Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows

With the Transformers and now the Turtles movies it's clear that Bay expect kids to be stupid and is okay with feeding them unhealthy entertainment in the name of fun. If you have kids and want to show them a genuinely great kids film that nourishes their IQ instead of depleting it, make them watch The Little Prince. Until then let's just pray the filmmakers are not trying to do a Transformers-Turtles crossover film.

The plot is totally outlandish. Quite unbelievable really but then what would you expect in a scenario where turtles are ninjas and go about defending the city and it's people with a speed and alacrity uncommon to their genre type. So the implausibility in such shows of valor is a given. It's the lack of wit that is hard to overlook. The sci-fi action is sumptuous but not out of the ordinary. Everything seems like it's been done before.

This is strictly popcorn entertainment which is good while it lasts but offers nothing to take back home.

Packed to busting with over-the-top action set pieces that are so ridiculous, the film has a frenetic pace that you lose track of the narrative. The computer generated images, over a period of time, actually are an eye-sore, especially with cars flying through the air, turtles skydiving and the alien invasion which is directly picked from 'The Avengers' stylebook.  Overall, this film, with its tech-heavy sequences, fails to deliver what even fans would expect.

So are the Turtles boring? Hell no! They're still as cool as ever. It's just that their adventures have become pointless. They're fighting portals spitting hostile aliens, martial arts clans out to change organised crime, stuff that The Avengers and Batman have already done. In IMAX 3D too. Poor Turtles look like they crawled out from under a giant rock.

I really wanted to enjoy TMNT Out of The Shadows and reminisce those school-day afternoons spent watching the heroes-in-a-half shell on television. But alas, with no turtle power, the best and most authentic part about this sequel is its animated end credits.