While it is easy to criticize them for their tendency towards reboots, revivals and remakes (the tragic trio that has dominated our cinematic landscape), Hollywood deserves credit when it takes a gamble and it pays off, especially when working within these guidelines. In the case of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the franchise created by  Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, nothing has ever stood out in terms of film adaptations, despite frequent attempts to bring the property to the screen. There was supposedly something about the original comic books and television series that prevented it from being translated effectively to screen, with every attempt either being slightly misguided or an outright failure. However, we have mercifully received the perfect example of what can be done with these characters in the form of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, in which director Jeff Rowe (who recently made his directorial debut with the unexpectedly brilliant comedy The Mitchells vs. the Machines) takes on these iconic characters, and actually manages to produce something quite remarkable. As undoubtedly one of the year’s most exceptional achievements in animation (especially considering how divided it has been – there are just as many masterpieces as there are misfires, from both major studios and independent groups), there is very little doubt that what is accomplished throughout this film is nothing short of a minor miracle, taking material that is familiar to all of us and reconfiguring it into something new and exciting, so much that even the most seasoned veterans of this property will feel the giddy enthusiasm of seeing their beloved character reinvented in a way that is thorough and meaningful, but also extremely entertaining. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is a wonderful film that proves complexity for the sake of getting a reaction is the sign of an amateur, since the most effective stories are always those that are simple, whether during conception or execution – and for a film like this, both are valid.

There is something to be said about the fact that the first truly excellent adaptation of this material was not live-action, but rather animated. These characters and their stories have always worked better when told through animation since real life rarely offers the elastic wackiness required to fully convince us of these bizarre scenarios. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is a gorgeously-made film, and Rowe and his team do not spare a single expense in bringing it to the screen in a meaningful manner. Animation has certainly been the source of a lot of contention discussion – we have gone beyond doing all we can with computer-generated animation, to the point where the industry has started to default to using this technology to emulate two-dimensional, hand-drawn animation, which everyone would agree remains beloved because of its heartfulness and character, something usually lost in the glossy, over-produced films that have reigned supreme over the medium for years. It isn’t as easy to achieve these striking visuals as it may appear, and many films have fallen victim to the same mistakes that usually trip up animators when working with this style. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is not such a film, since its animation is impeccable and striking, much more than we may have expected. The director manages to find a way to reinvent the style of animation, creating a colourful and uniquely distinct version of the world that is simultaneously gorgeous and grotesque in equal measure, every frame being fascinating. It does take a short while for us to get used to the animation, primarily because this is not a film that intends to look beautiful but rather find the detail in the more offbeat style, but once we overcome this initial period of needing to acclimate ourselves to the material, it becomes utterly delightful, a masterful and well-crafted animated film that proves how superhero films can still looking striking without needing to spend every cent of its budget on the design, and that a simple animated film can stand toe-to-toe with the very best of the genre.

One of the merits of animation becoming more mainstream is that audiences do not have to be allured based on the actors any longer – there are still major actors who lend their voices to these films, but this is usually done through finding the best performers for the roles, rather than taking whatever actor was willing to put in a few days to step into the recording booth, which is a cynical but ultimately relevant criticism of a lot of earlier works in this medium. From the start, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem makes it very clear that it had broader intentions than just overstuffing the film with familiar stars – part of this comes in the fact that the four main characters of Leonardo, Michaelangelo, Donatello and Raphael are all voiced by teenage actors, which plays into the more authentic feeling of the film. They may all be relative greenhorns to the industry, but Micah Abbey, Shamon Brown Jr., Nicolas Cantu, and Brady Noon bring so much soul to these characters, much more than any major, recognizable name would have provided. The supporting cast is where the more prominent people are found, but even in this case, they are cast as the most appropriate actors for the roles, rather than just being there for the sake of name recognition. Jackie Chan, Maya Rudolph, Seth Rogen (who was a writer on the film), Rose Byrne and several others are excellent in supporting roles, but it is the legendary Ice Cube who delivers the performance that defines this film, playing one of the most maniacal villains we have seen in recent years, and one that is far more complex than typical antagonists. It is a fascinating cast that lives up to the potential of the film, rather than seeking out ways to overtake these details. The sign of a great animated film is when all components are working together in synchronicity, which is precisely the element that helps elevate Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem to be much more compelling than it may appear to be at a cursory glance.

Unfortunately, every major film released has to have some deeper meaning, and whether it exists as a primary element or just as a thematic undercurrent, a film is not worth our time if it is not delivering some kind of a message – or at least this is what the executives seem to think is the case. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem spares both the writers and the audience the effort of having to figure it out by making it profoundly clear where this film falls in terms of its themes. This is a story about outsiders struggling to navigate a hostile world in which they are seen as rejects, monsters that have no place in decent society and should be shunned at best, and destroyed at worst, with very little middle-ground between the two. This is an obvious concept, and one that the film doesn’t waste even an iota of effort in trying to cleverly mask, since it is far easier to just present it outright and allow the audience to focus on the more interesting elements, rather than the studio-mandated message, which is a coup on the part of Lowe since he subverts our expectations by not making this the driving theme of the film. Ultimately, acceptance is not a difficult subject to explore in such a story – the idea of someone looking physically different causing repulsion and fear, which contradicts their more placid, gentle inner nature is not new to literature, but it is handled with some sense of originality in this film, which is a far more engaging experience and one that is all the more interesting based on how it tackles these ideas with a lot more sincerity than usual. The film is also careful not to make this the entire purpose of the story – it would be extremely easy for us to be overwhelmed by the emotions, to the point where the humour gets lost in the shuffle. It is clear that this is a film made by people who have great affection for the material, since while there are some nostalgic feelings, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is mainly tilted towards the comedy, and we soon discover that the most meaningful aspects are those that carry over the tone and style of the original series, being very careful not to lose the spirit of the source material.

It took over thirty years and seven films, but we finally have a genuinely excellent screen adaptation of these iconic characters, which have been subjected to some bizarre experiments in the past, but have now emerged as fully-formed cinematic heroes, which is a credit to both Rowe and his team of collaborators, and the studios that decided that making this film was a worthwhile risk, one that paid off splendidly and undoubtedly proves to be open a new chapter for this property. The challenge here was to bring these characters to a new generation – far too many people think that the audiences that need to be targeted are those who grew up with this material, rather than those who will discover this world through this specific film. Nostalgia is rarely a feasible business practice, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem makes it very clear that those who hold affection for this property will always show up, and that it is finding new viewers, particularly those drawn from the younger generations, that will mean the most. It is handled very well – there is nary a “cowabunga” to be found anywhere in this film, and the attention is instead shifted towards more recent verbiage, the kind that may date it to the current generation (and thus age quite poorly in a couple of decades), but this property has never been about cutting edge references and instead builds itself on forming a strong connection with the audience, which is precisely what keeps us so engaged and enthralled, each moment of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem being an absolute delight. Outrageously funny, unexpectedly heartfelt and always well-constructed, the film represents a new start for these characters, an introduction for new viewers and a brief moment of nostalgia for those who grew up watching them in previous forms. The meeting point between the two is spellbinding, and we find ourselves being drawn into the world of this film, immersing us in a hilarious and off-kilter environment from which we will be hesitant to even attempt to escape, since there is something so magical about what this film accomplishes, making it one of the year’s best surprises.