BLOG: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) “Another TMNT Article? Tell Me You Didn't Pay Money For This.”
While the first live action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie was released across the nation on March 30th 1990, it wasn’t until the afternoon of Sunday April 1st when my Grandpa (I love you!) and I found ourselves circling the parking lot trying to find a spot to make it in time for our matinee showing. The fourth grade was coming to a close, Summer break was looming on the horizon and I was just a few short months away from hitting double digits by turning 10. My friends, this was an era. When we both finally got out of the car and approached the theater, I can clearly remember the line snaking all the way around the block and extending to The Good Guys building on the other side of the lot. The excitement was palpable as hundreds of grade schoolers paced nervously in place like tiny little expectant parents.
My God, this was actually happening.
Between the years of around 1989 and 1991 (give or take a year for some), myself and many kids my age were sustaining ourselves on a strict pop culture diet consisting of anything we could put in front of us that had a Ninja Turtle on it. Action figures, comic books, themed birthday parties, an animated series, cream pies, cereal, Halloween costumes and of course the arcade and Nintendo games. Our options were not in short supply while we took this stuff any way we could get it and it all seemed to be leading up to this moment: A big budget live action movie. The Ninja Turtles were about to become real. Making our way closer and closer to the ticket booth, we became within earshot of the kids exiting their showings who were officially 93 minutes cooler than those of us still in line and now living in the future. The expressions on their faces and the incoherent ramblings said it all: “Dang.” As they stumbled out one by one, eyes wide open and mumbling to themselves, I remember desperately trying to make out the words pouring out of one guy repeatedly over and over again until it finally hit me: “Is that dude saying that Casey Jones is in this frickin’ thing!?”
So with hopes of greatness sky high, did the movie approach or at the very least achieve a shadow of or even possibly manage to meet those expectations? Well I mean, for me it walked right up to the ceiling and tore the roof off! Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is one of those movies not unlike Batman the year before where while I can definitely remember the hype building and checking my pulse each day waiting for it, I just can’t not not remember the final product being in my life y’know? Sure, this is likely to do with the 200+ times I’ve seen it since then but that just speaks volumes right there: It was immediately timeless. There’s a remarkable balance between the grittiness of the original comics and the lighthearted vibe of the cartoon and toy line at play and those contrasting tones are mixed just about perfectly. It at once takes a very far fetched and (let’s face it) ridiculous concept and throws it into the “real” world without ever not taking the content completely seriously which subsequently means that the audience aren’t treated like children (I’m pretty sure a Ninja Turtle saying the word “DAMN!” several times in the movie was my first step into manhood*). This of course led to a lot of complaints from parents at the time that they felt the movie was “too dark” and of course “too violent” which resulted in an unfortunate attempt at course correction beginning immediately with the first sequel the following year.
But hey guys, at least we got this one before anyone “knew better” right? And we always will. It’s with us forever. Time to plug in that NES arcade game for a few rounds before giving the disc yet another spin. Oh and of course...
