Geekatana Movie Review: Batman vs Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Being a kid growing up in the 80's I fancy myself as a TMNT fan watching it on television every saturday morning regularly back in 1984 onwards. Then the first ever Batman film came out two years later. Even back then it never in my wildest dreams I'm going to see batman and the pizza loving turtles crossing path specially in a full length movie feature. Then we fast forward to 2019 and we got Batman versus Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I could never be happier.

The movie is loosely based on the comic book with the same title that came out back in December 2015. I haven't read the comics yet but did some research on it before writing this review so don't expect me to make too much comparisons on the comics. Also probably some minor spoilers in this one.

On the trail of the deadly Shredder and the Foot clan our four beloved turtles soon found themselves in Gotham City. This undoubtedly put them in the path of Gothams City's dark crusader as he is none too happy with the arrival of both the turtles and the Foot Clan. And as things wasn't bad enough the League of Assassins and batman's Rogue Gallery of Villains dip their dirty hands into the mix and you can be sure it's going to spell trouble for everyone.

As far as plot goes this film isn't going to win any medals as a lot of the twist is predictable but the film makes up for it for its impressive action scenes. I have never seen the Shredder as formidable as menacing as he is here. His fight with Batman was one of my favorite parts of the film. In fact if I was being critical I'd say Shredder could have killed the Bat a few times if he has moved his blows and kicks just an inch closer.

This is a PG-13 film so expect some blood and a darker tone to everything. But the jokes is still there courtesy of Michelangelo and Batman's butler Alfred. The jokes range from funny to ok. In fact some of the jokes involved breaking the fourth wall and pokes fun of both batman and the TMNT franchise as a whole. Also this film is littered with Easter eggs and references that one would easily find if you're a fan of Batman and the first TMNT cartoon of the 80's.

Animation wise the film was ok specially the action scenes but there are drops in quality on certain parts of the movie. I'm not a fan of the Ninja Turtles design as they seem to got the bad end of the stick in terms of character design. Also the turtles voices takes a lot of getting use to as Michelangelo and maybe Raphael are the closes one voice wise to their original. Mikey being the party turtle with the jokes and Raph being the serious hot headed that he always is.

Tara Strong reprises her voicing role for both Ivy and Harley for this and has one of the most funniest if not face palm inducing scenes with Poison Ivy in the movie which regardless of how stupid the idea was still had me laughing. You will understand what I'm talking about when you see the movie yourself. A sort of funny Little Shop of Horrors reference that I sort of saw coming but I can't believe WB and Nickelodeon did it.

The music they used on the movie was impressive. It fits the scene oh so well specially the background music they used during the fight scenes. It works on the intense scenes and it works on the subtle funny moments as well. I was scared they would go into Loonie Tunes territory but glad they kept it balance and still retained the serious dark tone they were originally going for.

The film talks about the turtle going to Gotham while the comics deals with the turtle travelling into another dimension and winding up at Gotham. The movie and comics have differences but I guess the film wanted a more realistic approach. Also stay tune until the end for an after credit scene which was obvious when you're familiar with the first batman film.

Overall the film is a really entertaining for both fans of Batman and TMNT. In fact the more your familiar with the both franchises the more enjoying the movie is. This is an easy recommendation for anyone who is a fan of batman and TMNT be it a casual or hardcore fan. It mixes the best of both franchises. A must watch for anyone.