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The new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie has a common MCU problem
Michael Boyle
Wed, August 2, 2023 at 6:35 a.m. GMT-4·5 min read
teenage mutant ninja turtles mutant mayhem
TMNT: Mutant Mayhem has a common MCU problemParamount
One of the most powerful moments in superhero movie history is that "What's Up Danger" montage in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

It's a moment where the main character Miles takes a leap of faith off a building and, as a result, finally grows into the superhero role he's been afraid of this whole time. Although Spider-Verse is definitely a fun, kid-friendly movie with no shortage of jokes throughout, these two minutes are played completely straight.

When the "camera" flips upside down to portray a rising Miles as he's falling through the air, it's an unironically epic moment, and the movie's comfortable with staying in this tone until the montage is completely over.

There is no such sequence in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.

teenage mutant ninja turtles mutant mayhem
Paramount
Related: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles bosses confirm movie sequel

The closest thing we get is the scene where April O'Neil, terrified of puking again on live TV, decides to go on camera to defend her turtle friends.

For a moment it looks like her nerves are about to get the best of her once again, but she manages to pull herself together and protect her friends in their moment of need. (And as a bonus, she gets the journalistic scoop of a lifetime.)

But then the triumphant music cuts short and she vomits all over the place in the middle of her speech. Sure, her character growth continues unabated afterward, but the movie just couldn't help throwing in that vomit gag right in the middle. God forbid a character here is allowed to have a proper, uninterrupted moment where they get to be cool.

Mutant Mayhem is filled with moments like these. Every time a scene threatens to get a little too serious, a little too real, there's some gag thrown in to undermine that tone.

teenage mutant ninja turtles mutant mayhem
Paramount
When the turtles are devastated by the belief that they'll never be accepted by humans, there are jokes. When Splinter's realising his flaws as a father for the first time, there are jokes. Even when the turtles are in the middle of being crushed to death by the villain, the movie's still throwing in a dozen quips a minute.

At no point does it feel like anyone's in danger; at no point does it feel like any character could fail in a way that matters.

This is a storytelling tendency that's frustratingly familiar to a lot of MCU fans: whether it's Korg in Thor: Ragnarok making quips right after Asgard's been destroyed, or Mantis from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 getting hit in the head by debris in the middle of a heroic circle shot, it's clear that Marvel often can't resist undermining its cool or serious moments.

There's a lot of risk in being sincere – it means some viewers might think you're being sappy, or cringe – and a lot of MCU movies seem terrified of taking that risk. Although Mutant Mayhem is still a fun, exciting movie that'll should be a big hit, it's a shame it decided to follow the MCU's footsteps in this specific regard.

yondu michael rooker, nebula karen gillan, star lordpeter quill chris pratt, gamora zoe saldana, mantis pom klementieff, drax dave bautista, rocket voiced by bradley cooper and groot voiced by vin diesel
Disney
Of course, it's not the MCU that most audiences will compare Mutant Mayhem to. Instead, the likely comparison is Into the Spider-Verse, and Mayhem should have followed that movie more than the MCU.

Both are animated PG action movies filled with comedy, but Spider-Verse has the invaluable ability to know when to take itself seriously. We know this not just because of what's in the film itself, but what the Spider-Verse creators chose to leave on the cutting room floor.

That "What's Up Danger" scene wasn't always the triumphant, tonally-consistent sequence we got in the final product; originally, Miles was supposed to slam through a truck while swinging. The music would have jarringly cut short, and we'd watch as Miles landed against a brick wall with a humorous thud and a dopey groan of pain.

"It never felt quite right," the movie's feature animation editor Andy Leviton explained on Twitter back in 2019.

"After watching the whole movie in that state it truly felt like it was missing something. This was only a few months before release, [so] we scrambled in edit to mock up a more triumphant ending."

Fun #SpiderVerse Fact!
3010 MRU - Miles Rise Up. The number is for organization in editorial and the acronym/name goes across all departments. It was one of the few sequences that was in the movie from the very beginning back in early 2016 and was re-boarded/recut until... https://t.co/zBt3m5RZ1H

— Andy! Leviton (@AlliterAndy) January 29, 2019

In other words, Miles' clumsy fall was the Spider-Verse version of April O'Neil vomiting in the middle of her triumphant news broadcast.

You could see the appeal of this version of Miles' fall from a studio perspective: it was funny (sort of), and it would pre-emptively address any potential accusations that this movie might think too highly of itself. Ultimately though, the creators correctly chose at the last minute to change it to something better.

It's a shame Mutant Mayhem never seemed to make any similar choices.

teenage mutant ninja turtles mutant mayhem
Paramount
Maybe the best, most effective emotional moment in Mutant Mayhem is the early scene where the turtles are heading back into the sewer after a night out in the human world.

One of them stays there with the sewer pothole slightly open, taking a last lingering look at the city he knows he'll never truly be a part of. For just a few seconds the movie simply lets its audience sit with the character's sadness.

Mutant Mayhem is definitely a fun movie, but if it'd been comfortable holding onto emotional notes like it did in that one early scene, it could have been a truly great one too.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is out now in cinemas.