The cartoon “Mutant Pogrom” was published. This is the best thing made about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the 21st century. The cartoon “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Pogrom” was published on the internet 09.12.2023, 13:20

A gem called Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse jumped into the mainstream animation pool almost five years ago and quickly went through all the formal success procedures ($375 million box office, an Oscar for animation, for a change that didn’t go away). to Pixar). But the concentric waves it provokes are only now really starting to reach us, it seems. Cinematographer Guillermo del Toro’s mantra that “Animation is a medium, not a genre” is becoming less and less absurd. A cartoon competing for the Oscar for Best Picture no longer seems like a pipe dream. The cocktail Sony has observed, whether they’re mixing 2D and 3D and essentially offering “Pixar” toy photorealism as an appetizer, has been dragged into their menus by studios like DreamWorks Animation (“Puss in Boots: The Last Wish”) And of course Sony itself rushed to further develop the discovered gold mine (“The Mitchells vs. the Machines”, “Spider-Man: Web of Universes”).

The final chapter in this saga is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. However, a third player (Paramount and Nickelodeon, in cramped circumstances but blameless) is climbing the troubled pond, but more importantly, finally confirming the dawn of a new era. Over the past few decades, mainstream animation has doggedly reproduced the Pixar picture; As a result, it became increasingly difficult to distinguish all projects from each other. For a time after the release of “Into the Spider-Verse,” there was some concern that the “Pixar” picture would be replaced by the “spider” picture. But the industry came to the right conclusions and relied on the uniqueness that ensured the success of the Spider-Man movie.

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A still from the movie “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” (2023)

Paramount Pictures

In an ideal world, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles would suffer the same fate. But we don’t live in it. Costing approximately $70 million, this film grossed $161 million (data at the time of publication of this text) – half as much as Into the Spider-Verse and four and a half times less than its sequel Web of Universes ($689 million). . All hope now lies with online theaters, physical media, and the American Film Academy.

At the same time, the picture deserves all the praise that was given to the cartoon about Miles Morales five years ago; This cartoon immediately after its release became an extremely important figure in the debate about which on-screen Spider-Man was the most successful. “Mutant Mayhem” is at least the best thing to happen to “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” on the big screen in the 21st century (though there’s no major competition here: from the memories of the 2007 cartoon and the double reboot) from the hands of Michael Bay, who is still to this day He vomits with a shudder.) And it is quite possible that it will be the best overall on all screens in history (fans of the first part of the film trilogy of the 90s, where the Turtles were life-size dolls, can forgive us).

First of all, it is infinitely beautiful. If Into the Spider-Verse’s visuals were directly dictated by comic book art (and even the texture of the paper), then Mutant Mayhem’s style emerged from sketches in school notebooks, which in turn are strongly associated with two things. : teens and New York. As a result, a full blow was dealt to the (large) target, which led to the “second”: In English, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is called “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”, but so far “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” has always been the most part of this equation It has been a neglected part. The new cartoon does some things in a fundamentally different way.

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A still from the movie “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” (2023)

Paramount Pictures

All four turtles who dream of being born from the New York sewers—Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael—are played (or voiced) for the first time by real teenagers: Nicholas Cantu, Mike Abbey, Shamon Brown Jr. and Brady Noon. Together, they create the indelible impression of a complex four-digit password chosen on the first try (here the mentor mouse Splinter speaking in the voice of Jackie Chan creates a similar effect). But the most important thing is that the film gives its characters the opportunity to be the same teenagers on a regular basis: fooling around, making fun of each other, blushing in love for the first time and gathering courage to ask Crash to the prom. This gives Mutant Mayhem an incredible freshness. But it’s not just about diversion and romance: In “Turtles”, the characters’ age is taken over by more serious things.

Due to the very small number of years they spent on Earth, Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo and Raphael are particularly aware of their position as outcasts, freaks, not accepted by society – because during this period it becomes extremely important to be recognized by outsiders. growing personality. Another, not the most direct, consequence of the “Turtles” revival lies in the atmosphere of insularity that pervades the film: the action does not leave the confines of a single universe, often confined to the one and only New York; Our times of “Marvel” epic multiverse standards are perhaps rare.

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A still from the movie “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” (2023)

Paramount Pictures

Frankly, it is difficult not to share the surprise of Seth Rogen, a long-time and loyal fan of the series, who realized that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had not yet managed to become truly teenage and decided to make the main bet on this topic. Rogen and his eternal partner-in-crime Evan Goldberg are the main driving force here (they co-wrote the script and produced the film), the eternal teenagers who are also, in a sense, responsible for the best goofy comedies of the 2000s and ’00s (Pineapple). Express, Superbad), “At World’s End 2013: Apocalypse Hollywood Style”). At the same time, Rogen himself references an interesting double feature: Rob Reiner’s “Stand by Me,” his adaptation of Stephen King’s “The Body,” and Greta Gerwig’s “Lady Bird.”

In the end, I want to follow Rogen and Goldberg’s example and leave with something warm and cozy (unfortunately, the lyrics don’t allow me to include the song A Tribe Called Quest). Fortunately, “Mutant Mayhem’s” less-than-spectacular performance at the box office didn’t seem to scare Paramount and Nickelodeon: In July, the studios announced a spinoff series and a full-length sequel to “Turtles.” and no denials have been made since. Nowadays, of course, the value of any announcements and extensions has dropped significantly: once they decided, they changed their minds. But without hope it’s totally demoralizing – so let’s hope for now.