The Couch Critic
The Couch Critic is your laid-back guide to movies and TV shows that deserve your attention—or maybe don’t. Nathan dives deep into storytelling, character development, and cinematic style with a sharp eye and a wry sense of humor. Whether it’s a blockbuster hit, a hidden gem, or a cult classic, Nathan’s relatable approach ensures every episode feels like a cozy chat with a friend who just happens to love film. Perfect for casual watchers and cinephiles alike, The Couch Critic brings thoughtful critique without the fluff. Grab your favorite snack, settle in, and let Nathan guide you through the world of screen entertainment.
The Couch Critic
A Journey through the Reimagined World of TMNT: Mutant Mayhem
Ever wondered how a classic like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise could keep evolving to keep delighting audience of all age groups? How can a villainous character, not the infamous Shredder, still make an impact? Along with the vibrant Matty, we, Natey and Katy, go on a rollercoaster ride of emotions as we dissect the latest rendition - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. From appreciating the youthful energy brought in by the teenage voice actors to discussing the mellowed-down violence, we touch every aspect of the movie as we share our likes and dislikes.
Buckle up as we take you on a thrilling journey through the cinematic world of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, filled with voice acting brilliance, clever script writing, and stunning soundtrack. We can't help but applaud Jackie Chan's poignant portrayal of Splinter and Ice Cube's intimidating performance as Superfly. It's not just the acting, the movie also features the classic 'What's Up (What's Going On)' by Four Non-Blonds that perfectly fits into a thrilling car chase scene, setting the tone for an adrenaline-pumping ride.
We wouldn't want to wrap up without discussing the movie's character development and storyline. We point out areas where we felt the movie could have been better, such as the extended ending and the underdevelopment of minor characters. As we share our thoughts on the film's impact on the audience, the nostalgia it evokes, and how it resonates with teenagers today, we're left with an overwhelming sense of nostalgia ourselves. And just when you think we're done, we give you a sneak peek into our next venture - The Last Voyage of the Demeter, a horror movie based on the story of Dracula.
One's a movie buff, one watches movies, just enough. Together, fun will be had by all. This is Nady and Katie at the Movies. Hello everyone, and welcome to a brand new episode of Nady and Katie at the Movies. I'm your host, nathan, aka Nady, of course, and with me today is not one, but two co-hosts. If you watched my quick reaction review to the movie that we're going to be reviewing today, you know that I went with one of my best friends, maddie, to go see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, mutant Ma'am. So Maddie is here and Katie is also here, so I'm just going to ask both of you how you guys doing, nathan, things are going well.
Speaker 3:I'm just trying to get the chia seeds out of my teeth. Anyone who eats chia seeds understands that'll be probably the rest of the episode. I'll be working on that.
Speaker 2:But anyways. Well, that's healthier than me. I'm trying to get M&M peanuts out of my teeth. So you know, you're one up on me, we're reviewing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mutant Ma'am.
Speaker 1:This is just the newest rendition of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Katie and I joked last time that we had just finished doing two. You know brand new original movies Barbie, oppenheimer and we're back to the reboots, remakes and a lot of fun stuff. So this is yet another reboot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They had movies in the early 90s. They also had one in 2007, which was another animated film, and they also had two Michael Bay produced Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies in 2014 and 2017. I actually watched all of the theatrical versions of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to prepare myself to talk about this one and yes, I did rank them. So if you saw in our social media accounts Facebook, instagram, tiktok you'll see that I actually put this one as the best rendition Of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I know I'm going to get a lot of flack about that. A lot of people came at me and wanted to fight me.
Speaker 3:I haven't seen all of them, but the parts I remember from childhood. It was so good. But, man, this movie, I really liked this movie. I might put it pretty much towards the top.
Speaker 1:I think people think of the original ones and say they're the best, just strictly based on nostalgia purposes, because I watched the first original one and I fell asleep. I thought it was boring. Let's just get right into our likes and dislikes for this brand new one, but before we do that, I got to go over this synopsis. So Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mutant Mayhem follows the turtle brothers as they work together to earn the love of New York City while facing down an army of mutants. This movie stars Micah Abbey, shaman Brown Jr, nicholas Cantu, brady Noon I'm saying all these names completely wrong probably IU Adebiri, jackie Chan, ice Cube, post Malone who's not in this movie is what I'm asking, but it does.
