TMNT

Action, Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy

Thomas K. Gray
Kevin Munroe
Paul Wang
Mikey Kelley	Michelangelo
James Arnold Taylor	Leonardo
Chris Evans	Casey
Sarah Michelle Gellar	April O'Neil
Mako	Splinter
Kevin Smith	Diner Cook
Patrick Stewart	Winters
Ziyi Zhang	Karai
Laurence Fishburne	Narrator
Mitchell Whitfield	Donatello

Director	Kevin Munroe
Producer	Michael J. Arnold; Kyle Clark
Writer	Kevin Munroe; Peter Laird

From a visual standpoint, this CG feature starring the venerable '80s and '90s superheroes the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is nothing short of slam-bang; the computer animation has a scope and look that transcends both the original comics and animated series and the three live-action features that preceded it. Writer/director Kevin Munroe creates a striking animated world for the four heroes in a half-shell to live, play, and fight in, and the action sequences are occasionally breathtaking in their speed and complexity. But where TMNT stumbles is its bland plot, which picks up after the last of the live-action features with all four teen turtles in disarray, and abandons longtime villain Shredder in favor of an industrialist (well voiced by Patrick Stewart) who recruits the Foot Clan (including Karai, played by Zhang Ziyi) to revive thirteen ancient monsters to aid in his world domination scheme. It's a simple and fun story for kids, but longtime Turtles fans will miss the wry humour and smart sense of irony of the original comics (created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, who gets an executive producer credit here) in this storyline. Still, for most adolescent audience members, such concerns won't matter a whit in the face of the abundant action. --Paul Gaita