And it's time to (re)visit the second Ninja Turtles live action movie!
Find more TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA REVIEWDS on this very same blog!
Movie: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze
Directed by Michael Pressman
Release date 1991
Genre Martial arts/Science fiction/Action Comedy
Country USA/Hong Kong
Produced and released a mere year after the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, The Secret of the Ooze was the sequel everyone was expecting. Fresh off the gigantic success of the original and tying in with the just as popular-cartoon series which was gathering more and more fans all over the world.
The turtles were now at the height of their popularity. New Line Cinema wanted to make another one as soon as possible, and production was rushed pretty quickly to have it in under a year.
Originally, the film was supposed to be another faithful adaptation and said story was supposedly taking after the TCRI/Utrom story arc of the classic Eastman and Laird's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Which is about the third big story arc (if you count the introduction story and Baxter Stockman as both the first and second arc).
But sometime during production it was decided that the whole alien angle was to be cut to either keep things simple or leave it aside for a potential third movie.
And thus Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II ended up revolving around the mysterious Ooze that mutated them and the now changed TGRI company.
TMNT 2 is a direct continuation of the first one.
Homeless, Leonardo, Donatello, Michaelangelo, Raphael, and their Master Splinter are now living with April O’Neil. After a quick fight, a young Pizza Delivery guy, Keno, discovers their existence and tries to follows them around.
Meanwhile Shredder is back. He starts to reassemble the Foot Clan for his revenge against the Turtles.
When Techno Global Research Industries gets some attention on TV because of some recent mutated plants nearby, the Turtles discover the secret behind their own mutation and Shredder gets the mean to execute his vengeance.. and thus are born Tokka and Rahzar!!
For this film,both Michaelangelo and Leonardo's voice actors reprised their roles in the second. While Ernie Reyes Jr who played Donatello's stunt double in the first one was casted as a new separated character, Keno. Casey Jones didn't get to appear this time, with Keno around there wasn't much reason to feature him again. (Casey should tag along the Turtles 24/7 anyway...) April O’Neil was played this time by Paige Turco, replacing Judith Hoag. Personally I preferred Hoag in the first one, but Turco got more to do in this story.
There's a nice sense of continuity carried from TMNT 1. Splinter still has his hear cut from his fight with Shredder, Raphael has his shell more beaten up from previous movie compared to his brothers. The Turtles are still searching for a new place since the events in the original. They find a new home in the form of an abandoned subway station which has since gone to be their lair in most other adaptations/TMNT material later on.
The movie studio originally planned to have Bebop and Rocksteady from the cartoon series featured in this film. But Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird didn't like them and instead had Tokka and Rahzar created for this purpose. The new muties were specially designed for the film by Eastman and Stephen R. Bissette. I always liked these two mutants, I know long time cartoon fans preferred to have Bebop and Rocksteady instead, but I digged the design of Tokka and Rahzar more. (and I'm not sure having two stupid talking mutants would have been that much of an improvement over two stupid mute mutants)
TMNT 2 is definitively cartoonier than the original. The violence has been toned down a notch. The atmosphere is closer to the cartoon series. But it also provides the film with some great comedy. Lots of great lines, gags, jokes and memorable one liners. It's a brighter movie but still worthwhile its predecessor.
Of course it wouldn't be the same film. After the introduction that was the first one, here we jump right into the middle of the action. The Ninja Turtles have several brawls throughout the picturee, they jump right on screen after the 3-minutes mark.
The costumes and animatronics were once again provided by Jim Henson's Creature Shop. The movie is actually dedicated to his memory, Jim Henson died shortly before the production. There's some noticeable improvements in the puppetry, Splinter alone is all the more impressive this time around.
TMNT2 was directed by Michael Pressman who was a relatively unknown name (still is to this day) besides Dan Aykroyd's comedy Doctor Detroit in 1983.
The music is a perfect bubble of what the 1990s offered. John Du Prez returned to compose the score. While the soundtrack feature a lot of hits from the early 90s. And let's not forget the "Ninja Rap", when Vanilla Ice starts to improvise a rap when the Turtles crash a concert in the climax of the film. Some might hate it, but I find it classic and one of the most memorable scenes of this sequel.
Overall, it's a pretty fun and entertaining sequel. It never reaches the same tone and well crafted quality of the first one, but it didn't had the ambition to in the first place. It's just "more Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles". Featuring more action, more comedy, more TMNT, more Shredder and finally more mutants.
Of course, I for one personally love it. It's probably due on nostalgia alone. I remember it fondly, 'watched it so many times. Heck, I posted so many clips of TMNT 2 on this very blog under the tag TMNT!
The Utroms aliens were thrown out of the picture for a more grounded simple experience. At some point in the film the Professor Jordan Perry was supposed to remove his shirt and show he was in fact an Utrom controlling a robotic body. But instead the movie focused only on Stockgen and the Oooze for a purposely 3rd movie that could take place in space, with scifi elements from the comics and all. There's actually some Utrom leftovers in the movie here and there. One can only wonder what might have been...
It's a fun charming movie, the effects never look dated, though the pop culture elements at the time do so *cough*VanillaIce*cough*. Perhaps my only real critique of this second episode is how the Super Shredder ends up being a bit of a let down in the end...
I give it:
2.5 / 3 UFOs!
Great Review!
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