Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird must be two of the luckiest men in movie history. From small, nunchuk-shaped acorns their independent comic book Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles grew into an empire that to this day expands as fast as their bank balances. As a teenager in the UK in the 1990s I became a fan of the Turtles for a while – the toys were impossible to obtain and there was a cartoon series with an altered title. The BBFC were paranoid about Okinawan weaponry, so Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles became the entry point for British children to the world of Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello and Raphael.
The hit 1990 movie (with effects by Jim Henson) relayed one of the most bonkers origin tales in living memory, as Splinter the rat learnt ninjutsu by mimicking his owner’s movements from his cage before going on to tutor a group of pizza-loving baby turtles in the sewers. Two more instalments followed, with TMNT II: THE SECRET OF THE OOZE featuring the combined talents of David Warner and Vanilla Ice and TMNT III sending the Turtles back to 17th century Japan and finishing off the series seemingly for good.
Eastman and Laird probably thought they could rest on their laurels, but no. Producers of TV and film alike return to the Turtles again and again, hoping they can still squeeze some cash out of those hard shells. Most recently in 2007 an animated movie was produced with the voice of Sarah Michelle Gellar as the Turtles’ journalist helper April O’Neill and now forthcoming is a whistles and bells action fest from super producer Michael Bay. Bay kicked Transformers into shape, it makes sense he can do the same for the pepperoni-eating foursome, right?
Casting his leading lady from Transformers Megan Fox as April and, impressively, William Fichtner (THE DARK KNIGHT) as arch nemesis Shredder, as well as the likes of Tony Shalhoub (Monk), Bay is certainly on the money cast-wise. But how do Eastman and Laird, who instigated the project several years ago, feel about how it’s gone?
Interestingly, they are a little divided on the subject. Laird made his impressions reasonably clear in an earlier interview:
(The) changes to the basic design of the Turtles seemed to me to fall into the “fixing what is not broken” category. It’s altogether possible that, in the context of this new movie, these designs will work well and not seem so odd, but I still point to what Jim Henson’s “Creature Shop” team did with their rendering of the Turtles in rubber and paint as the best translation… the extra “stuff” added to the Turtles’ outfits just seems extraneous to me, and a bit silly in spots… Maybe it will work, but right now, I don’t see it. I prefer the simpler versions.
Eastman however has now offered his own thoughts on what he’s seen so far and his outlook is much more positive:
I know everybody is like, “Oh, Michael Bay, Michael Bay, Michael Bay, he’s gonna ruin it! He’s gonna destroy it!” But everyone I have encountered has been nothing more than incredibly sincere to try and bring the Turtles back in a way that’s new, fresh and exciting, but with total respect to everything that’s come before.
With the money rolling in as consistently as a herd of gold buffalo, neither man has too much cause to be curmudgeonly. October 17th will be the time to judge when TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES is released in the UK. It is directed by Jonathan Liebesman (BATTLE: LOS ANGELES).
Source: JoBlo
