‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem’ Reviews Roundup: This Franchise Reboot Is A Knockout

We’re just one week away from the theatrical debut of Nickelodeon Movies and Paramount Pictures’s latest push to reboot the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and critics are chiming in on the latest animated entry to the franchise.

Directed by Jeff Rowe (The Mitchells vs. the Machines) and co-directed by Kyler Spears, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is a hit with critics who are praising the film’s ambitious animation, sense of humor, action sequences, and well-executed voice acting performances.

Praise for the film has been nearly unanimous among critics. If there is a recurring criticism, it’s that the film may be a bit light on narrative, although that knock is not omnipresent among early reactions.

The most common aesthetic comparisons among reviewers are being made to Sony’s The Mitchells vs. the Machines, which makes sense since Rowe co-directed that film. That said, reviewers largely agree that this film is a step forward from what was done with Mitchells and does a great job embracing the Turtles’ comic book roots.

Many Mutant Mayhem reviews are also comparing the film – favorably – to the ultra-successful Spider-Verse franchise, and it’s pretty clear to see why. That franchise has set the standard for adventurous hand-drawn aesthetics in cg-animated films which also make money at the box office.

It’s worth noting, especially to parents looking to introduce young ones to the franchise, many critics have commented on the film’s often violent action scenes that, were they to appear in a live-action film, may have pushed the film to a more adult rating. Few have indicated that the violence is a drawback, but it’s something viewers should be aware of before buying tickets.

Mutant Mayhem was written by Seth Rogan, Evan Goldberg, and Rowe. In addition to Nickelodeon and Paramount, Mutant Mayhem is produced by Image Comics, and Point Grey Pictures. Animation was handled by Mikros Animation and Cinesite Vancouver.

All in all, Mutant Mayhem has proved a hit with critics. The film currently has a 97% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 73 Metacritic score, with 16 favorable reviews and three mixed.

Here’s a more specific look at what the critics are saying about the latest Turtles film.

For Variety, Peter Debruge praised the film’s adventurous animation risks:

Behind the scenes, helmer Jeff Rowe takes the loose, pseudo-hand-drawn style of The Mitchells vs. the Machines (which he co-directed) and pushes it even further here, such that every frame has a scribbled, street-art aesthetic. It’s a radical choice — in both the strategic and surfer-speak senses of the word — given how same-samey most big-budget computer-animated movies look these days (Pixar’s Onward, Netflix’s The Sea Beast and DreamWorks’ Ruby Gillman may as well have been made by the same studio). And it couldn’t be more different from the darker vibe and photorealistic textures seen in the Turtles’ last two theatrical outings.

Clarisse Loughrey at the Independent wrote:

Mutant Mayhem, like The Mitchells vs the Machines or Puss in Boots: The Last Wish before it, suggests that studios are actually allowing animation filmmakers to do more than thoughtlessly hop on the latest trend. The film looks exactly how a franchise born out of the independent comic book scene and bolstered by Saturday morning cartoons should look.

In her review for Mashable, Kristy Puchko said:

Rowe and Spears enhance this energy with an animation style that proudly shuns the polished look of the movie’s peers. Throughout the film, settings, props, and characters are drawn with slaps and color, and scribbles that emphasize the human hands involved in their making. (Think the drafting lines in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.) This style brings texture and personality into every frame of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, reminding audiences that there are far more interesting things that can be done with computer animation beyond the bland accuracy of photorealism.

Frank Scheck at The Hollywood Reporter is definitely a fan:

Similar in look to the Spider-Verse animated films and resembling underground comics in its deliberately rough-hewn character and background designs, the film directed by Rowe and co-directed by Kyler Spears features vibrantly distinctive visuals that perfectly suit the rambunctious and frequently violent proceedings. The dialogue proves consistently amusing (not surprising considering Rogen’s participation), and the fact that the young actors voicing the TMNTs were actually teenagers when they recorded their performances infuses a welcome youthful energy to the goings-on.

And Indiewire’s Kate Erbland said:

The film’s dynamic animation style — both painterly and scribbly, heavy on the neon, vibrant and punchy, meant to look like the product of a free-wheeling sketchbook — will likely remind audiences of The Mitchells vs. the Machines, which Rowe previously wrote and has indicated is a major reference point for the look and feel of this film. That animation style also allows the film, rated PG “for sequences of violence and action, language and impolite material,” to get away with moments of surprising violence and genuine grotesquerie that would have likely landed a live-action version a pretty solid R.