68: TMNT Mutant Mayhem 🐢

We watched the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. Let's talk about it!

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Original Music by Alex Productions
Show notes include some AI generated content

Transcript

Dave (00:27.426)
So we're talking about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in this episode, but not that movie. Oh no, we're talking about the new TMNT movie. It's called Mutant Mayhem. It's a reboot of the franchise by Seth Rogen. This is the part of the podcast where I have to tell everybody if you have not seen this movie yet and do not want it to be spoiled by either us revealing plot points or us having opinions on it.

Matt (00:28.853)
Hehehehehehe

Dave (00:54.698)
Now is the time to stop listening or watching this episode. We are going to talk about spoiler content very, very soon. That being said, I'm going to pause.

Okay, everyone that wanted to leave is now gone. I hope. So we've been on a kick lately where we review movies as they hit streaming for rental. We did it with The Flash. We did it with the new Transformers movie. I'd like to some point, I think I said this last time, review a good movie. I unfortunately don't think today is that day. However.

Matt (01:12.285)
Yes.

Dave (01:37.894)
like we do with any sort of review episode. We're going to talk about the good, the bad, and then some of our controversial and or hot takes. So we're going to give this movie its due. I saw it in theaters. I actually was so excited for this movie, I went and paid extra to do a special sneak preview before the movie came out. And I took my girlfriend to it as well. That is

So Matt just watched it. I haven't rewatched it since I saw it in theaters. So we have two different perspectives. I've had time to let it marinate. Matt, you watched it what, this week? Yesterday?

Matt (02:19.081)
Yeah, I watched it this week. I finished it. I finished it yesterday.

Dave (02:22.642)
Okay. So, briefly, I'd like to just give like a there's a quick reminder of the plot for those that have stuck around. So, this is a reboot of the Ninja Turtles. Make no mistake. This is Seth Rogan reimagining the Ninja Turtles. We get a much younger version of the Turtles, and we get some different takes on some other classic characters I'm sure we're gonna get into. But the general

Splinter keeps the turtles in the sewers. They're not allowed to go above ground except to do secret grocery shops. That's pretty much it. Um, their desire is to be accepted by the surface world and they want to like integrate with humanity and go to school or whatever it is teenagers do. Um, along the way they get mixed up in some, some mutant mayhem. There are some other mutants in, in New York city. Um, April O'Neill is there. Uh, we.

Matt (03:14.901)
Hehehehehehe

Dave (03:21.526)
get the conflict of them trying to help solve the crimes that are being committed by the fly. He's called and I think it's called the fly right? It's called the fly. Superfly. That's right. Superfly. Yeah. Superfly. And his army of mutants. April helps because she wants to repair her image at her high school because everyone makes fun of her because she threw up when she was doing the news one day.

Matt (03:31.541)
Superfly. Jeff Goldblum's the fly. Jeff Goldblum the fly. Heheheheh.

Dave (03:50.326)
This is a very bad synopsis, I'm very sorry for this.

Matt (03:53.065)
No, that's pretty spot on right now. I mean, that's...

Dave (03:56.782)
Splinter finds out he's disappointed. There is some fighting. The movie crescendos with this giant mutant monster that's being controlled by or is Superfly attacking New York City. There's some meandering in between where the turtles maybe are gonna join Superfly and the other mutants, then they all turn on each other. Movie wraps up. We get a little extra scene at the end, a little.

Matt (04:07.915)
Yeah.

Dave (04:23.318)
Precursor of what's to come because this movie has already been greenlit for a sequel and a spinoff TV show Will talk major specifics In the sections of the podcast that's sort of your plot overview. It's an action movie with the Ninja Turtles You don't know the Ninja Turtles are This episode's not for you. Anyway, you know the Ninja Turtles are you can probably guess how this plot goes If you haven't seen the movie If you have that was your reminder and now I've done a lot of talking so Matt

Take us away. Let's, let's kick off the good.

Matt (04:56.117)
So overall, I might shock and surprise you of like the modern movies I watched. I actually didn't hate this movie. Did it have some problems? Yeah, it had some problems. But I actually was relatively kind of positive on this.

Dave (05:14.419)
I have a... can I react to that real quick?

Matt (05:16.265)
Absolutely. Of course.

