GO NINJA GO NINJA GO! GO NINJA GO NINJA GO!!! (My apologies… ever since I received the 25th Anniversary Blu-ray set of all four “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”, I haven’t been able to get this ridiculous song out of my head…) So like Righteous dude! Can you believe those cool dudes over at New Line have finally decided to deliver a pizza box o’ goodness to fans of “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” everywhere? Should I say ‘Cowabunga?’ Well, that remains to be seen. Admittedly I’m a big fan of the first movie… quite a bit less of the second and third… and really liked the fourth.

I can’t imagine anyone NOT knowing who the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are, considering what started out as a 1-shot parody comic by Kevin Eastman back in the 80’s turned into a billion dollar a year property thanks to more comics, cartoons, lunch boxes, underwear and pretty much anything else you could print the faces of Donatello, Raphael, Michelangelo and Leonardo on. Even after all these years, there are still big fans floating around out there.

When I was younger, I never really got into the comics or the shows, but seeing the first film “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” in the theater was a blast. It was silly and cheesy, but it boasted costumes created by Jim Henson’s studios so I went to see it… over and over… I loved the costumes, unlike some people, BECAUSE of their Muppet like quality. I was amazed by the actor’s ability to move and fight in them, and thought the designers did an awesome job with the head piece animatronics. Considering the time these movies were made, these were very impressive to my young eyes.

I never really got into the two sequels, in part because Judith Hoag did not return in the role of April O’Neill… and also because I just could never get into seeing the Turtles dancing with wanna-be celebrity Vanilla Ice.” Those weren’t the only reasons though. It was pretty obvious from the outset that these sequels were made by the studios for no other reason than to try and make money from the audience. Little thought was put into the stories or the characters and as such, they just weren’t up to par with the original. This isn’t to say they were a total loss. They were colorful enough to appeal to smaller kids (and Texans), so there was an audience to be had.

It was nice to see that the fourth film (“TMNT”), which isn’t really a sequel per se, was not only better than II & III… but was actually quite a bit better than the original. Of course, it was an ALL CGI film. When it arrived in theaters in 2007, it breathed life into what had become a somewhat dead series. The story was very well written, the action and overall animation looked terrific, and the voice actors (which included Patrick Stewart, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Chris Evans and Mako) did an outstanding job.

This month New Line is releasing the aforementioned 25th Anniversary set on Blu-ray. All four discs are housed in a ‘cheap pizza box’ shaped case and all of the discs are printed on to look like pizzas. I’ve heard some complaints about what amounts to a cheap cardboard box to house the Blu-rays, but I kind of like the idea. Along with the discs, the case holds a comic book version of the first movie, a ‘signed’ sketch, character cards and a TMNT Beanie. So yes, the case looks kinda flimsy, but I think it is quite appropriate.

While I do like the set as a whole, I’m not sure that Blu-ray is the way to go. The original film looks pretty good, though it still suffers from some grain. The II & III films fare even worse. They look better than the old DVD and VHS versions, but not a whole lot better. The fourth film, being that it is newer and animated, looks the best. And by best I mean it looks fantastic. The sound is the one area that does show improvement all the way around. The original stereo soundtracks actually sound really decent in this new format.

Don’t look for any terrific special features here though. The first three films only have trailers (and one sneak peak at a video game). The fourth has all of the extras that were present on the earlier Blu-ray release. These are the expected commentary, a deleted scene, alternate opening and ending scenes, and featurettes on the computer work and voice talent.

If you already have these movies in your collection, I wouldn’t plan on dropping them to get this one. However, if you don’t and have always wanted to add them to your collection, this set is the way to go.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Directed by: Steve Barron
1990
Extras: Sneak Peek of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash-up for Nintendo WII
Specifications: 1080p/VC-1
Studio: New Line
Release Date: 8/11/2009
MPAA Rating: PG

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret Of The Ooze
Directed by: Michael Pressman
1991
Extras: Movie Trailer
Specifications: 1080p/VC-1
Studio: New Line
Release Date: 8/11/2009
MPAA Rating: PG

Turtle Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Turtles In Time
Directed by: Stuart Gillard
1993
Extras: Movie Trailer
Specifications: 1080p/VC-1
Studio: New Line
Release Date: 8/11/2009
MPAA Rating: PG

TMNT
Directed by: Kevin Munroe
2007
Extras: Movie Trailer,
Specifications: 1080p/VC-1
Studio: New Line
Release Date: 8/11/2009
MPAA Rating: PG
http://www.newline.com

We'll give Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: 25th Anniversary (Blu-ray) a B.