By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are comic book heroes who had a lot of soul back when it first saw print. When creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird spent time working on their property, interest in their heroes in the half shell was high. The cartoon that evolved from it had a lot of spunk for kids to love, but it was its own beast since its light-hearted humour helped make the turtles pop culture icons. But for the original comics that was darker in tone, fatigue, creative differences and the need to move on by one of the artists caused the two to part ways.
Laird eventually sold the franchise rights to Nickelodeon, and what has evolved from it has become contentions between those who loved either the original comic book, one of the many cartoon series, role-playing games or live action films. The series changed from its gritty world to that of adventure and campy humour.
The current computer animated series successfully blends the two together. But with a film to reboot the theatrical series by producer Michael Bay and director Jonathan Liebesman, the latter pairing is the prerequisite choice. Their method of madness is to reinvigorate this Ninja Turtles with high-octane action in only a style Bay can emphasize — let’s slow down the fast-moving sequences with hang time moments, include a villain who belongs more in a Transformers movie and toss all logic aside.
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