Matt (05:23.005)
Full disclosure, I didn't pay. I did not pay for a private screening. I was not amped up. I didn't bring my family I wasn't tailgating outside. I casually watched this movie at work and at home over two nights Good if for those who want to watch it. It is like 20 bucks digital It was like 25 originally when I was gonna buy it dropped five dollars. So it's $20 digital or

Dave (05:26.926)
Good for you.

Matt (05:49.769)
You could also do Paramount for a month again, much like Transformers and do it for 10 bucks if you just wanna do that and you don't wanna own it or whatever. Good. I liked that the turtles had distinct personalities. I mean, normally they do, but they really did both visually and how they acted. I thought they had, I mean, the character models I thought were different and they were distinct. And I'm noticing that more in...

That even that the newer TMNT that I really didn't like with Megan Fox, like they all look different and I kind of do like that sometimes. Um, the one Superfly, let's talk about Superfly. I, I can't for me, we're different. Superfly. I don't know if you remember the scene when they're in the bowling alley or wherever they're at.

Dave (06:34.636)
Yeah, in the good section. Okay.

Matt (06:46.885)
And he's talking through his origin story. And I think it was Casey Jones. I know it's been a while, but like, he was like, I was being pursued in some alley by some figure. And I think it was like Casey Jones. Cause I thought I caught like a hockey mask, but I don't know. Whatever. I'm sick, but Superfly delivered this slide and it was something along the lines of, I beat that fool down. I touched that chin. I mollywhopped him.

Matt (07:19.053)
Any movie where you can stick in the word mollywop is that's automatically that's a that's a proven commodity for me I'm good. No one uses the word mollywop. That's something I used to always say in high school And the fact that I heard that on the big screen I'm all for it. Now, let's disregard the fact that this fly has an afro. Don't know why don't know why but whatever You know, whatever it doesn't matter. But uh, I like ice cube was kind of cracking me up a little bit. I don't know uh this movie

Dave (07:24.511)
Yeah.

Dave (07:41.118)
Doesn't matter. Eh.

Matt (07:49.877)
is definitely in my opinion, and this is maybe in our harder controversial takes or whatever, but like this movie for me, I think seeing the initial trailer when we saw it, your first reaction, the first text I got from Dave when he saw it was, their babies. That was the first thing that Dave sent me.

Dave (08:19.542)
Yep, didn't like that.

Matt (08:23.029)
So Dave was already like off this movie because of that. I knew entering this movie, maybe I had like a certain mind frame going into this movie. Like I knew it wasn't gonna be like the turtles like I thought. And I think that benefited me. Cause this movie to me, it seemed like it was for a younger audience, if I'm being honest. So I think me going in with that mind frame.

It didn't affect me. We're gonna talk about in the bad. I didn't love everything about this movie. There are parts of this movie that I thought were annoying as hell, but I was okay with that. The soundtrack was good. Like a lot of 90s hip hop, which is kind of confused, like, which is confusing. Cause it's like, I mean, I know music is timeless and universal, but I'm like, this is clearly like more of a children's movie. You're going to have a TV show on Nickelodeon, yet you're throwing in Tribe Called Quest and all this 90s hip hop that like.

Dave (08:58.998)
soundtrack was very good

Matt (09:14.461)
dudes like me and Dave's age, like an older, like recognize, you know, some like, but music is timeless.

Dave (09:18.85)
Well, that's on purpose. I mean, that's it. Regardless of the fact that it's aimed at it, it's aimed at a younger audience, but it's also aimed at the nostalgia crowd, which is dudes our age and older who love the Ninja Turtles.

Matt (09:22.613)
They're very New York.

Matt (09:30.213)
Yeah, who are gonna take, who are gonna take their kids, you know, to see it or whatever, you know, I get it. They gotta have something for us. And then my last thing was, I love any, I love those corny leadership characters in those moments, but I really like Leonardo's speech at the end, like when they're getting, you know, all hope is lost and they're getting their butt kicked and like, Leonardo gives his like leadership speech and he's been a cornball the whole movie, but like...

Dave (09:36.133)
Yep.

Matt (09:58.833)
loves his brothers and I just, I love, we've talked multiple times on this theme of like, this podcast of like teams and leadership and me and Dave's relationship and brotherhood. Like I really think that's why I vibe so much with the Turtles is when they're like on that brotherhood shit. And it's like, Mikey's freaking out about the plan. And he's like, dude, you don't ever worry about a plan. And Donatello is like, I can't figure it out. And he's like, you're the smartest person I know. You have all the tools. And then he's just like, wrath.

