good sequel does. So they get the same Ooze that mutated the Turtles and give it to a Wolf and a snapping Turtle that gives us Toka and Razar. Their big and threatening but the movie makes up for it by giving them infant minds.They look threatening but act funny, for kids.

The climax of the movie has the fight move to a Club where, of all people, Vanilla Ice is playing, the Turtles start fighting Toka and Razar while the crowd and and Ice start getting into it and and they bust out a "Ninja Rap". It is a completely ridiculous, over the top, has no place in the world of believability and yet there is just something so glorious about it. I say I watch movies to see something I haven't seen before and ow my does this tick the box.

The movie is dedicated to Jim Henson. Henson passed away a year before the movie came out and the great costumes of the Turtles stand as a testament to what a master craftsman the man was.

This is a worthy successor to the first movie, it has more fun, ups its game and gives us answers to the Turtles origin that we might have had since watching the first movie. But while the first movie naturally had some elements that made it a product of the nineties it still had a few timeless qualities to it, but this movie is almost pure nineties.

Rating: 3 stars out of 4