Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (1991)

User Rating:

5.3/10   

Director:

Michael Pressman

Writers (WGA):

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

Release Date:

22 March 1991 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Family | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Cowabunga, it's the new turtle movie.

Plot:

The Turtles and the Shredder battle once again, this time for the last cannister of the ooze that created the Turtles, which Shredder wants to create an army of new mutants.

Plot Keywords:

Turtle | Shredder | Mutant | Ninja | Rapper

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Paige Turco	...	April O'Neil
David Warner	...	Professor Jordan Perry
Mark Caso	...	Leonardo / News Room Staff
Michelan Sisti	...	Michaelangelo / Soho Man
Leif Tilden	...	Donatello / Foot #3
Kenn Scott	...	Raphael (as Kenn Troum)
Kevin Clash	...	Splinter (voice)
Ernie Reyes Jr.	...	Keno
François Chau	...	Shredder
Toshirô Obata	...	Tatsu (as Toshihiro Obata)
Raymond Serra	...	Chief Sterns
Mark Ginther	...	Rahzar
Kurt Bryant	...	Tokka
Kevin Nash	...	Super Shredder
Joseph Amodei	...	Parlor Owner

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

USA | Hong Kong

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Australia:PG | Finland:K-12/9 | Germany:12 | Iceland:LH (video rating) | Iceland:L (original rating) | Italy:T | Spain:T | Sweden:11 | UK:PG (original rating) (cut) | UK:PG (video rating) | USA:PG | Norway:10

Filming Locations:

Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Golden Harvest Company

Trivia:

In the original script, the film was to end on a cliffhanger, with Prof. Perry being revealed to be a robotic shell for none-other than Krang the Brain from Dimension X. For a variety of reasons, this was ultimately decided against.

Goofs:

Plot holes: At the end of the film, Splinter quotes the "Ninja Rap" song, despite the fact that he wasn't in the club scene to hear Vanilla Ice rap it.

Quotes:

Donatello: The perimeter's quiet.
Leonardo: Yeah, a little too quiet.
[Donatello knocks two Foot soldiers out]
Donatello: Well, that was easy!
Leonardo: Yeah, a little too easy.
Donatello: Look! It's Raph!
Michaelangelo: Yeah, a little too Raph.

Movie Connections:

References The Karate Kid (1984)

Soundtrack:

Creatures of Habit

If you had trouble taking the first one seriously...

Entirely abandoning the little grittiness and atmosphere the first one did have, this embraces the approved-for-kids tone fully. Personality and threat, and thus engagement and excitement, are abandoned in favor of jokes intended for youthful offspring, and not even all being good ones, properly set up ones, or remotely original ones, at that. "Family films" might have less of a bad name if they genuinely tried to offer something, instead of just throw the lowest common denominator at the audience, hoping that they're either of the age where they find it funny without applying any criticism, or the parents of such, paying for the theater ticket regardless of quality. It is possible to create truly good ones, and ones that are still appreciated by the viewer. The real The NeverEnding Story(of '84, I do not acknowledge the others) is a marvelous example. Wouldn't the children want proper adventure? Perhaps even be challenged, at least a little? Would fairy tales have the appeal they did if there were no consequences to people's actions in them? The plot is far-fetched and squeals sequel(it would scream it if it could, but the puns have gagged it). The pacing is uneven. The ending is unsatisfying. The acting is overdone, possibly intentionally. A new main character is introduced, allowing for more of the intolerable "shock at seeing something unbelievable" reaction shots, in case you didn't get enough of that in the one that precedes this, or the countless other movies that have such. The martial arts do have some nice choreography. The effects vary. The DVD holds a wide-screen and full-screen version of this, a theatrical trailer, as well as a reasonable mini-game, called Pick That Flick, where you, from a single frame, have to pinpoint which of the ten titles it is. I recommend this to fans of the Turtles, particularly younger ones, or those who of a mindset that fits with that group, it being at whom this was aimed. 6/10