While the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' designs in their upcoming new movie have caused some iffy feelings — even from series co-creator Peter Laird — they don't really bother me. I'd be lying if I said I'm a fan of them, but I'm not the sort to dismiss a movie over a few aesthetic choices. Perhaps it's hypocritical to then turn around and be bothered by a single line of dialogue, but the self-deprecating jab at the franchise's title and premise currently running through some of the trailers and TV Spots is bugging me more than the Turtles' odd new faces ever could. Have a look:
Some of you might be wondering what's so bad about a throwaway joke about the name of the franchise. I suppose I'm bothered by it because I can imagine whoever wrote it feeling as if this material is completely beneath them. That's the same vibe that I got from some of the first live action Transformers film's promotion. There was plenty of "this ain't no stinkin' cartoon" attitude thrown around (despite the movie being so full of immensely cartoony and tonally jarring comic relief.) It also reminds me of the ILM artist that held up a Cybertron Optimus Prime toy to point out how lame it is because it doesn't have as many parts as their fancy CGI model. Oh, how I frowned.
I also got the same vibe reading David S. Goyer's comments about how goofy Martian Manhunter's name and origins are and his high school-like insult that you're probably not sexually active if you know who the character is. His incredibly off-base She-Hulk comments were even worse. This was a few months ago now and thinking about it still puts me in a pretty bad mood.
Let's bring this back around to the Turtles themselves. When I see the titular characters making fun of themselves and their name, I'm reminded of the initial announcement that the characters were going to be aliens without the "Teenage Mutant" angle. I don't recall any reason for that ever being given, but I can draw my own pessimistic assumptions. Shrug. That whole matter has obviously been reversed, but I still wonder if any sort of "everything done with this before was silly" mindset fueled other decisions that remained.
Perhaps the intent is purely for a cheap laugh, but having Donatello remark that their whole "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle" schtick is ridiculous feels a bit dismissive. I'm not saying that the new movie should be humorless however. "Lighthearted" is definitely an appropriate tone to aim for, and the current Nickelodeon TV series does that quite well. I can't help questioning the motivations behind any full on self-deprecating humor however. Since the creative team had to stick to the original premise and title despite their initial plans to venture elsewhere, perhaps they made sure to throw in some jabs to let us know how dumb they think it is. Maybe I'm being far too sensitive, but if that's the case then it really bums me out. Oh well.
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