Not since the 90s have I ever personally been excited about a TMNT movie. The first film, which came in 1990, was truly spectacular and holds up extremely well to this day. The second and third films, while more made for kids, hold a special place in my heart. Heck, even the animated sequel film, while not exactly my cup o’ tea, wasn’t bad. Then, there were the Michael Bay films. Oh boy.
Now, it seems that the team behind Superbad is bringing in an all-new animated reboot film. Luckily, it seems that Hollywood funny-man Seth Rogen is taking the project seriously as a fan himself. He, along with Goldberg, really wants to emphasize the teenage aspect of the Turtles, something that isn’t always shining through in recent iterations, despite being in their name.
“As a lifelong fan of Ninja Turtles, weirdly the ‘Teenage’ part of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was always the part that stuck out to me the most.”
“And as someone who loves teenage movies, and who’s made a lot of teenage movies, and who literally got their start in their entire profession by writing a teenage movie, the idea of kind of honing in on that element was really exciting to us. I mean, not disregarding the rest, but really using that as kind of a jumping-off point for the film.”
The latest news comes in the form of character profiles for each of the turtles. They don’t exactly stray too far from what fans can expect, which is definitely a good thing. Personally, I am more worried about what they will look like. But here are the descriptions for each:
Leonardo
Male, Age: 13-16, Any ethnicity
The team leader. Leo is strictly business, all killer no filler – except when he’s boasting and describing himself with dumb phrases like “all killer no filler.” He cares about keeping the “team” on mission, and tells himself that his brothers would be lost without him. He’s not the strongest (Ralph) or the smartest (Donnie), or the funniest (Mikey), but he’s the hardest working turtle boy and he’s proud of it. His brothers can get annoyed by his do-gooder attitude and the lectures that come with it, even when they know he’s right. Leo’s biggest fears are his brothers realizing that he needs them more than they need him.
Raphael
Male, Age: 13-16, Any ethnicity
The hot head. Raph likes to break s**t. Whether it’s with his fists or someone else’s fists as he throws them through a glass window. Ralph tends to react emotionally when he’s overwhelmed, but he’s actually super self-aware and working on it. With his hands in his pockets, crossed arms, and sullen face, he can come across as a little brooding. But beneath his impenetrable exterior is a soft, sensitive turtle boy who’s just looking for someone to open up to. Ralph, who would hate ANY authority figure, resents Leo’s leadership and thinks he should be in charge. His secrete shame? He knows deep down he wouldn’t know how to lead the team if it ever came to it.
Michaelangelo
Male, Age: 13-16, Any ethnicity
The goofball. With rare exception – takes nothing seriously. It could come across as aloofness or idiocy, but it actually comes from a place of wisdom and self-confidence. (knowing himself?) Mikey has his priorities in order, and at the top of the list is enjoying life and living in the present. He loves people and is endlessly curious, which leads to him having long conversations with complete strangers.
He’s that friend you tell your entire life story within minutes of meeting. He might not be good at martial arts training, or waking up on time, or even hygiene, but he’s an endless well of positivity that his brothers often take for granted. Mikey gets teased the most by his brothers, and even though he always laughs it off. Deep down it gets to him.
Donatello
Male, Age: 13-16, Any ethnicity
The intellectual. Feels like he’s Matt Damon in Goodwill Hunting. He is made fun of by his brothers for being academic. They acknowledge his smarts are useful but don’t appreciate it as much as he feels he deserves. His intelligence has its downsides though. Sometimes his intellectual self-assuredness can come across as arrogance, and his extreme pragmatism sometimes reads as coldness. It’s not that he doesn’t care, his brain is just thinking so many steps ahead about such complicated stuff that he often finds himself paralyzed with indecision.
President of Kids & Family Entertainment at ViacomCBS and President of Nickelodeon, Brian Robbins is very excited about using Rogen and Goldberg to bring about a new flavor of humor to the franchise and was quoted as saying:
“Adding Seth, Evan and James’ genius to the humor and action that’s already an integral part of TMNT is going to make this a next-level reinvention of the property. I’m looking forward to see what they do, and I know that Ramsey Naito and her team are excited to take the Nick Animation Studio into another great direction with their first-ever CG-animated theatrical.”
No further details have been shared regarding the casting or the release date of the movie at this time.
