They’re teenagers and they’re mutants! The turtles that rose to fame in the 80s are back (again) in the 2023 edition of reptilian ninjas – this chapter is computer-animated and ready for kick-butt fun.
In case you didn’t know…
In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, Techno Cosmic Research Institute (TCRI) executive Cynthia Utrom sends a squad to hunt down rogue scientist Baxter Stockman, who has created a mutagenic ooze with which he intends to form his own mutant animal family, starting with a housefly. Baxter is interrupted by Cynthia’s strike force and killed in the resulting explosion, while the mutagen falls into the sewers of New York City. The mutagen turns four turtle brothers – Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael and Donatello – and a rat named Splinter, into humanoid mutants, whereupon Splinter adopts the turtles. Splinter distrusts humanity – particularly after one encounter where he and the turtles are chased away – and trains his sons in the art of ninjutsu, instructing them to only leave their sewer home to steal supplies. Over the years, the Turtles long to live with and like humans their age, much to Splinter’s dismay.
Fifteen years later, the Turtles defeat a gang of criminals to recover a stolen moped belonging to a teenager named April O’Neil, revealing themselves and their origins. April, an aspiring journalist struggling to move past a viral incident of vomiting on camera, has been investigating a series of robberies of TCRI technology by a criminal known as ‘Superfly’ – the rest is history but the kids will love it.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is screening this week at Palace Cinemas in Byron Bay and Ballina. Visit their website for screening times: www.palacecinemas.com.au.
