Heroes in a half shell...TURTLE POWER!

The Movie: TMNT, directed by Kevin Munroe
Recommendation: My childhood.
Reason: "The ninja turtles are totally awesome! TOTALLY AWESOME!"

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are still totally awesome. I'm so happy to report that, as I was scared this movie would suck. Instead, a simple, but well-structured plot provides the background for a classic-Turtles story. The Shredder might be gone, but there are still things for the ninja turtles to kick in the head. So the good old days of tying rags around your head and running around hitting each other with sticks are really back. TMNT picked up after the Shredder's death. The authors of this particular adventure did well in that respect-there's no dancing around it, it's handled quickly and to the point and the story proceeds.

The animation had some truly great moments. In a real wonderful love note to the fans, Leonard and Raphael duel on a New York rooftop. It really proves how far animation has come-I could have watched rain fall on the pair of them for hours, never mind the smooth, fluid motion of each character. The human characters were...unusual in their dimensions, but they were more than made up for by the turtles individuality and personality. Raphael looked like a goon, Leonardo like a balanced individual. Mikey and Don were a little less involved than I would have liked, but eh. It was still everything a ninja turtle movie needed to be and more.

I have a lone criticism, and that's the voice acting. The turtles were excellent. Totally awesome. Perhaps, however, a mistake may have been made in casting Ziyi Zhang as a presumably Japanese character (I may be wrong, but I don't think the Foot Clan was ever Chinese, or ever had a Chinese branch). Her accent and manner of speaking really just...grated for some reason. She's a minor character anyway, so don't worry too much over her. See TMNT. It's worth it, dudes.

-77/365 down, 298/365 to go