TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: MUTANT MAYHEM - Kevin Eastman On The Movie's Big High School Twist (Exclusive)

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: MUTANT MAYHEM - Kevin Eastman On The Movie's Big High School Twist (Exclusive)

The closing moments of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem sets up a wild new status quo for the four leads, and we recently heard from co-creator Kevin Eastman on how he feels about the change.

By JoshWilding - Sep 10, 2023 11:09 AM EST
Source: Toonado.com

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is now available to buy or rent on Digital from Paramount Home Entertainment. Jeff Rowe, Seth Rogen, and Evan Goldberg's reboot is one of the year's best-reviewed movie and a new beginning for the awesome foursome which has been embraced by fans of all ages. 

Those of you who purchase the film on Digital will be able to delve into the making of the movie with over 40 minutes of bonus content. That means getting to join the young new voice cast as they explore the "teen" in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles before going behind the scenes with the all-star voice cast, including Jackie Chan, Ice Cube, and many more.

As if that's not enough, this release also includes featurettes exploring the film's unique animation style and even a lesson on how to draw the leader of the Ninja Turtles, Leonardo!

A few days ago, we were fortunate enough to speak with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creator Kevin Eastman to get his thoughts on Mutant Mayhem's exciting new take on the long-running franchise. We were particularly curious to find out how he felt about the movie's game-changing ending. 

In that [SPOILER WARNING], the Heroes in a Half-Shell are embraced by the public as heroes and end up attending high school, sans disguises, as themselves. This is the first time we've seen that happen, with it seemingly setting the stage for the Paramount+ TV series that's expected to be released before a planned big screen sequel. 

"Well, it’s definitely [different]," Eastman tells us in the video above. "It’s something where we always loved the secrecy and secret identity of different characters like Spider-Man. He was obviously a big inspiration when it comes to having a teenager in high school, but we have tried a few concepts even on Nickelodeon where they’d have a cloaking device which made them look like teenagers and they’d go out for a Pizza Friday thing."

"But it’s always been on the cusp and we’ve never found a way to make it would that would be acceptable. I think because of the pop culture-isms of there being so many comic book universe stories that have been done in a way that’s it’s becoming more accepted, you can now cross that line and make it more of an accepted thing than you could have done even five or ten years ago."

"I think the timeliness of it was right and it was an idea we wanted to try, even adding a female Turtle into some of the original comics that we’re still working on," he continues. "The timing was right and I think it works real good. It feels story-first, organic, and not forced. It feels like it was meant to be that way."

We're curious to see where this is heading and, while it's the teens being legit high school students is something new for them, it felt like the right note to end Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael and Donatello's story on. However, with Splinter looming, this happy ending seems unlikely to last!

In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, after years of being sheltered from the human world, the Turtle brothers set out to win the hearts of New Yorkers and be accepted as normal teenagers through heroic acts. Their new friend April O’Neil helps them take on a mysterious crime syndicate, but they soon get in over their heads when an army of mutants is unleashed upon them.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is now available to buy or rent on Digital.

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TheShape9859
TheShape9859 - 9/10/2023, 11:29 AM
And it's still not acceptable. I didn't like it. But I think you have a few too many words here: "But it’s always been on the cusp and we’ve never found a way to make it would that would be acceptable."
CaptainMexico
CaptainMexico - 9/10/2023, 1:39 PM
@TheShape9859 - the whole movie is about them and the other mutants wanting to be accepted. People who are sad because this isn’t exactly the ninja turtles movie they wanted and they race swapped April and made her frumpy are major idiots.
DarthAlgar
DarthAlgar - 9/10/2023, 5:18 PM
@CaptainMexico - Right?

What were fans thinking wanting something similar to the source material, and not some agenda driven film about acceptance and diversity, that was conceived by a once well liked comedic actor who is now a political Hollywood puppet?
TheShape9859
TheShape9859 - 9/11/2023, 1:12 AM
@CaptainMexico - well April is the least of my problems but now that you mentioned it, she does look terrible. They turned Splinter into some dumbass goofball...just not a very good TMNT movie. Perfect for young kids that don't know any better.
CaptainMexico
CaptainMexico - 9/12/2023, 2:16 AM
@DarthAlgar - grew up on ninja turtles in the early 90’s and I loved this movie. I don’t care if they change the story a bit, it’s a fresh take after the horrible last two Michael bay produced ones. Unfortunately for you butthurt nerds, this movie preformed good enough to warrant a sequel, a series, and a video game. Like it or not, it’s the future of the franchise sucka.
ModHaterSLADE
ModHaterSLADE - 9/10/2023, 4:09 PM
Honestly interested to see how they handle the high school angle.
FearTheLiving
FearTheLiving - 9/10/2023, 5:13 PM
Didn't care for the movie as a turtles fan to be honest.


Spoilers

Whole movie tried so hard to make them teenagers it lost the "ninja' mystique to the turtles. Completely removing the history of Splinter, the voice cast felt too young to accurately portray what I envision the turtles to be. Changes to April felt unnecessary. Making Bebop and Rocksteady allies, genderswap Leatherhead (and seemingly Krang) for some reason. Taking the TMNT completely out of the shadows and into the spot light as mainstream heroes doesn't feel deserved for a reboot in a single movie that didn't even flesh out their ninja aspects. While I liked a more stylized animation some of the character models just straight up looked deformed, also just straight up showing Ferris Butler came across as lazy story telling... hell all of the damn references were lazy ass story telling. The whole turtles being young mutants but literally every other mutant is older than them despite them being relatively the same age if not older then one would think tiny embryos in test tubes to be. The Splinter "romance"... the Leo "romance"...

To each their own though I guess. If there is a franchise that can afford to be different it's the TMNT given how reboot happy they are with it...
FearTheLiving
FearTheLiving - 9/10/2023, 5:22 PM
@FearTheLiving - Oh one thing I did really like though, was giving Splinter a major action scene. If they didn't ruin it with all the "milking" jokes and his history being bastardized that would have made me pretty happy.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 9/11/2023, 6:16 PM
"But it’s always been on the cusp and we’ve never found a way to make it would that would be acceptable."

Translation: Nickelodeon have been trying to shoehorn this version of the turtles in every cartoon and movie they've done so far and it hasn't ever worked.
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