TMNT Mutant Mayhem is a triumph

There's been no shortage of praise for this movie, but Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is a fucking masterpiece.

I'm sure there are loads of people who would pass this right up after trying to reboot, remaster and reinvent this series like 10 times in the past 30 years. All with varying degrees of success. But honestly, there is so much care and detail put into this movie that far outstrips what past iterations have done.

For me, what gives this movie a lot of heart is having the script revolve around family and home, trying to get a sense of who you are and where you belong in this world, and figuring out where those two overlap.

I just like how the turtles themselves interacted with each other and let their distinct personalities gel and go deeper than The Leader, The Angry One, The Smart One, and The Party Dude. They act like children, like brothers, like teens trying to seem older and cooler than their usual awkward selves ... all much more prominently displayed than being ninjas or mutants or turtles.

And the animation and art direction, it's just gorgeous. We're being absolutely spoiled with good design and slick animation tricks these days, and it's so here for it.