To say that this year has been a pretty rough year for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles would be a huge understatement as the only other piece of animated turtles media Tales Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles got cancelled not long before it was released. However tho there was one bright light and that's the fact that the characters were due to star in what is both there first every animated short film and there second ever Christmas film as well and well that short film has now premiered and you all just knew that I had to take a look at it the very first chance that I got and so then join me as I review the short film that shockingly makes alot of ties to the turtles first Christmas adventure with the short film in question being called simply just "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Chrome Alone 2 Lost In New Jersey" enjoy.
The plot of this short film is when the turtles spot fake toys of themselves on TV whilst out trying to find a gift for Splinter the turtles head to New Jersey to put a stop to it for good. Now then interms of what I personally tought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very short well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very short was in all honesty really good with the plot of the short film basically being that of We Wish You A Turtle Christmas only done much more better with the added fact that the turtles now have to stop a machine from selling fake toys of them being something that does make what could have bee seen as being a really plot now seem alive and well with this plot being one that's perfect for a short film format as there's not really alot of plot there to carry a feature film and yet this films plot is one that is still pretty weak as the turtles soon forget about getting a gift for Splinter and don't bring it up again which is something that does make us the audience forget that that was even meant to be a thing in the first place with this films plot not really taking fully advantage of the fact that it's meant to be set in the Mutant Mayhem universe as there's nothing about this films plot that connects it back to that film so much so that you'd be forgiven for taking one look at the film and thinking that it took place in another turtles universe and yet at the same time this is a plot that could only work as a Christmas special as whilst it doesn't have the typical Christmas message that a Christmas special would normally have it's plot is still fun enough to make the short film work without it with the plot of this short really being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this film is Cousins For Life star Micah Abbey as Donatello , The Chi star Shamon Brown Jr. as Michelangelo and The Walking Dead: World Beyond , Lego Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures , Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie and The Fabelmans star Nicolas Cantu as Leonardo. Also starring in this film is The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers star Brady Noon as Raphael , Superman 2025 star Beck Bennett as The Commercial Announcer and In the Loop , The Office USA and Silicon Valley star Zach Woods as Chrome Dome.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very short well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very short was in all honesty really good. With all of this shorts actors turning in some really good performances in this short which is something that really isn't all that surprising as the four main leads are of course reprising their roles from both the Mutant Mayhem movie and Tales Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and therefor they would have a pretty good grip on there characters by now and would therefor know just how best to perform there respective characters and what kind of performance that there characters would give in any given situation with even the shorts new actors turning some solid performances as well with Zach Woods making for a pretty funny villain and Beck Bennett being as over the top as you'd want him to be for his character with the best actor in the whole short being all four of the turtle actors as they all just work so well together with all four actors having such great chemistry together that it really wouldn't be all that surprising if they recorded all their lines together as they all really just bounce off of each other so well in this short film with the acting that's in this film really being helped by the fact that this short's script is just so good that all this shirts actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.
Doing the animation for this short film is the legends and the greats that are currently over at Mikros Animation and Wizz. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very short well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very short was in all honesty really good with this being something that was completely unexpected as outside of Disney and Warner Bros you don't really expect short animated films to have really high quality animation to it and to be fair to this film whilst this films animation isn't feature film worthy by any means it's also alot more better then the animation that you'll find in alot of TV shows as well with the only down side being the fact that the style of animation that these Mutant Mayhem films are going with is getting pretty old and tired and that is something that does come through in this short film as while the idea of having a 3D animated film look stop motion can be great just look at the Spider-Verse films as proof of that it does also need to serve a purpose and that's something that's not the case with this film as this is a film that could have been produced in 2D and it still would have worked just as well where as if you did the Spider-Verse films in 2D you'd loose something in doing so with those films knowing how to use this style of animation because of the fact that pretty much came up with it with this film blending 2D animation and 3D CGI animation really well as alot of the effect like smoke and other such things are done in 2D whereas everything else is done in 3D and it does work well with this film but at the same time tho the characters do have these really stilted movements to them which does make the animation look unfinished at best and at it's worse just cheap.
Much like with the Spongebob short film "Order Up" this short is also attached to a feature length film that being oddly enough the latest Spongebob movie The SpongeBob Movie: Search For SquarePants. Which is an odd pairing for this film as surely having this short film air on TV alongside A Loud House Christmas Movie: Naughty Or Nice would be more fitting as both films are themed around Christmas time where as here there's nothing that makes it make sense for this film to be paired up with the latest Spongebob movie not that that's a bad idea as it's not as it does serve as a great way for that film to get more money and eyes on it due to the fact that it's not going to do that well at the box office due to it going up against both Zootopia 2 and Avatar: Fire And Ash both of which are much more bigger movies that were very heavily promoted but at the same time tho Spongebob is more then capable of shifting cinemas tickets on his own without the need to get help from another property as let's be real here this film is going to be getting fans of Mutant Mayhem and fans of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the whole paying to see the film just because of the fact that it's got a short film featuring characters that they like in it and after that they'll most likely leave but if this was paired up with latest animated Loud House movie then that film would get more ratings as you can have this short film play right before it as The Loud House just isn't in the same level as something like Spongebob is and they therefor could have done with the help from this film but at the same time tho this is a short that does deserve to be seen on the biggest screen possible so there really is no way to have this short play infront of something that makes sense.