Speaker 1:It has a lot of people in this movie and so, going right into our likes and dislikes, this actually wasn't on my original list, but I did like how they did not just go straight for Shredder as the villain. I think a lot of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies in the past except the 2007 animated one they didn't really lean on Shredder that much. They always go for Shredder as the villain. This one had a plethora of villains who then turned into good guys most of them.
Speaker 3:I did like that there was not Shredder because, hello, that's the best way to get people coming back for your second movie. There's an end credit scene spoiler where at the end they kind of allude to like we need to bring Shredder in. So I think that was a very wise choice. Like you're saying, you gotta leave us a little bit something for the next one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I agree. Also, I'm very much like this movie. I like Nady over here. I'm not a comics person at all, so all the die hard fans who are like no, you gotta be true to that. I'm that way about Marvel movies, about DC. I don't know anything about the comics, I just watch them. For the movie. I thought it was a really well put together, entertaining movie. It was a little more violent than I thought it was gonna be. I mean, Ninja is in the title, so you should expect some violence. That's fine. No wonder my parents didn't want me watching any of this as a kid. So this is like my adult rebellion of like I'm watching all of TMNT. Yay, my teenage years. So I was just like surprised at how violent it was. But the animation style really took the edge off of that.
Speaker 1:Like it really didn't feel very violent and I think in another way that it kind of mellowed out the violence, even though, like you said, it was. There is the fact that this is the first time that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were played by actual teenagers, and I think that brought a lot of the fun, because I have taught and I believe Katie has taught middle school students as well. That was probably one of my favorite parts, because every time they would say something or do something that was totally teenager-esque, I was like yep, yep, that's exactly what they do Like when they randomly start twerking and immature things are the funniest things ever, and they're not.
Speaker 3:I thought it was hilarious After like total fools, like Goober, just a bunch of middle school or, like you said, high school boys just standing around in circle being goops or even though I'm more boring real aspect of being a Teenage Mutant Ninja today, like they're laying down at night and they all have their phones on their chest because they're all just like playing on their phone till they go to bed. I think if I actually animation was amazing love the music, love the voice characters this is something that hopefully we'll talk about. I have to say I think my number one positive was that it was teenagers playing teenagers and the way they wrote the script. They just nailed it. I think that's probably why the humor was probably. It just landed for me so well. Everything that they wanted to be funny was funny to me. My husband is like the old soul. He's like an 80 year old, probably wouldn't have left, but again, I think I think like a high school student sometimes.
Speaker 2:Nathan and I got to see like the fan event that was before its release date, and so what it meant is there was no trailers before the movie which is awesome and instead it was like behind the scenes footage and Seth Rogen was saying in an interview how it was like about casting teenagers. It was like we would just let them go and just they were in the booth, they were all talking at the same time and all this teenage jargon that they didn't understand. They're like, oh, that's really funny. Okay, no, no, leave it, and they would just let them riff and improvise, and a lot of that made it to the final film and I thought that was a really cool little nugget to have going into the movie, cause you can totally see that happening if you're watching for it. It was really, really fun.
Speaker 1:Going on to the voice acting. All the voice actors in this film did a really really good job with their characters. One person in particular that I absolutely loved and I was very surprised how much I loved this person, but I mean, I already liked this actor anyway Is Frick and Jackie Chan as Splinter oh my gosh, he cracked me up so much, cause usually when you've seen Splinter in the past you know they hint that he has some humor behind him, like you'll have like one-liners and stuff like that. But he's usually portrayed as the old father figure to the Ninja Turtles and so he doesn't really do much and sometimes he'll fight a little bit. But because number one, it's animation, splinter was able to do more. But also Jackie Chan just nailed it Like we're talking about, like the teenagers did a really good job. Jackie Chan was born to voice Splinter.
Speaker 3:He really was he is so funny. Favorite stick he does is that he keeps being worried they're going to milk the turtles.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And they're like we don't have nipples. But within, of course, the movie it was such clever script writing. They were like plot They'd wait, wind up getting milked.