Go get it. Like that's what you do. Be aggressive for once. And then like Raph is even like, hey, you didn't sound like a corn ball for once. You were kind of a leader. Like that kind of gave me the warm and fuzzies. I love, I love that, that stuff. But overall, I did come away. Like I thought there was more good than bad in this movie, in my opinion.

Dave (10:52.657)
I wish I could agree. However,

I there are still things that I liked about the movie that the animation style. Oh my god. It's phenomenal I want I want more it was the perfect tone for the ninja turtles I loved that's part of what is so hurtful to me about the things that I don't like about the movie because it had Every opportunity to be a fantastic movie beginning with just the visual

Matt (11:02.985)
Really?

Matt (11:11.736)
I'm sorry.

Dave (11:22.418)
style of the film. It was gritty, looked like a comic book, but it was also sort of like lighthearted. And really once I came to grips with the fact that we weren't really rebooting the Ninja Turtles franchise in general. We were rebooting the cartoon show from the 80s.

I started to settle in a little bit because it was definitely more on the like aimed at kids, kind of goofy, a little ridiculous. So that made it easier for me to accept some things. The opening sequence of the movie, really, it almost felt like a bait and switch because that opening scene is like kind of dark. It's like that SWAT team raiding Baxter Stockman's house.

Matt (11:52.605)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Matt (12:15.27)
Yeah.

Dave (12:17.242)
And I was thinking, oh, this animation style is kind of dark and gritty and it's cool comic book, like volume one Mirage style gritty. Maybe we are gonna get a little bit darker of a take on the turtles. And that was it. That was the only really dark part of the movie was that. And then it just went full on slapstick afterwards. But I loved that opening scene. Loved the opening scene. Similarly to you, I do like the way that the turtles have their own

They play on each other in terms of personality and they have sort of their roles. I don't think that they need to have a different aesthetic to tell them apart. And when they started doing that in the Michael Bay live action movies, I was super out on that. Like Raphael with the do-rag, like Donatella wearing nerd glasses and having like computer shit strapped on. It's so unnecessary. We get it, okay? One's a tough guy, one's a nerd.

Matt (12:53.614)
hour to kill.

Matt (13:07.333)
You

Dave (13:16.19)
You let their personalities do the talking, write the characters in a way that gets that across to me. You don't need to show it to me visually that they look differently. The different color of bandanas does that already. We don't need to go down that path, but.

Matt (13:29.726)
If you had a time machine and could go back and you could have a conversation with Michael Bay, would you touch that chin? Would you mollywop him?

Dave (13:37.804)
Add Molly Wapham.

Matt (13:41.217)
Super fun.

Dave (13:43.738)
Molly wop the fuck out of him. And you know what? I'd go back in time to a period before he started making those movies, so he wouldn't even understand why. I'd be like, you gave Devastator balls, huh? Smack.

Matt (13:44.882)
I'm going to go to bed.

Matt (13:56.409)
This is like such a... Oh, sorry. Sorry to derail you. I just know you didn't like those things. I know you didn't love those. Dude, those robots are bad. Those robots are bad. It's a bad look. That's a bad look.

Dave (14:00.577)
Smack.

Dave (14:04.126)
Raphael with a do-rag huh? Smack! What about them racist ass robots in Transformers? Smack!

Dave (14:13.77)
Why did King Arthur have to get involved in the Transformers lore? Smack! I would... He would never make a movie when I was done with him. He might never recover. I might... I might put him six feet under. Who knows?

Matt (14:20.852)
Oh my gosh.

Matt (14:25.929)
Sorry, sorry I got you in a tangent, sorry my bad.

Dave (14:28.334)
That's okay. It's not hard to do. It's not hard to spin me up. I'm an easy target in that regard. I read about this next thing that I think it's, I'm gonna say in the good even though I actually didn't like super agree with the choice, but you'll see what I mean. So in a lot of the other iterations of the turtles, there's like a weird kind of like, schoolboy crush that someone gets.

on April. It's never been Leonardo. This is the first time the leader of the group got some play. And I don't necessarily agree with where it went. However, I did think it was nice to include that. And that was a nice throwback to, you know, other iterations of the hurdles. And along those same

Matt (14:59.205)
Yeah. Yes.

Matt (15:06.73)
Okay.

