battlewithin

Rob Schneider is no longer voicing Chum Chum?!? What? Why? He's brilliant. The replacement is just not the same. I seriously hope this is just a one-show change, however unfortunate it is. A great episode should not "suffer" from a cast change.

There's so much that Rob brings to the character. I don't understand this change. We're forced to suffer with someone who is not the voice of the character we have come to love. It's one thing to bring in new folks for new characters, which I highly appreciate. It's a totally different story to replace someone who has become an expectation and joy to experience.

As other reviews point out, this is a clear miss. I had the unfortunate experience of having to see this in 3D... and while better than 2000's 3D tech, it left me with a headache from poorly designed glasses. I spent 60 of the 90+ minute runtime looking at my watch, waiting for it to be over.

I quite consciously found myself not entertained by 95% of the movie. I'm not sure any of my 3 kids were entertained or left wanting more. At ages 11, 8, and 5, at least one of them should have enjoyed this.

I grew up LOVING the 80s/90s cartoon. So I'm also quite unhappy about several of the changes. April is now a teenager, okay... she's black and unpopular; what?!? Donnie has the voice of an 8 year old, what?! Miley sounds older than the others, what?!? Splinter really has no reason for his name with a completely different backstory that has nothing to do with martial arts. Shredder only exists in the credits; an obvious ploy at a teasing a sequel.

The only thing that saves this movie is the animation style. It's "fresh" and different from any of the cartoons. Had it not been for the 3D version, I'd have probably enjoyed that part more. But the lack of a good story and total rewrite of "the origin" just lost me from the beginning. You can't suspend your disbelief once it's gone.

Speaking of origins... now the ooze is the invention of Baxter Stockman. Okay, I'll bite. Wait, Baxter is killed in the opening scene?! The heck? So the thing that's normally Baxter is now just "super fly." Bebop, Rocksteady and crew are all soon-to-be mutants, courtesy of "super fly's" obsession with destroying humanity.

The one other thing that was somewhat "cool" and a fun twist was making these other mutants flip on "super fly." Having Bebop, Rocksteady and crew be the good guys was neat... but now they've gotta be flipped back to bad by Shredder in the sequel... sorry, not buying it.

Also won't be buying the digital copy of this. Glad I didn't have to pay typical movie theater prices for this as well...