Speaker 2:And I think, going to Jackie Chan, he is so funny but at the same time he brings such poignancy and depth that there is like actual true character growth in the form of Splinter. And he can be so one dimensional in terms of like oh, I'm the strict, like you should follow the rules kind of guy and but by making him so funny and relatable, like you feel for the guy, especially when he does this whole montage of how he became, how he is, and just like the part of that's the writing. But Jackie Chan is like you know he's funny from any movie you watch Like he's got such a great sense of humor but embodying this like ridiculous character was so he was just so in his element.
Speaker 2:Yeah really really funny.
Speaker 3:There wasn't a single character in this that was meant to be taken seriously April, who was hilarious. She also just like, profusely bombets all over, screams ridiculous. Your bad guy, ice Cube. I don't know how I was afraid of a fly, a super fly. I love how Ice Cubes, like personality, was just basically the character. Like I'm assuming they wrote that totally for Ice Cube.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he did a really good job at making a character named Superfly come off as very intimidating. One of my final likes I think we mentioned this before was the soundtrack. Again, if you watched the quick reaction review with Maddie and myself we did mention one of the funniest parts is near the end, when they're in this big chase scene and there's this Matt, what was the name of the song?
Speaker 2:again, so the band is Four and On Blonds and it's what's going on is like the parentheses title. I can't remember what the real title is, but it's the what's going on and they remixed the song into a car chase and it is hysterical. I was not expecting that and I was absolutely delighted.
Speaker 3:I echo that. What a random and creative fantastic song use there. Are there likes that? You had, matthew, that we haven't mentioned?
Speaker 2:Sorry, I just looked it up. The song is actually called what's Up In parentheses, what's going on. It's like so I cry sometimes when I'm lying in bed. You all know what song I'm talking about, I don't need to keep singing, but yeah, so in terms of likes kind of going back to what you said about Ice Cube is that it also brought to me at least kind of high school bully vibes, and he even says the line, literally God, I thought you guys were cool. But you know and like, how many times have you ever heard that as a bully being like, oh, you're not gonna, like, put shaving cream into that guy's backpack? Oh man, I thought you were cool and I thought that was so relevant to teenage empathy and what these guys are. They just want to go to high school. You know, and how many teenagers, actual human teenagers, really just don't want to go to high school and that's all these guys want is to be normal and be accepted. And so that was one of my likes is that they made the villain this ultimate bully and like emotionally manipulative and you can see why these other mutants the quote unquote other bad guys want to join him and he's very charismatic and really likable and funny. When you're on his side, everything's great. If you're not on his side, oh boy, that's not good. And I thought that was really well thought out in terms of what this audience is for. And Katie you mentioned earlier about like I don't know really what age group this is, I think it really is for teenagers and I love that in all the promotional things it was like produced by permanent teenager, Seth Rogen, Like, yeah, like it's for guys like me, and so I thought that it was really well crafted to that mindset of like what is really important to you when you're in your teenage years, it's community and it's finding your people and it's like finding acceptance. And that goes for April too. And I think she was really really well crafted.
Speaker 2:I was a little leery at first, when they were all really young and in high school and she was a student as well, I was like, oh man, she's supposed to be a journalist. And she's like, yeah, I'm working for my school newspaper. I'm like nailed it. Okay, you fixed the only quable I had quibble quable, quickly quaggle. The only quibble I had was that she's gotta be a journal. Oh, she's working for a school newspaper. Perfect, she was so well rounded. She was so funny, very compelling. You can see why Leonardo would do anything to be with her. You know, like I get it.
Speaker 2:She was very compelling and like finding what each character wanted the most is a great. It was just a great lesson in screenwriting, of like how to create compelling characters with an amazing super objective, and a great lesson in acting, of like how do you find if I'm playing this character, what do I want most in this world, how do I go about finding it, what are my obstacles and what are the tactics I use to overcome those obstacles? And it was just, it was basic. There was nothing complicated about it, but sometimes simple is good. I thought they did that really, really well.
Speaker 1:It was just a really well rounded voice cast for this movie. I think they did a really good job picking not only the teenagers but also the adults who played all these characters. So let's get right to our dislikes. I only had one dislike for this movie, and it was the fact that the ending of this movie, to me, just kept on going Like they prolonged the ending. I was like, oh my gosh.
Speaker 3:I get it, they're gonna obviously defeat the bad guy.
Speaker 1:Let's do it already.