Dave (15:27.018)
the other mutants that are in the movie, the Mutanimals, which I don't know they ever called them the Mutanimals in the film, but that's what they are. It was cool to see like Mondo Gecko and like some guys from like the 87 cartoon that were also in the comics that have been in the IDW comics. I really, Superfly was kind of, just give me back to Stockman, I don't need the fly.

Matt (15:34.081)
Okay.

Matt (15:53.827)
Was he an actual character? Like, I know...

Dave (15:56.158)
Yeah, so in the, oh, you mean is Superfly an actual character? No, not that I've ever encountered.

Matt (16:00.041)
Yeah, we're team made up. Cause Baxter Shockman turns into that fly dude, right? Yeah, that's okay. That's what I thought. And I'm like, so this is like a.

Dave (16:03.872)
Yes, yes.

But traditionally in the comics, Baxter Stockman does not turn into a fly. He creates the mousers, and he's just like a brilliant scientist. He's not really mutant in the traditional takes on the comics, but.

Matt (16:18.821)
taking I'm doing the arcade version where he's a fly like you know like the TMNT games he's a fly cartoon yeah

Dave (16:22.698)
Yeah, well in the in the in the original cartoon, he's a fly.

So, I mean, it is what it is. When the property has been around for what? They were created in like 83 or something. So, 50 years? No, 40 years? Math's hard. 40 years, 35, 40 years. You're gonna have a lot of different takes and reboots and whatever. And I've come to accept that that's just how it's going to be from now on. So it is what it is. I just, I don't understand why

Matt (16:28.946)
That's where I got cut.

Matt (16:36.107)
Yeah.

Matt (16:43.594)
different, yeah.

Matt (16:51.513)
For sure.

Dave (16:57.782)
We didn't just use Baxter Stockman. I don't know. And I also, I did appreciate, I don't know if, I don't wanna call it good, but it is, it's something that I did enjoy about the movie. Kind of giving the turtles a bit of a moral dilemma is something new. It's not new if you're a fan of the comics.

Matt (17:19.229)
Yes.

Dave (17:27.81)
but putting them in a position to have to decide, like, do I wanna save humans who traditionally have hated me and my dad? Or do I wanna do what's right and stop this guy from like mutating the entire planet? That was fun, I liked that. That's about it for my good. I will say, I need to preface this before we get into the bad. When...

Abigail and I went to the theater. They had a special like Ninja Turtles display set up in the Cinemark and it was like a little walkthrough experience that was like a tiny little museum type of a feel like it was a single, there's like little interactive things and like backdrops and standees you could stand next to and take photos and there was like screens set up with videos playing and infographics and stuff. And I saw it.

Matt (18:13.002)
Yeah!

Dave (18:28.494)
And I started to walk over to it and she knew how excited I was about this movie because she knows how much I love the Ninja Turtles. I have a Raphael tattoo, which is not super obvious that it's a Ninja Turtles tattoo. And it's like an, if you know, you know, tattoo. I just have a side with a piece of pizza stuck on the side. So, I mean, it's not hard to figure out, but it's also not like a big goofy green guy on my arm. So, um, yeah. Yeah.

Matt (18:45.395)
Yeah.

Matt (18:55.249)
ooo like a turtle inside your arm like hehehehe

Dave (18:58.338)
So it's a little more subtle than that. But we're walking through it. I was like, you know what? I don't wanna do this yet, just in case there's like spoiler content interspersed in here. So we'll just come through this afterwards, unless the movie is just so awful that I can't bring myself to come back over here. We did not go back through because I was very, very upset.

Matt (19:08.723)
Yeah.

Dave (19:27.658)
while watching the movie and immediately upon leaving the movie. I have calmed down since.

Matt (19:28.033)
I hate it.

Dave (19:34.678)
but I was very upset in the moment.

Matt (19:39.969)
Did you get like the special popcorn tent or anything? Did they have anything cool like that or no?

Dave (19:44.662)
No, dude, the way this Cinemark was set up, everything, it was like the Titanic was sinking when it comes to getting your refreshments. It was all like self-serve. They had these huge, like, contain, like, they were like, they looked like refrigerators, but they were actually warmers, and they had just popcorn in the containers inside already. You didn't talk to a person at all. You self-serve drinks.

Matt (20:10.173)
You just grab it?

Dave (20:12.086)
You just grab your shit and get in line. Then you pay when you get through to the front of the line.

