Sequel Saturday presents Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2

By Paul Anthony

TMNT or better known as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was such a big hit in the 80’s and 90’s, so it only made sense to make them into films, well here comes 1990 and the turtles made it to the big screen and they struck magic because the first movie’s budget was only 13 million dollars and the film grossed over 200 million and with that being said you knew a sequel was coming along and that’s where we get a sequel just a year later called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: The Secret of The Ooze. The film was made from a slightly higher budget at 25 million but made far less then the first film. The movie only made 78 million. Still it made a profit but failed to reach even half of what the first film made.

So was the film just that bad or what because just a year ago it made so much money. Well for starters releasing a sequel within a year is never a good idea even if you have a large fan base sometimes fatigue just kicks in and then it is also could be the film itself. Here we go the film picks up a year after the last film and sees the Turtles living with April, still puzzled to why they saved the city and still have to live in the shadows. Shredder makes his return after the city and the turtles thought he was dead but this time instead of building the foot clan up again he rounds up the ones who didn’t get busted and seeks his revenge. In the mean time the turtles start to learn about their past when a story April is doing sheds light on their past with the green ooze that Splinter remembers and there he explains everything to the Turtles, though some feel disappointed that their past was nothing more then a mistake.

However Shredder sees what the ooze can do and wants some to help make monsters to defeat the turtles. Here is where we meet new villains Tokka and Rahzar who proves they can defeat the turtles but only are babies which mean they get outsmarted by the turtles, which forces Shredder to become Super Shredder from the ooze but in his fit of rage to defeat the turtles he kills himself. The turtles survive and are happy that Shredder is no more and life in the city returns to normal.

The movie does take a lighter tone to things and the turtles hardly used their weapons unlike the first film. For this reason many critics gave it a mixed reviewed instead of praising it since it went away from the source material. I don’t knock this film for trying something different because I don’t want to see the same movie twice and everything lines up to be a decent film. In the end I give it a B for their effort but would recommend anyone who likes them to watch this film!