The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have had a storied history since they were created in the 80s, and with Mutant Mayhem launching this week, Paramount Pictures has released a new featurette talking about the inspiration behind this new iteration of the Heroes in a Half Shell.
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Though there have been multiple takes on the Turtles over the years, it has been odd how the stories don’t really engage with the ‘teenage’ element of their title. With Rogen now going for a ‘coming-of-age’ angle with the Turtles, we now have a more interesting direction to take Mutant Mayhem besides the Turtles being brothers who can do martial arts and fight all kinds of bad guys.
The featurette also goes into the art style for the film, who a lot have likened to the look of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. While Spider-Verse does embrace the comic book aesthetic, it’s neat how TMNT goes for the messier, non-symmetrical look; trying to emulate the doodles and notebooks of teenagers in school.
I didn’t really have any issue with the ‘Bayverse’ Turtles who I thought were fun on their own, but I am excited to see this whole new take of the TMNT. Though there are already some who like to stick to the original Turtles they grew up with, I think what’s great about this franchise is that it can keep reinventing itself to appeal to a whole new generation of teenagers.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem comes to cinemas on Aug. 2.
