TMNT

> "*We live together, we train together, we fight together, we stand for good, together. We are Ninjas. We strike hard, defend, protect and fade into the night. And there ain't no bad guy or monster gonna ever change that: That's what's important. And that's why we'll always be brothers*."
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> ― Raphael
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**TMNT** is an American-Hong Kong computer-animated superhero martial arts film, based on the fictional superhero team of the same name, written and directed by Canadian filmmaker and director Kevin Munroe. The film is the first entirely animated *Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles* film, as well as the first feature film from Hong Kong-based Imagi Animation Studios.

It features the voices of James Arnold Taylor, Nolan North, Mikey Kelley, Mitchell Whitfield, Chris Evans, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Mako, Kevin Smith, Patrick Stewart, and Zhang Ziyi with narration by Laurence Fishburne.

The film was released theatrically by Warner Bros. Pictures and The Weinstein Company (internationally) on March 23, 2007, to mixed reviews from critics and audiences yet was a mild commercial success.

The film was first made available on HBO Max on June 1, 2020, temporarily left on July 31, 2020, then returned on October 1, 2020.

## **Synopsis**

*TMNT* sees the four Turtles (Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo) having grown apart after the final defeat of their archenemy the Shredder when strange things are happening in New York City as ancient creatures threaten the world and the Turtles must reunite to save it.

## **Official 'HBO Max' Description**

> "*Splinter, the rat sensei, senses something amiss in New York City. His disciples, Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo have grown apart since their last adventure. The teenage terrapins must somehow renew and strengthen their bond if they are to have any hope of defeating an evil industrialist's army of ancient monsters*."
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## **Voice Cast**

* James Arnold Taylor as Leonardo
* Nolan North as Raphael
* Mikey Kelley as Michelangelo
* Mitchell Whitfield as Donatello
* Chris Evans as Casey Jones
* Sarah Michelle Gellar as April O'Neil
* Mako Iwamatsu as Splinter
	+ Greg Baldwin as Splinter (uncredited)
* Patrick Stewart as Max Winters
* Zhang Ziyi as Karai
* John DiMaggio as Colonel Santino
* Kevin Michael Richardson as General Aguila
* Paula Mattioli as General Serpiente
* Fred Tatasciore as General Gato
* Frank Welker as General Mono
* Kevin Smith as an unnamed cook at a diner
* Laurence Fishburne as the film's opening narrator

## **Production**

### Development

A computer-animated *Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles* movie was first announced in 2000, with Hong Kong-action film director John Woo supposedly at the helm. That movie languished in development hell and Woo ultimately moved on to other projects. *TMNT*, executive produced by the TMNT co-creator Peter Laird, departs from the previous films' live-action style and is the first and only CGI film in the series.

Writer/director Kevin Munroe said that he wanted to do total CGI instead of live-action and CGI turtles because it would be easier for the audience to "*suspend disbelief for such an offbeat story*" as there would be no break in the reality between CGI and live-action. Producer Tom Gray explained that the decision to depart from the live-action series was due to escalating budgets for the three films, and with each film making less than its predecessor, a CGI film became a reality. For example, the first film made $135.2 million on a budget of $13.5 million, and the third made $44 million on a budget of $21 million. Orange Sky Golden Harvest's rights to the franchise had expired, and Gray said the question arose there over a CGI *TMNT* film in 2004.

### Writing

Munroe stated in terms of the storyline that ideas were floated as extreme as the Turtles being in space, but eventually,y it just came back to New York City, and the theme of the family that had fallen apart  When developing the screenplay, Munroe wanted to take on a less lighthearted tone or "less Cowabunga" and place an emphasis on dark elements as shown in the original comics to appeal to the mature audience: "I had a very specific tone because mixing that sort of action and comedy is a very specific thing. Most people were just coming and wanting to make it too funny. I think that version of the movie could do really well, but we wanted to do something where it sort of pushes the envelope a little bit more and says that animation is more than just comedic animals bumping into each other and farting!" Munroe said that in design and in the rendering of the animation, he was after the feel of a comic book. Karai was one of Munroe's favorite characters from the comics and he "was the one who really pushed for Karai" to appear in the film.

*TMNT* co-creator Peter Laird stated it takes place in its own universe separate from the previous films, but director Munroe says the film exists in the same continuity as the other films, which was supported by the memento wall at the end of the film.

### Animation

Development and pre-production for *TMNT* began in June 2005 at Imagi's Los Angeles facility and the CGI animation was produced in Hong Kong, followed by post-production in Hollywood. In designing the New York backdrop, art director/concept artist Simon Murton stylized the familiar Manhattan skyline and urban landscapes: "We began with cinematic cues from certain black-and-white films from the 1940s and '50s. I really wanted to push the lighting and the environments to create the look and feel of an alternate reality". The animators that worked on the fight sequences were inspired by Hong Kong action films. Animation director Kim Ooi explains said that because of CGI they were able to "push and stylize beyond the limits of live-action." Image used Autodesk Maya with Pixar's RenderMan for the production pipeline's back-end.

### Casting

Jim Cummings was the only past TMNT actor to appear in this film, where he had previously contributed voice-work in the 1987 *Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles* series. The film also features three voice actors for Ratchet in the *Ratchet & Clank* series, Mikey Kelley and Kevin Michael Richardson from the first game, and James Arnold Taylor from the others, playing Michelangelo, General Aguila, and Leonardo, respectively.

*TMNT* would be Japanese-American actor Mako Iwamatsu's final acting role. Mako was announced as the voice of Splinter at the San Diego Comic-Con on July 20, 2006. He then died the next day, aged 72. A dedication to Mako appears at the end of the film's credits. Although Mako is the only actor credited in the role, Greg Baldwin performs a substantial portion of Splinter's dialogue in the finished film; Baldwin had already mimicked Mako's voice when he took up the late actor's role as Iroh in the concurrently-produced animated series *Avatar: The Last Airbender* and used this precedent to successfully lobby to join the cast of *TMNT* as Splinter following Mako's death.

## **Reception**

### Box Office

*TMNT* ranked number one at the box office on its opening weekend, beating *300* (the top film of the previous two weeks), *The Last Mimzy*, *Shooter*, *Pride*, *The Hills Have Eyes 2*, and *Reign Over Me*. Weekend estimates showed that the film made $25.45 million over the weekend of March 23–25, 2007. The film grossed over $95 million worldwide, including over $54 million domestically during its 91-day run in the 3,120 North American theaters.

## **Trivia**

* The previous movies in the franchise were all live-action, chronologically taking place after the first three movies.
	+ This film served as the first movie in the franchise in fourteen years, since '*Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III*' (1993).
* One of the arcades at the Turtle's lair features the character Zeus from Imagi's animated television series, Zentrix (2001).
* Warner Bros.' fifth theatrically released entirely computer-animated film after '*The Polar Express*' (2004), '*The Reef '* (2006), '*The Ant Bully* ' (2006), and '*Happy Feet'* (2006).