Matt (20:17.417)
We're on the Odyssey system with the popcorn now?

Dave (20:20.438)
Well, no, I mean, there's no way out unless you walk by a cash register. Like you have to grab all your stuff and go get in line to pay. You can't just like grab it and leave. There's people standing there monitoring it. But you're not like, you don't walk up and order. You just walk up and get what you want and then go get in line. And it was just, it was, everyone was feral. It was awful.

Matt (20:26.93)
Bravo.

Oh, okay, I didn't like that's weird.

Matt (20:34.229)
That's weird.

Matt (20:38.505)
That's weird, I don't know, man.

Dave (20:40.482)
So if they had special stuff, I didn't know how to get it, but I'm glad that I didn't because I wouldn't want it anymore.

Matt (20:47.477)
Got you.

Dave (20:49.406)
I'm gonna, the bad for me is gonna be a bit much, so maybe you should go first for this part.

Matt (20:55.721)
Um, I mean, I'm not gonna, I'll, I'll let you get after it. I, and the bad, I put it, no, I mean, and the bad, I didn't, I didn't love master splinter. I liked master splinter at the end. Like the lesson he ultimately learned about, he, he was drinking a lot of hatred against the humans because they treat them like crap. And then I did like, I got the warm fuzzies again, like when he sees super fly and he

Dave (21:01.855)
I think you liked the movie, so...

Matt (21:24.473)
seeing the mirror reflection of himself and like that's the path he's going down and he Doesn't want to be that and he doesn't want to be that for his sons and that's not what he wants to model I like that. I did not like that he learned Excuse me. I don't like that. They learned martial arts through jazzercise videos and weird So I thought that was stupid like he could have just learned martial arts. Like it could have been fine He could have been in a dojo. He could have been in the corner and watched the Grandmaster like

You're not gonna learn martial arts through Richard Simmons videos. I'm sorry, I thought that was kind of stupid. The turtles, the turtle, the actual actors that were turtles, they were, they're teenagers, they're young kids. And I know Dave's gonna talk about the jokey-jokeyness. There were definitely points where there was too much of that. And before the movie even came out, I kind of saw the behind the scenes and they really let these kids just improv. That is how.

That's how the script was. It was just like, hey, you guys just go up there and be teenagers and be teens. They were definitely teens. They definitely delivered on that. But it was definitely as a 30 plus year old man, I'm like, okay, this is a bit much at times. Your voices are really squeaky. Like I get it. I will just say, my only counterpoint to that is.

I was okay with it in the mind frame of this movie going into it. I'm not okay with it in an MCU movie where characters have been portrayed a certain way for years. And then all of a sudden they become practical jokers. That's the difference to me. Like if the MCU was a joke fest from the beginning, one, I don't think it would have got as far as it was did or be as successful as it is if they were all like the Thor movies, but

This is how this movie universe is. It was geared, clearly geared towards a younger audience. So like, I was a little bit, I'm a little bit more accepting in that, with that lens, if that makes any sense. I mean, that was really, I mean, I thought the milking joke thing was stupid. I will say it kind of popped me at the end though, that they actually did get milked. I thought that was funny, but like, throughout the movie, it was kind of like the Thor thing with the goats. I'm like, oh my God, with the milking joke. Like, can we drop the milking joke?

Matt (23:47.657)
The milking, the milking, and then at the end they actually did get milked. I didn't think that was funny. But, um, yeah, that was pretty much, I didn't love Master Splinter. I thought he was like the weakest portrayal. He's like super old. Like he was a real, real old man. Like, I don't know. He's only a couple of years older, but he seemed like he was 80 years old. Like, I don't know. Uh, I'll let you dunk on the movie now. That's what I, this is what I've been waiting for.

Dave (24:12.182)
So at the core of what the Ninja Turtles are is that I just I had a really difficult time at a really I had a really difficult time accepting

Matt (24:25.486)
He couldn't finish the exhibit.

Matt (24:32.501)
taking a sip of water, folks.

Dave (24:33.558)
that we are going to throw away everything about.

was the core of their motivation and these characters. There's like this eternal struggle going back to feudal Japan that they're just like caught up in. And I don't, I don't know. Master Splinter is basically like a sitcom dad.

Matt (24:49.973)
Japan, yeah. Yeah, I can see that.

Matt (25:03.969)
Yeah.