Speaker 3:I saw some people saying that this almost worked a little more as a TV show and I wonder, yeah, if there's some of these scenes where they're like, all right, they were already in a perfect length. I love the hour and a half. So the fact that you're saying some parts sort of dragged on at the end you're like maybe it really was a TV show, but they were trying to make it a movie so they had to kick some stuff in there.
Speaker 1:They've already announced that they're gonna do two seasons of this. They announced the sequel and they are gonna make it into a TV show too. So I mean, obviously they have plans to make it more series-esque as well.
Speaker 2:But yeah, I think the majority of the movie is great, and then that ending just regards to the ending, I think it got to the point of like, well, we can't make the defeat too easy. And I get that, because, like, the first part of the climax is like, oh, we found the solution, this is how we defeat him, and then you just go do it movie over. Okay, you can't really. You have to have another obstacle, Fine. But then there was another one, and I totally hear you. It's like, oh, my gosh, seriously, just like we did it. There are more graceful ways to have the climax and then the denouement. There are way better ways to do that, and so, but again, minor grievance.
Speaker 3:Do you have any negatives, then, or things you wished were different or better?
Speaker 2:I would have actually liked to see more of like more character development of the minor mutants. We didn't get a lot like we got hints at their personalities. They had like one character trait and then and that was it. They were gonna flesh out the movie more and make it an hour and a half, with not a third of that being the climax. I would really like to see more of the minor people in Superfly's crew, like they all play an important role, but it's kind of like here's my shtick at the beginning and now I've changed and this is my shtick at the end, while like there's no curve, it's like a point A to point B and you just got there. It would have been really fun to see and maybe that's what they're gonna do in the TV series, like the backstory on Bebop or whatever. Their story arc is really interesting to me. I love minor characters and how they contribute to a story and I would like to see more of like that ensemble shine.
Speaker 3:My dislike is the same as yours, but different characters. I don't want to know more about the villains that may have a one-off. I wanna know more about the turtles that this movie's about and I didn't feel like I got that, Like no, I don't think I could sit here and write out only because I have seen into turtles. Could I differentiate between Leonardo Raphael? What are the ones I don't even what are they.
Speaker 1:I wanna tell them, yeah.
Speaker 3:I mean, but truly like you didn't really get to have that thing where they're like I know what they're trying. I have a general sense, like trying to make the purple and the techie, trying to make the orange one, the silly one. But I wanted a little more development for each of them and then I really wanted to see that again at the end. I wanted maybe corny, but it's the same way in a Marvel movie. I want each of their little skills to be utilized. We only saw that, I think, from two. I mean, you're red and you're blue, Leonardo and Raphael. You got to see them utilize the skill they have of leadership, utilize the skill he has of, like, being a macho.
Speaker 2:I think that's very valid and I think the TV series that I've watched like the old school animated one and then the newer Nickelodeon one they do a way better job of stronger character traits, but they honestly you're right Now that you say that I'm kind of remembering that they honestly all feel like generic teenage mingling, eternal go and like they really didn't have their other than Leonardo and them just saying oh, you're the leader, you think you're a coach? Da, da, da da. Other than people telling them what they are, they didn't really show it. They did a lot more telling than showing.
Speaker 3:There wasn't. Maybe I missed Calabunga you guys told me that was in there and I didn't hear it, but maybe I missed them saying their names a lot, but I don't really feel like they've utilized names much among them either, which, again, you're like, I know their names because I watched it For someone onboarding. I think we needed a little more.
Speaker 1:I mean two, two play devils advocate, though it feels like they probably felt like they didn't need to because, like what you just said, these, the Ninja Turtles, have been around for a really, really long time. It kind of is like Spider-Man They've had how many Spider-Man movies. They've had how many Spider-Man cartoons. Everyone knows who Spider-Man is, everyone knows who Peter Parker is. It's like how they say the Tom Holland Spider-Man movies. We're never going to rehash the origin story because we've seen it a million times.
Speaker 1:There's no reason to rehash the origin story of the Ninja Turtles. I'm not saying that's what you were talking about, but you kind of were like giving somewhat of a backstory and background more character fleshed out. I think they probably felt like everyone should know who the Ninja Turtles are and even if you don't, you can literally Google it if you want to, if you're that interested.
