Raphael, Leonardo, Donatello, and Michelangelo are back to battle bigger, badder villains, alongside April O’Neil and a newcomer: the hockey-masked vigilante Casey Jones. The film stars plenty of familiar faces including Megan Fox, Will Arnett, Laura Linney, Stephen Amell, and Tyler Perry. The acting is good, and because of the turtles more realistic appearance, it's actually quite easy to forget you are watching 'turtles'. The personality and character are barely sidelined at all, and just as with the original cartoons, there's plenty of tongue-in-cheek humour.
The story is set a year after the Turtles defeated Shredder, and they stayed in hiding by allowing Vern Fenwick (Will Arnett) to take the credit. April (Megan Fox) of course knows the truth, and discovers that a scientist called Baxter Stockman is working for Shredder, plotting to help him escape from prison. She tells the turtles, but Shredder manages to escape along with two other prisoners, Bebop and Rocksteady - who are completely inept and provided plenty of laughs for my boys.
During the escape, the Scientist Stockman tries to transport Shredder, but sends him to another dimension. It is here that Shredder meets the supervillian despot Krang, who already has plans to take over the Earth. Krang gives Shredder a 'Mutagenic Compound' in return for his help. The compound changes Shredders bumbling henchmen into huge and formidable hybrid animal-people - a Warthog and a Rhinoceros.
As with all good hero movies, it is then up to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to stop Krang and Shredder, and their mutant henchmen, and save the Earth.
The storyline is quite complex, and although my 8 year old may have it, my 6 year old was happy with his understanding of 'the good guys have to stop the bad guys'. There is tons of action and humour throughout, even a little slapstick. Plenty to keep even younger viewers interested.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows is rated 12A, and has a runtime of 1 hour 52 minutes. I don't mind my 6 and 8 year olds watching it, but more sensitive children might be scared. It isn't really suitable for children below school age, and as well as being quite long and complicated, there obviously is some violence. The turtles don't generally kill their opponents and there's no 'gore', but the characters look pretty dark and scary - especially if you are too young to appreciate how daft they actually are.
You can find out more about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows on the TMNT movie website, and I have an activity sheet which you can download here...
A good family movie to watch with older children.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows is available from Monday 24th rrp £9.99 on DVD and £14.99 on Blu-ray from all good DVD stockists instore and online, including Amazon.The Blu-ray, Blu-ray
3D and 4K Ultra HD include more than 40 minutes of action-packed bonus
content, and the film will also be available as a 2-film box-set with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014).
We were sent our copy for review.
I know a little boy who would love to see this. We are big turtle fans here x
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