Dave (25:06.23)
He teaches them to be ninjas with some freaking workout videos and somehow learns it himself. I don't know how. Their main motivation in life is to integrate into the surface world and go to high school.

Get. The. Fuck. Out. That is, I, I cannot, in no version of the Ninja Turtles, at any point, that I recall, have they been like, God, I really wish we could just like, go to high school, guys. First of all, no one that goes to high school actually fucking likes going to high school.

Matt (25:50.476)
Shut up!

Dave (25:53.095)
No one liked that.

Matt (25:54.357)
They want to be accepted, Dave, they're teenagers. That's what it is.

Dave (25:57.142)
Nobody liked that. It's not relatable.

It's not. Kids don't like going to fucking school, man. It doesn't make any sense.

Matt (26:11.829)
when you've been cooped up in a studio.

Dave (26:12.554)
And the only people that are like, oh my God, I loved high school and I miss it so much. I got bad news for you. That's where you peaked in life, in high school.

Matt (26:17.973)
I'm sorry.

Dave (26:22.774)
By the end of this movie, they put these motherfuckers in jeans and button-up t-shirts and hoodies and sent them to fucking high school with April O'Neil.

I just...

Dave (26:37.39)
I... What do you want me to do with that?

Matt (26:38.781)
Leo was in that Leo, Leo was in that dad. He was in the tuck in shirt. He had that tuck in shirt game. Leonardo did it.

Dave (26:45.706)
Yeah, like, and then all of a sudden, like all the mutanimals fucking live in the sewer with them. Bebop and Roxette are moving a table around. Splitters like fucking a cockroach lady.

Matt (26:51.761)
Yeah, that was weird. That was weird. I'm like, I kind of got.

Yeah, the back half, like, who are they going to fight? Like, well, we obviously know who they're going to fight if you watch the post-credit scene, but it gave me like the X-Men, current X-Men line. I'm like, B-Bachman and Rocksteady are in the crib. They're good, so like, and I don't know all these, is one of them like Wingnut? Is that the character? I don't know, the Wing guy? Like, that's a villain? Like, what, like, what are, like, you're taking villains off the board. Like, what are we doing here?

Dave (27:18.89)
Yeah, yeah, they got he's like, he's a wombat. He's a wombat.

Matt (27:27.317)
Bebop and Rocksteady are major villains. Like, what are we doing? Oh, no, that.

Dave (27:33.888)
I, when all the mutagen went into the, into the ocean and then created like, I'm super amalgamation of all the life that it touches and superfly is like huge, like a kaiju destroying New York City. I, I was just, God, dude, I was ready to just leave. That was just so stupid.

Matt (27:37.317)
You are, that's it. Yup. Yeah. Yup. Yeah.

Matt (27:47.198)
Yeah.

Matt (27:53.482)
Yeah.

Dave (27:54.878)
It was so, so stupid. It was, it's just an action movie. We just happen to use the Ninja Turtles as the template. I don't, it's hard for me. No.

Matt (28:06.741)
Did you like it up until that point? Were you okay with? No, okay.

Dave (28:11.722)
No. No, I did not.

Um, it's hard for me as a, and this is going to sound, and I, I fully understand what this, how I'm going to be perceived with everything that I just said and everything that I'm about to say. And it's very much like, it's the shut up old man. This isn't for you. That's how people will react to what I'm saying. And that's, you know what? That's fine. But GI Joe transformers.

and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are the three core loves of my childhood before I got into comic books. And once I got into comic books, and that was partly due to the Ninja Turtles, because I loved the cartoon and then I saw a reprint of number one in like a Kmart or something and begged my mom to buy it for me. It's very difficult for me to accept a reimagining of that

that universe and those characters when it strays so far from what is traditionally what it's about or who they are. I feel like Seth Rogen can do what he wants because this is his version of the Ninja Turtles, but I do find it very difficult to believe that he was such a big Ninja Turtles fan as a kid because if you were, I don't think you create this.

And this is, I think I've probably transitioned us into the hot takes and controversial opinions portion of the episode because by and large, everyone that I've talked to has been like, oh yeah, I love the movie. It was awesome. And I'm sitting over here like, how can you say you love the Ninja Turtles and accept this movie? Because that's not this. This wasn't to me. This wasn't the Ninja Turtles. Splinter. Splinter is there. He is not just their father and not just.

