Final August, the shellbacks made a really sudden comeback. For the thirty fifth anniversary of theauthenticTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesmovie, Fathom and Saga Arts rereleased the superhero action-comedy in theaters. Initially, the occasion was imagined to run simply two days, however ticket presales had been so promising they prolonged it to an entire week and expanded the variety of theaters. Then, after the movie earned a shocking$3.3 million on the field workplace, the occasion was prolongedone other week and Fathom introduced that its sequel would get an identical launch subsequent 12 months.
Now, 1991’sTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze is again in theaters, and, 35 years later, it’s nonetheless essentially the most enjoyable available with the Turtles on movie (particularly for many who grew up within the authentic Turtle-Mania of the late Eighties and early Nineties).
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze takes place quickly after our heroes defeat the Shredder on the finish of the primary movie. Whereas they’re unable to return to their sewer dwelling because of it being found by the villainous Foot Clan, the brothers appear content material to crash on the house of their human pal April O’Neil (Paige Turco) till they discover a new place, which they finally do in a cool outdated deserted subway station. The Shredder (François Chau), nevertheless, is just not useless and he quickly begins rebuilding the Foot Clan. Worse, he creates two monstrous new mutants to get revenge on the Turtles.
Regardless of being a revenge story, it’s value noting thatSecret of the Ooze was rather a lot lighter in tone than its predecessor. The 1990 movie principally tailored the unique, grittier comedian books, and lightened them up with some humor pulled from the 1987 cartoon sequence. The end result was a stable story stuffed with loads of motion, drama, humor and coronary heart, nevertheless it was violent sufficient todraw some complaints from parenting teams. In consequence,Secret of the Ooze took a far lighter tone; the Turtles always crack jokes and take virtually nothing critically. Additionally they barely ever use their ninja weapons. But these modifications didn’t break the Turtle components — different,far worse Turtle movies would do this later — neither isSecret of the Ooze a so-bad-it’s-good film. As a substitute, screenwriter Todd Langen (who additionally wrote the unique) leaned into this new route and made essentially the most of it, which is why so many Turtle followers nonetheless love this sequel.
Secret of the Oozeopens on the Turtles beating up a band of burglars in a shopping center. The change in tone is straight away obvious. As a substitute of attacking the crooks with swords and nunchucks, the Turtles are beating them up with yo-yos and foam baseball bats. There’s even a scene at a deli counter the place Michelangelo ditches his nunchicks for 2 linked pepperonis as he shouts, “Fight coldcuts!” whereas taking down the dangerous guys. Just about all of the combat scenes are like this: laborious to take critically, however nonetheless energetic and gratifying.
The brand new villains are additionally a substantial amount of enjoyable and have some actually spectacular artistry from Jim Henson’s Creature Store. Tokka the snapping turtle and Rahzart the wolf are genuinely menacing of their look, however their personalities are that of infants (they even name Shredder “Mama!”). Being double the scale of the Turtles, they seem to be a credible menace to our heroes and the residents of New York Metropolis, however Tokka and Rahzar are additionally extremely humorous in a slapstick, Three Stooges form of means.
And whereas he’s underutilized, the Shredder does spend the final combat scene as a mutagen-induced Tremendous Shredder (Kevin Nash), a wild design with loopy muscle tissue and bladesin every single place— with zero clarification as to how mutagen would change his outfit.
In fact,Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze is greatest remembered for a scene that includes rapper Vanilla Ice. For a couple of month in the course of the early Nineties, Vanilla Ice was the most important rap star on the market, and that simply so occurred to be the identical month whenSecret of the Ooze was filming. So Vanilla Ice was introduced in to cameo as himself and carry out “Ninja Rap,” an authentic music with the memorable chorus “Go ninja, go ninja go!” Inside the context of the movie, he freestyles all this on the spot in the course of the Turtles’ closing confrontation with Tokka and Rahzar, which begins at a development website however simply so occurs to spill into a close-by evening membership the place Vanilla Ice is performing.
In a means, “Ninja Rap” serves as a little bit of a microcosm for all the movie. Is it an excellent music with any significantly deep that means? No, nevertheless it certain is enjoyable to hearken to. In that very same vein, isTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze an excellent film or perhaps a nice Ninja Turtles film? No means, however it’s a enjoyable dangle for kids or nostalgic ‘90’s youngsters who wish to seize a slice of pizza and benefit from the trip.