In what could be seen as being a surprising move this short film is more closer in tone to the 1987 TMNT series then alot of the more recent turtles media. With the characters cracking jokes and making one liners all over the place which is something that does oddly enough work for this short film as this is basically meant to be a Christmas special and therefor you do have permission to make jokes alot of the time even if your based off of a very serious IP or based in a world where the characters don't usually do that and while Mutant Mayhem might have basically been the 1987 show but put up on the big screen as they did make jokes in that film as well they also kept things mostly straight where as here there making jokes all of the time with that being something that will appease the young kids audience however the best film in the short film is not only one that little kids won't get but it's also one that could be considered a spoiler but let's just say that they play a certain song at the end of the short film that was totally unexpected as it's a call back to the film "We Wish You A Turtle Christmas" which is something that none of the kids watching this short film will get the adults that actively either looked the film up or watched it when they were kids will find it to be really funny as that special is ne of the worst pieces of turtle media ever and the reason why i'm not saying what it is is because of the fact that I want you guys and girls reading this review to expirence the same way that I did by not knowing just what's coming as then you'll fully get why this joke is so funny in the first place with it being something that does show you that the makers of not only this short film but also Mutant Mayhem really are die hard turtles fans as they include alot of very deep cut references that your not going to get unless your a die hard turtles fan.
This film is also one that's really topical as the film goes out of it's way to make sure that you know that it's dead set against AI. With this being something that does also date the film already as right now the only major film company talking about using AI is Disney with there new AI deal and that's really it and yet tho it is something that does tie into the film in a really cool and funny way as the films main villain chrome dome has a backstory that is just very poorly done knock offs off other more popular characters and IP's with him creating the fake turtles toys pretty much as a way to trick people into thinking that there official merch and therefor make alot of money out of it which is what AI can do when it's used in a negative way with the likeness of the turtles even being used without there express permission which again is something that's very much associated with the use of AI with the only turtle not really defending AI but rather being more in the middle about the whole thing being Donnie himself as he does point out that AI is just prompts so if the prompt put into something like Sora 2 or ChatGPT for example then you could get something that looks really good with the films villain being one that's just as goofy as you'd want for a short film like this one as he's not that serious and is not meant to be a big and scary villain he's just meant to be a funny and goofy character and that's it and to be fair that's exactly what Chrome Dome is with even the fact that he doesn't really have an end game in mind outside of making money being something that is kind of perfect for a short film and heck they could bring this character back in Mutant Mayhem 2 as the character does have some potential to be a really fun comic relief villain for the turtles to fight against much like what The Spot was in Into The Spider-Verse.
Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly seven minuets and twelve seconds. Which to be fair to this film is pretty much the exact grand total running time that you'd expect a short film like this one to have in the first place with this short film even having the right amount of plot there to really cover that amount of running time as this is a short film that doesn't really need a lot of plot in the first place it just needs the basic setup and premise and that's really it and that's something that this film does indeed have with this film not really needing to use it's running time all that wisely as the films plot is as developed as it will ever be given the fact that it's set up and premise is really simple with the shorts plot not really needing to be that well developed as the set up is that simple and the shorts characters don't really need to be that well developed due to the fact that they get alot of there character development in both the previous film and in Tales Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as well but in saying this tho it would been nice if the film did give these characters some small amount of character development as it would have showed that the characters are growing as people but as the film is alot more focused on being campy and over the top in all of the best ways possible then it does mean that the shorts characters can't get that much character development however tho this is a short that really doesn't need it as the plot for the short doesn't allow for any kind of character development to happen in the first place with this even being true for alot of short films as not alot of them need character development as it would be hard to squeeze into something that's seven minuets long but I really will admit that this short really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is an action short that really does mean hat I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very sort well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual short that's actually featured / presented to us in this very short was in all honesty really good. As even tho this film does have the one action scene in it it was something that des really well and was something that does show of just how creative that the makers of this film could be when there coming up with action scenes for these characters to be in with this films only action scene by default being it's best action scene as we get to see the turtles take on Chrome Dome in what is a really fun fight with at least three of the turtles getting the chance to take him on head on with Donnie using his brains to help them win the day which is something that does go along way into showing us just what it is that alot of the turtles bring to the team with it always being a fun time seeing them all team up to take on a bad guy with all four turtles coming up with unique ways to hurt Chrome Dome as he does nothing but use there own moves against which is something that does lead to him being defeated in a really fun way and while it would have been more fun if he had an entire army of the fake turtle toys come out to help him in his fight against the turtles that is something that could be seen as being a bit to epic for a short film as that's something that would work alot more better in a feature film format but it is also something that would have justified them mentioning the fake turtle toys outside of having them be a joke at the end of the short with the fight against Chrome Dome being a really fun filled fight in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall this film is massively better then what We Wish You A Turtle Christmas is as this film is watchable at the very least whereas that film is one that's best avoided by anyone and yet with this film you can tell that there was a clear love and passion for the brand and wasn't just made to sell some VHS tapes in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad thigs that are in this very short in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very sort really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 7 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally sued in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very short that I used in this very review being the really great Tardis . Wiki really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that really are all really from this very short with alot of them being really better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Tardis . Wiki really are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.
No comments:
Post a Comment