Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Secret of the Ooze(1991)
Last Watch Date - February 16, 2024
Total Times Watched - A LOT, OK?
Comments
As previously mentioned, I was a massive fan of the Turtles when I was a kid. I kind of wrote them off as I grew up and didn't want to be one of those dads who was trying to relive his childhood by making his kids watch the stuff he liked. My kids were NOT familiar with them at all until the TMNT gang popped into Fortnite. There was a lot of skepticism going into the first movie because it's an old live-action movie based on a comic book/cartoon. But they liked that movie, so how would they feel about THIS one?!
I don't think it's worth discussing the acting for the same reasons I had in TMNT. It's meant to be goofy. The acting is over the top and super silly. The costumes are also pretty silly outside of the turtles. Man are their costumes great. I didn't realize it was a Jim Henson workshop thing until watching this with the giant memorial in the beginning for JH. It makes sense that they're so good. They need to do this for more movies. I'm sure it's super expensive and time-consuming, but it makes it work SO MUCH BETTER than most computer generated stuff.
Oh yeah, Vanilla Ice makes a cameo for his song NINJA RAP. I was also a big Vanilla Ice fan at the time. I don't have to explain myself!
Back to the movie. TMNT 2 picks up where the last one left off, but adds another layer of silliness that really makes it work SUPER well. I liked TMNT, but 2 is just fun the whole way through. No sob story, no back story, no moody Raph and Leo. Just pure fun from start to finish. The dynamic between Mikey and Donny is great. It also kind of helps that Corey Feldman couldn't voice Donny – his voice is absurd (but don't worry, he's back for part 3). Raph and Leo have a funny dynamic too – a little bit like bickering brothers who also happen to be the most similar. I don't think I ever picked up on these as a kid.
There are genuinely laugh out loud moments in this movie. Like quite a few of them. It's surprising how good it is, especially considering its age AND that it's a sequel. But this makes me feel justified in my old love of the turtles. I guess it's kind of back from this. I'm going to have to watch some of the new cartoons to see how they are.
Recommended?
Yeah! This movie is totally tubular and even if you don't watch the first movie, you can watch this and enjoy it for what it is.
