Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from March 30, 1990, is a great movie and classic cinema. This is my review of the film.
The first thing to say about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is that it's a good movie. It has an engaging plot, excellent dialogue, and plenty of action scenes to keep you entertained. What I don't like about the film is how nonprogressive it is. The turtles are a bunch of four green guys, and there's no other ethnic diversity in sight for most parts either; their female human friend April O'Neil is basically a sex object. April wears a revealing yellow jumpsuit throughout her screen time as well.
I know that this is 1990s cinema we're talking about here but even so I found the lack of racial, gender, and sexual orientation equality deeply disappointing to watch. My Gen Z significant other told me to stop being a little bitch. It was also made before #MeToo came along too which makes it all the worse when you consider how much violence there is in TMNT. Women most affected because of this movie!
The film opens with the turtles leaving their home in the New York City sewers to rescue April as they race to the Technodrome where The Foot is waiting for them. The four Turtles drive through New York City in the Party Wagon. Raphael drives with Michelangelo, Donatello, and Leonardo riding shotgun. They also bring their Master Splinter. The Technodrome is located underneath New York City's streets. As usual, no one notices or cares that four teenage mutant ninja turtles are driving around the city at night with an armored van. The Technodrome is covered in foot-thick titanium armor, has a massive number of weapons, and stands several stories tall. In addition to its massive size and armaments, the Technodrome is equipped with a Trans-Dimensional Portal that allows it and its occupants to travel between various dimensions.
Once inside of the Technodrome, Shredder sends the four turtles back through time via the portal. Their first stop is the stone age. There are dinosaurs everywhere, and the Turtles fight some cavemen. Eventually, our turtles make it out of prehistoric times and end up on a pirate ship in 1694. At least there's no more dinosaur fighting, but now we have pirates instead! I wish it had pirates vs human ninjas.
The next time jump takes us on a train in the Wild West era. Our turtles get into fistfights with cowboys while trying to avoid being shot. From there they go to the future in the year 3000. This is where things start getting really interesting because they encounter robots and cyborgs. They finally arrive in the present day again inside of the Technodrome.
Shredder's plan is to use April O'Neil as bait so he can destroy the turtles. The turtles rescue April from the Technodrome. While trying to leave the Technodrome they came across another prisoner. This person turns out to be Bill Murray from Ghostbusters. He was captured by Shredder for denying the public Ghostbusters 3.
The turtles and April escape the Technodrome. They return to the sewers in New York City. Once they're home they celebrate with pizza. The movie ends there. My final thoughts? TMNT is a decent movie. It is also problematic. If you want to watch something that isn't racist towards East Asians or sexist towards women then you should check this movie off your list immediately. My Gen Z significant other told me to stop being such a cuck. I give it a 5.5/10.
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