Speaker 1:And they kind of changed a little bit like Ralph, Ralph, whatever they want to call him Ralph, Ralphie L but he didn't really seem as much as the leader as they try to make them in the older ones, and he didn't really come off as like the macho muscle one either. They kind of shared all their personalities. They kind of worked as a team more, I think, in this one than what I've seen in the other ones. Like each one did have their individual personality, as with this one they kind of forced themselves to work as a team, which I kind of enjoyed, and so they didn't really need to have individual personalities.
Speaker 3:They just well, sure, and they did at least all get their weapon. That was one thing that was really important to me. It was like I wanted each one of them to utilize the weapon, that I remembered them being their specialty.
Speaker 2:Like they made a lot of jokes about the stick.
Speaker 2:Yes, I didn't, that's what I was going to say. I'd really appreciate Donatello not being thrilled with his weapon of assignment, but I think I would agree with Katie on this one, nathan, that it is the responsibility of the storytellers. Like if I wanted to bring my kid or my nephew, who's 10, let's say, and he's never seen any of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, this is his first experience he's going to get. Oh, they're kind of all the same. Why do I care? And yeah, I understand what you're saying, nathan, about. Oh cool, they're working as a team, so it doesn't matter as much. I think the individual personalities within a team is what makes a team so compelling, and I think it's the storyteller's job to show us how they are all different within their group.
Speaker 1:It can also be the fact that this is supposed to be a new type of Ninja Turtles for a new audience, a new generation, so they don't feel the need to explain what was in the past, even though you could kind of say then why are they bringing Shredder in? It doesn't matter, okay, shredder looks cool. You don't need to know who Shredder is to know. Oh my gosh, that character looks awesome. So even though I watched all the theatrical movies and ranked them based on each other, I'm not saying you should go out and do that as well, because they're not the same. They're different reiterations even though they use the same characters. So all that to say what would we rate? Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, mutant Mayhem. Maddie, I'll let you go first, since you're the special guest.
Speaker 2:Aw shucks, what gracious hosts. I'm going to give this a 5. It wasn't perfect. I wouldn't give it a 6 out of 6, but it was a great time in the movies. It was about true enough to the originals, like the story, the original material. That's what I'm looking for. It was funny, it was heartwarming and it was just a really good time. It wasn't the perfect movie, so I'm going to give it a 5.
Speaker 3:Because I went and saw this with Ben just for fun. I asked him what his rating was. Mind you, he's not even 3. He doesn't really know his numbers. He knows that he's 2 years old and he can say all the numbers. I don't think he's aware of the order of it.
Speaker 3:Anyways, I asked Ben and Ben said he ranked this movie a 5. So whatever that means to him. More importantly, though, I've taken him to a few movies on our journey of going through movies, and this is the first movie he did not fall asleep in and the first movie that he actually wanted to talk about. When we got home, he was excited about it. He really wanted one of the extremely expensive masks that I lied to him and told him they didn't have any more of because they were $30. But he even asked me again just yesterday, was like, are we going to make some Ninja Turtle masks? And so that to me, and it's not even geared for his age group, so that says a lot. I'm going to give this a 5.5 for that very reason that the specific genre and the audience this was hitting I think nostalgia mixed with current day teenagers nailed it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would agree. I would also give it a 5.5 just because of the prolonged ending. That's the only reason I give it a 5.5. So that is Teenage Mutant Ninja, turtles, mutant Mayhem. It was a fun time and our next homework assignment is a movie that Katie probably will not see, and that is the Last Voyage of the Demeter, which is based on a little section of the horror classic Dracula. So I'm actually really excited about it, even though it's, you know, another rehash of Dracula. But it's also kind of new because they're focusing on just one part of the story, even though if you've read the story of Dracula, you probably already know the ending of this movie.
Speaker 3:Yeah, also count me out. That's a hard.
Speaker 2:no, that sounds terrifying and I've watched the trailer. Horror movies no, thank you.
Speaker 1:That's exactly why I said you. You probably are going to watch it. So, katie, what would you, or Maddie, or both in unison, whatever? How would you end this episode of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, mutant Mayhem?
Speaker 2:I would like to say for the record that Nathan and I split that $30 package where we got the bucket, the cup and the mask. We went hapsies on it and this morning I used that bucket to get a mouse out of my bathroom and if that mouse had been a rat it could have been splinter and it could have been full circle. I love you guys.
