Although forbidden by Splinter from associating with humans, they nonetheless befriend black female high school student April (v.b. Ayo Edebiri), who dreams of becoming a journalist. They also cross paths with Superfly (v.b. Ice Cube), an ooze-mutated housefly who leads a gang of various mutant animals (v.b. John Cena, Seth Rogan, Rose Byrne, Paul Rudd, Post Malone, Hannibal Buress).
The turtle quartet soon learns that Superfly seeks to exterminate all humans. They convince Superfly's gang to join them in an a battle to stop Superfly's fiendish plot.
How others will see it. The present film proved generally successful. As of this writing, it is in the top 200 of popularity at imdb.com, courtesy of Amazon Prime streaming. It has a fairly high user rating of 7.2 out of 10, and the user vote (61K) is also good.
It has picked up a slew of festival circuit nominations, especially in the category of Best Animated Feature. It has a shortage of wins, though. There is also an undercurrent of negative user reviews, typically from fans of the franchise who wanted the film to be more like whatever incarnation of the franchise they enjoyed when they were twelve years old.
How I felt about it. I did not expect to encounter a good Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie within my lifetime, but the very unlikely has arrived. I am happily surprised.
It's not a movie for kids. No one dies or even swears, but there is no shortage of violence that in a real world would result in many serious injuries and deaths. But this doesn't bother me, because I am only concerned about how good the movie is, rather than whether it would be harmful to preteenaged viewers.
I like the fact that April is pudgy and bespectacled. Her appearance is more like Velma than Daphne, in Scooby Doo terms, but her soul is normal. She wants to achieve and fit in, but maintains a strong moral compass despite self doubts.
The turtle quartet, though, are the same as ever. They may be turtles with Italian names and Japanese samurai swords, but they act more like West Coast surfers enjoying a summer break from high school.
The difference between the present movie, and its predecessor multitude of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movies and shows, is the animation, writing, and direction. In particular, the writers (Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Jeff Rowe, Dan Hernandez, and Benji Sami) appear to merit the credit. I have not been particularly impressed with Seth Rogen before, but this time he has come through.
The plot is familiar to the super hero genre. Our good guys team up against a seemingly invincible bad guy, with Life As We Know It at stake. But it is a suitable vehicle for the action and humor we came for.