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:

The abandoned subway station, which serves as the Turtles' new lair, is based on the real life "City Hall" Station of the former Interborough Rapid Transit company in New York City. Although the station itself is decommissioned, the track on which it is located is still active.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: At about the 52:47 mark after Donatello is thrown through the roof and rips the tape off of the TGRI guys mouth he exclaims "I gotta get the hang of that" to which the TGRI guy says "That's okay." immediately after "That's okay" you can hear someone on the set say "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 107" in the background. Use headphones if you must.

Quotes:

Tatsu: Our father gone!
[kicks over boxes]
Tatsu: They will pay! I, Tatsu, now lead! Let any who challenge step forward!
Shredder: [appearing in doorway] I challenge!
Freddy: His face!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Matrix (1999)

Soundtrack:

Find the Key to Your Life

Superb but lacks darkness like the original

The sequel to the smash hit 1990 TMNT, starts off greatly with an introduction to a new character (Keno) and has a great pizza scene showing how the city loves New York pizza as well as metaphorically showing the viewers watching that this indeed is a turtles movie...The opening music is great and is perfect for the city scene.

The plot is not as well thought out as the original but still does the turtles a good name for them...I still feel they rushed it a little seeing that the movie was in production right after the 1st movie went into theaters...I seem to feel the super shredder was the turning point in the franchise, meaning that it went from a sort of Tim Burtan feel with TMNT 1, and ended up with a corny kid focused feeling with the introduction of the super shredder..and the ninja rap didn't help either..all though I thought it was cool....I just wished secret of the ooze was more of a dark TMNT movie....which the 1st movie held on to strong.

The addition of Professor Jorden Perry and the whole TGRI company was a great idea to explain the chemical spill and the mutation the turtles went through. His mature nature and serious tone helped the movie maintain a sense of maturity as well as stability in the plot.

The acting was great in this one as well and the comedy was just as good as in the first movie. Although Corey Feldman did not voice Donetello in this one, the replaced voice actor was great...I even might say that the actor that voiced Don in TMNT 2 is just as good as Cory Feldman's voice acting in the 1st and 3rd movie.

IN conclusion, TMNT: Secret of the Ooze is a great sequel that is both funny as well as serious and is a great movie for any age. The only thing that bothered me was that is was slightly too focused on the youth audience and didn't stay 100% with the original's dark atmosphere.