Nickelodeon/Paramount/Platinum Dunes
Yesterday, a massive viral campaign at TurtleReveal.com urged fans to Tweet/vote for their favorite Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle with the votes tallying up to eventually reveal each main green dude’s new character poster for the upcoming Platinum Dunes reboot. Leonardo got unveiled first followed swiftly by Michelangelo, Raphael and Donatello. As all four new posters were finally unlocked, so too was an extra special shelltastic treat…the brand new TMNT trailer! Check it out below:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwXFsrp6WBs[/youtube]
A lot of folks may still not be too keen on this grislier look for the Turtles, but I still think the designs are fine. Based on some of the action and violence portrayed in this trailer, this Green Machine isn’t looking to act too overly cute & cuddly, so why should they look it? As I’ve said before, it feels like a more ambitious movie than previous TMNT outings with regards to action spectacle. You can tell that the dude who brought TRANSFORMERS to the big screen had a heavy hand in the project despite just being a producer. But what’s promising for me so far is that the trailer seems to maintain focus heavily on the Turtles. You see them kick butt, joke around, flex their personality traits and get sage advice from their bad-ass mentor Splinter pretty much all the way through. April O’Neil (Megan Fox) and her sidekick Vernon (Will Arnett) pop in here and there, but I’m hoping that the film recognizes the need for balance and doesn’t have the Turtles playing second fiddle to the human stars in their own film (an aspect I feel the Transformers movies missed the mark on a bit). And, despite a race change, I’m down with this version of Shredder (William Fichtner). There are some hints that the character may be only borrowing the visage of the original Shredder for his own needs, but the guy is still a strong enough character actor for me to give it a shot.
Bottom line: it’s different from what has come before and that’s still fine by me. I love all things TMNT, from the first Mirage books to the 80’s cartoon to the new Nickelodeon show. Each version of the characters have their fair share of strengths and weaknesses and this new movie will be no exception. Whether or not it does a good job as an entertaining action film with colorful heroes remains to be seen, but for now, I’m intrigued and optimistic.
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES kicks its way into theaters August 8th!
