TMNT Mutant Mayhem Review Roundup

If you are 90s kid like me, you would witness many (and I mean MANY!) different iterations of our favourtie kung-fu reptilians over the years. There have been some excellent TMNT universes, but we also had almost just as many duds. Now fast-forward to 2023, and the big kid in a man's body Seth Rogen, decided to create his own spin on the famous turtles. But does Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem manages to become one of the best in the franchise? Here's the review roundup:  

​Continue below for the written version.

THE WRAP (Tomris Laffly)
'Rogen and his co-writers—Rowe, Goldberg, Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit—invitingly nod to the essence of the classic “TMNT” and freshen it up with a teen spirit, an inclusive cast and a few amusing internet pop-culture references. Who knows if the creative team behind this sufficiently unique “TMNT” will be able to preserve this lean and sweet demeanor through the already announced sequel. But for now, “Mutant Mayhem” is a small win in the tiresome world of IP, one that doesn’t need to mutate into anything further in order to be accepted.'

Read the full review here

​The Messenger (Jordan Hoffman)
'if you are a newcomer to the franchise, there isn't too much to differentiate the four turtles. One wears glasses and is a bit dorkier than the other three, but that's about it. While the final battle scene does what it can to stay energetic, it does lose steam, as is usually the case with movies like this. But unlike the zone-out finale of, say, The Flash, this at least has slobbering salamanders to look at.'

Read the full review here

SCREEN CRUSH (Matt Singer)
'So many blockbusters these days are designed to comfort viewers with the familiar; giving them exactly what they expect in narcotizing doses of beloved intellectual properties. While Mutant Mayhem obviously originated from the same commercial impulse, it adds a lot of novel wrinkles to the old Ninja Turtles formula. With scratchy animation and surreal running jokes about milking turtles for their precious mutated bodily fluids, it doesn’t feel like something extruded from the Hollywood IP factory, and the surreal visuals are downright psychedelic at times. The whole package is so trippy and weird. You know, if I didn’t know any better, I would swear the guys who made this — Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg was it? — took a lot of drugs.'

Read the full review here

EMPIRE (John Nugent)
'It doesn’t quite hit the narrative ambition of this summer’s Spider-Verse movie, and the last act moves so speedily and messily that the fights can sometimes veer on incoherent. But these are forgivable quibbles. A well-worn lunchbox franchise has made one of the more lovable family films you’re likely to see this year. Pass the pizza.'

​Read the full review here

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER (Frank Scheck)
'Adopting a decidedly younger spin toward its teenage heroes, the hugely entertaining and funny film seems destined to reinvigorate the franchise and attract plenty of nostalgic adults as well as young fans.'

Read the full review here

JEREMY JAHNS (VIDEO REVIEW)

In the end, the film amassed an outstanding score of 98% from 40 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.

There is no question the movie had excellent trailers, but I would imagine the film would review so well. As it stands, not only it's a contender for animated film of the year, but also the greatest TMNT movie franchise history.

​I am so excited to watch it for myself. 

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