Raphael (Alan Ritchson), Michelangelo (Noel Fisher), Leonardo (Pete Ploszek/Johnny Knoxville), and Donatello (Jeremy Howard) are the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Photo by Industrial Light & Magic / Paramount.

I’ve found that it’s always best to have incredibly low expectations when going into a film that is in any way affiliated with Michael Bay. This approach has definitely helped me appreciate most of the Transformers movies a little more (that second one is still pretty terrible, though), as well as other Bay movies like Pain & Gain. But there seems to be a big difference in movies Bay directs and movies he produces. Some of the horror remakes he’s produced in recent years have been superior to the originals in many ways, and The Purge movies are, if nothing else, a unique approach to suspense.

I know quite a few longtime Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fans who have retreated into their proverbial shells at every tidbit of news and rumor regarding the Michael Bay-produced Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot. These hard-shelled heroes have always been just as much about comedy and camp as action and adventure (all of Bay’s strong points), so I actually thought this might turn out OK, even if the rumors about Bay’s Turtles being aliens rather than mutants were true (they’re not, and there’s even a line of dialogue in the movie that pokes fun at this rumor). And with Bay listed as a producer (Jonathan Liebesman directs), my low expectations were likely to be exceeded. And they were.

Megan Fox as April O’Neil in “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”. Photo by David Lee.

I’ve never been an avid fan of the Turtles, but I have followed the comics, cartoons and previous films closely enough to be familiar with how a giant rat named Splinter (played by Danny Woodburn, voiced by Tony Shalhoub) ends up raising four pizza-loving Ninja Turtles in the sewers of New York City. Not only is that still the origin story here, but the sequence in which Splinter and the Turtles mutate into their humanoid states is done remarkably well, looking more like a stop-motion ode to the original Eastman and Laird comics than CGI (though I’m guessing it is probably computer animation). And once they emerge from the sewers as vigilantes, thwarting the Foot Clan’s criminal activities, these Turtles retain that gritty comic book look.

It’s during one of these heists on a rainy night that TV news reporter April O’Neil (Megan Fox) stumbles onto the story she hopes will take her away from vapid fluff stories to the legitimate news she wants to be reporting (somehow without getting a single drop of rain on her despite the downpour). The deeper she digs, the more outrageous her findings become. When she explains her discoveries to her roommate and coworkers, she sounds crazy, hindering her career rather tun helping it. Cameraman Vernon Fenwick (played with the perfect amount of comical sleaze by Will Arnett) remains supportive, however, mostly under the deluded pretense of April being romantically interested in him.

Speaking of romantic interests, Leonardo (portrayed by Pete Ploszek, voiced by Johnny Knoxville), Donatello (Jeremy Howard), Raphael (Alan Ritchson) and especially Michelangelo (Noel Fisher), with their teenage libidos and sheltered upbringing, take a particular liking to April after she discovers their existence. So in between battling an amazing-looking Shredder (Tohoru Masamune this time, not Kevin Nash), uncovering secrets about who is responsible for their own existence and eating pizza, the Turtles still have time to flirt. Of course, it’s the battles with Shredder and the rest of the Foot Clan that we all want to see, and these fight scenes do not disappoint. The most entertaining of these scenes involves the Turtles sledding on their shells down a snow-covered mountainside while working in tandem to fight off the pursuing Foot Soldiers and trying to prevent April and Vernon from careening over a cliff in a semi truck. In much the same way that April proves to be rain proof earlier in the movie, the Turtles are inexplicably (and conveniently) bulletproof upon being hopped up on adrenaline and escaping Shredder’s capture. The rain thing isn’t so bad because I understand that the attractive female star needs to remain attractive (though a rain-drenched Megan Fox certainly doesn’t sound all that bad). But the fact that the Turtles become bulletproof (going so far as to flex their muscles to make all the bullets embedded in their flesh pop out) for no apparent reason (did I miss something?) at just the right time is an inexcusably lazy moment of storytelling.

The massively-armored Shredder (Tohoru Masamune) attacks Splinter (Danny Woodburn/Tony Shalhoub) in “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”. Photo by Industrial Light & Magic / Paramount.

But one or two flaws aren’t enough to keep me from enjoying Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I mean, it’s an outlandish concept to begin with and I’m willing to overlook a couple of things for the sake of such a comical adventure. Is it as good as some of this year’s other sci-fi action films like Godzilla, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes or Guardians of the Galaxy? Absolutely not. But it is kid friendly (it’s rated PG-13, but I don’t recall a single bit of profanity), with a few lines of sexual innuendo and a lot of cartoonish violence. So unless you’re just looking for a reason to not enjoy this movie, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a great mix of science fiction, action, comedy and martial arts.

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