Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Steve Barron

Writers (WGA):

Kevin Eastman (characters) and
Peter Laird (characters) ...

Release Date:

30 March 1990 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Crime | Drama | Family | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Lean, Green And On The Screen.

Plot:

A quartet of humanoid turtles trained by their mentor in ninjitsu must learn to pull together in order to face the menace of Shredder and the Foot Clan.

Plot Keywords:

Turtle | Rat | Ninja | Pizza | Sewer

Awards:

1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

Judith Hoag	...	April O'Neil
Elias Koteas	...	Casey Jones
Josh Pais	...	Raphael / Man In Cab (voice)
Michelan Sisti	...	Michaelangelo / Pizza Man
Leif Tilden	...	Donatello / Foot Messenger
David Forman	...	Leonardo / Gang Leader
Michael Turney	...	Danny Pennington
Jay Patterson	...	Charles Pennington
Raymond Serra	...	Chief Sterns
James Saito	...	The Shredder / Oroko Saki
Toshirô Obata	...	Tatsu (as Toshishiro Obata)
Sam Rockwell	...	Head Thug
Kitty Fitzgibbon	...	June
Louis Cantarini	...	Cab Driver
Joe D'Onofrio	...	Movie Hoodlum #1 (as Joseph D'Onofrio)

Also Known As:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie (USA) (long title)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Original Movie (USA) (DVD box title)

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA | Hong Kong

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:10 (original rating) | Iceland:12 (video rating) | Singapore:PG | South Korea:All | Australia:PG | Finland:K-12 | Germany:12 | Italy:T | Norway:15 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG (cut) | UK:PG (re-rating) (2003) (uncut) | USA:PG | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | Canada:G (Nova Scotia/Quebec)

Filming Locations:

Castle Hayne, North Carolina, USA

Company:

888 Productions

Trivia:

Judith Hoag declined to reprise her role as April in the film's sequels due to substantial edits of scenes involving her character.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: At the end of the movie, when Shredder is running towards Splinter with the staff, part of the sound stage is visible (on the full screen version).

Quotes:

April: My nearest neighbors are about four miles away. I need to get to a phone and call my boss.
Casey Jones: You mean Charles?
April: Yes; how did you know that?
Casey Jones: He left a message on your machine, uh, just before we got out...
April: And?
April: Well, hey, you just saved yourself an eight-mile round-tripper. Um... You were fired.
April: I just saved myself?
Casey Jones: [oblivious to the dark tone] Mm-hm.
Donatello, Michaelangelo: Uh-oh.
April: What did you do? Did you take classes in insensitivity?

Movie Connections:

Features Narc (1988) (VG)

Soundtrack:

LET THE WALLS COME DOWN

The best movie ever made on the subject of radio active turtles

I dare anyone to hate this movie. Come on. I triple dog dare you. Sit in front of the TV with a bunch of your friends and just try not to like it. You can't. It's impossible. I was a full fledged turtle fan back in the day (I don't think the fad lasted long enough for us to earn Trekker-type names) and of course at that point, I thought it was the Gone With the Wind of our time. That, obviously, it's not. But there is something just incredibly charming about a bunch of giant turtles acting like typical sit-com kids. One even gets yelled out for sneaking out past curfew to see Critters 2. If it comes on TV, even my dad has to pause to watch at least one fight scene. If someone in a college dorm pops it in, legions of kids will exclaim "Holy sh*t! Is that Ninja Turtles?" and then plop right down in front of the TV to watch. You have to give a lot of credit to the guys who made this film. It was released in the height of the craze so they could have thrown anything on the screen and it would have been a hit. (See Ninja Turtles 2). But instead, they tried to make it the best film they could, despite the subject matter. They came up with an almost relevant, after school special type plot. The jokes and references range from Moonlighting to John Steinbeck, and the fight scenes are done in the spirit of a Jackie Chan flick. Add the fact that there are giant turtles doing the fighting, and you get a funny, imaginative, and just plain likeable movie no matter what your age. Sure, it's about pizza loving ninja turtles. But it is the best movie that could ever be made about pizza loving ninja turtles. That has to count for something.