Dave (30:11.446)
their sensei and not just the person that raised them and trained them. He is their moral center. He is their spiritual guide. He is the core of everything that the Ninja Turtles do. And to take that and strip it away and give us this version of splinter that is just like, dude, he, if, if this was a live action sitcom,

he would just be sort of like an unlikable dad character. And I think that's really, really disappointing. And on top of that, you fundamentally alter everything about the Ninja Turtles when you take Splinter and strip away everything that he is and was. And I'm sorry, but for their key motivating factor to be, we wanna go to high school, this doesn't make any sense.

Matt (31:12.597)
I thought we got to pass the collection basket around. My man took us to church right then. He took us to church. Open up your wallet. Pastor Dave needs a new car. No, come on now. Don't be stingy with the money. He's got to get a first print. He's going to go back to the source material. No, man, I hear it. I hear it. You've got, like what you say, 40 years invested into this. Like, I get it. I understand.

Dave (31:17.006)
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

Dave (31:25.619)
I gotta buy a first print of Ninja Turtles number one, volume one.

Matt (31:42.481)
I think... I don't know. I think just...

Matt (31:49.501)
Part of me is just like, maybe I expected, in my opinion, I expected this movie to be so much worse or.

It's seeing it's it sounds like for you like me and Star Wars. It's that's like what you That's like how I feel about like Star Wars. I think it's straight so far from it It's something completely different at this point So like I get it like I'm just I don't know why I didn't hate it as much as I thought I was going to I don't know

Dave (32:08.558)
Yeah. I kind of had a feeling this was gonna happen. I actually was talking to Abigail about this earlier today. And I said, you know what, I think what's gonna happen is Matt's not gonna hate it like I hated it. Like he's because he's just not as he's not as close to the source material as I am. So he's going into it with a much different lens.

Matt (32:26.881)
This motherfucker's gonna like it, yeah.

Matt (32:34.241)
No.

Dave (32:38.762)
You know, this is the first, this is the first Ninja Turtles animated movie since 2007. 16 years. God, that movie is fantastic. It's so good. Yes, me too.

Matt (32:45.321)
I really liked that movie though. I really liked that movie. I need to watch. Yeah, like I really did. I've liked that movie better than this one, but yeah, I don't know. From what I remember, I liked it. I know I liked it more than this one.

Dave (32:56.766)
Me too. Yeah, that's a great movie. It's a great movie. Honestly, for me, this is, I can't believe I'm even gonna say this. Though Michael Bay live action movies were better than this. If you're talking about strictly adapting the Ninja Turtles and staying true to the source material, they got it more correct than Seth Rogen did, in my opinion. Again, I know he's rebooting the,

Matt (33:10.991)
Oh, wow.

Dave (33:26.118)
1987 slapstick cartoon show. I understand that. I still think we miss the mark. I really do.

Dave (33:38.158)
I don't know.

Matt (33:41.857)
It's like a podcast about being old. I like seeing it the way I wanna see it. I don't know. I'm like, yeah.

Dave (33:47.853)
Yeah.

Yeah. I mean...

I really do try to, I wanted to like it, I did. Because why wouldn't I wanna like, I mean, I love the Ninja Turtles so much. I have so much collectible stuff, I have so many comics, I've got, I mean, I do have a number one, it's just not a first print. I have a complete run of volume one of Mirage, missing one issue, number 47. Everything else, I've got.

Matt (33:58.193)
Yeah, no. Yeah. Yeah, you don't wanna be bad.

Dave (34:22.558)
Volume 2, I've got all kinds of random weird Ninja Turtles collectibles strewn about my house. I want to like this movie desperately. It just didn't scratch the itch for me, man.

can't relate.

Dave (34:45.343)
I would.

Matt (34:46.91)
Even when you put the lens on, maybe I'm just caught up by Spider-Verse or whatever. This whole younger audiences thing, really going into it and not saying, oh hey, how would I want to see it? I obviously like seeing things. I can't remember that turtles movie with the gritty ass turtle. I like that. I'd rather see something like that than this movie.

Dave (35:12.822)
Turtles forever? That's what it was called. Yeah.

Matt (35:13.949)
You have Turtles Forever when the old, like, the old Mirage Turtles are in there. Like, I like it more gritty and like grounded and dark, but like, I think my mind, my mind frame was just, oh, Spider-verse, like bright and colorful new generation. I was thinking about like my daughter and kids that, you know, kids coming up, like, who don't know any of that stuff, who don't know the feudal Japan angle, don't know all that stuff. So they're like, yeah, this is like, this was cool and fun. And

Dave (35:22.282)
Me too.

Matt (35:42.449)
I don't know, I've seen just a lot of probably bad movies that I, I don't know. I don't know if that was my thought process going into it, I think.

Dave (35:48.668)
Mm hmm. I guess I just I guess I just want to understand why someone would think that wouldn't resonate with a kid. It like, do we somehow not? Do we not think that's cool anymore? Like?

Matt (35:55.933)
Yeah, no, ninjas are cool shit too, like. Yeah, like ninjas are cool, I don't know. We're just.

Dave (36:02.818)
Dude, I think these kids play video games, like they've played Sekiro, which is FromSoft's like samurai game. Like I'm sure they're into fucking ninjas. It's not far-fetched. It's not a stretch. I don't know. I don't know, man. I don't-

Matt (36:06.816)
Yeah.

Matt (36:11.189)
Yeah.

Matt (36:17.505)
I mean, when you saw Seth Rogen, you should have known what you signed yourself up for when you saw Seth Rogen. You should have knew it was gonna be a comedy.

Dave (36:23.39)
Yeah, but he's involved in Invincible too, and I think he's done an okay job helping with Invincible. He's been, he's done some other comic book adjacent and comic book related things already, and I haven't disliked anything until now. This is the first time where I'm really, I want to take him to the mat, like legitimately, like I'd like to wrestle him, put him in a chokehold for a little bit.

Matt (36:48.289)
That boy Kirkman ain't gonna let that get too far straight. Let's be, you know that. You know who runs that. You know who stirs that drink. That ain't about to happen around here.

Dave (36:53.367)
No, I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. But you know what? I have plenty of good Ninja Turtles content to go back to. I can watch the first two live action movies over and over again. Turtles 3 I cannot watch. That is...

Matt (37:07.413)
Exactly!

Matt (37:13.113)
And the third one, you can watch the third one. They go to China, Japan with a little stick.

Dave (37:19.722)
Turtles, Turtles 3 is worse than Mutant Mayhem, but not by much, but not by much.

Matt (37:24.985)
Okay, wow. See? You're a fair man. You're fair. You're fair.

I got it. That was the one. I downloaded the Two Turtles movie, so I need to watch them. I'm gonna watch them.

Dave (37:32.436)
I am.

Dave (37:39.022)
They're so good, man. I love them.

Matt (37:40.513)
Well watch them and do it.

Dave (37:43.894)
All right, man. Well, I got no other controversial opinions or hot takes on this one. All right. So I'm going to do something a little bit different. I'll do the regular, hey, follow us on Twitter. I'm on threads. That stuff's in the video description. Share the podcast with somebody. It helps us grow. We like growth. We like doing the podcast. The more we grow, the easier it is to keep doing the pod. So do that for us. Now, I'm just going to play us out of the episode.

Matt (37:46.377)
I got nothing else to... Nah, I think it looks good. Sure.

Dave (38:11.81)
fade to black and we have music playing behind us while I'm giving a very long outro. Not today, man. I just wanna hear it one more time. I need to bookend the pod with something that I love. We'll see you all in two weeks.

Dave (38:27.286)
This shit goes so hard.

Matt (38:29.361)
It's hard, dude. Using a trench coat. Trench coat wrapping.

Dave (38:31.478)
This song is timeless.

Dave (38:37.27)
Power.

Dave (38:43.69)
I know all, I'm not gonna wrap it, but I know all the words of this song.

Matt (38:44.602)
things.

That's the last one of the series. It's the exact first series. It's the exact first one of the series. That's Lethaly Evil Force.

Dave (38:51.406)
because they can't find the source of this lethally evil force. I lied.

I was a witness, get me a reporter, call April O'Neill.

There's no time to waste. Like quick on the double half, it on the city, man. It's in trouble.

Dave (39:12.73)
the

Dave (39:17.302)
They possessed eternal power.

Dave (39:30.318)
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

Dave (39:38.09)
Alright, I don't want to get a copyright strike on YouTube, so I'm going to stop it now. Thanks everybody. Take care. We'll see you in two weeks.

Matt (39:39.421)
Yeah, I was like, you're about to get copyright struck like a mug, right? That's like, that's like a minute and a half. Peace.