The second iteration of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles of the Nickelodeon/Viacom era is back for a new film on Netflix. Following an unfortunately ill-fated TV run the group now under the leadership of Leonardo face off against the alien threat of the Krang. With the arrival of a young man from the future named Casey Jones warning & aiding the group the present is looking ever bleaker. 

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles The Movie is a 2022 animated action comedy film based on the series of the same name. It is produced by Nickelodeon Animation Studios and distributed by Netflix. It releases on Netflix on August 5, 2022.

Editor’s Note: A review screener for Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles the Movie was provided by Netflix in support of this review. Spoilers for the series & movie as well as the lore of the franchise may be present within this review.

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was initially announced in 2017 and it’s been on a bit of a rollercoaster ever since. As the series premiered it didn’t receiving glowing praise, however for those (like myself) who chose to stick around out of their love for the TMNT fandom or just curiosity the ride ended up being a rewarding one. Not only was the show about the Turtles being rookie ninja with virtually zero experience (a franchise first) and growing as masters, but the series itself improved over time in quality and became an entry worthy of being called a fan-favorite. The movie is likely the swan song to Nick’s second animated approach at the Turtles and a rather poetic one at that. 

THE GOOD: In the year 2044, Earth has been invaded by the ancient alien race of the Krang. Leonardo (now a master Mystic Ninja) and his student Casey Jones fight off hordes of the creatures alongside Michelangelo (the most powerful of the group). Leonardo is injured in battle and running low on options decides to send Casey back in time to stop the Krang invasion. It’s heavily implied Raphael, Donatello, Splinter, and April are dead in this timeline likely as causalities in result of Leo’s poor leadership during the early years of the Krang invasion. Michelangelo sacrifices himself using the last of his life force to open a mystic portal as Leonardo sacrifices himself ensuring Casey’s escape. 

Back in present day New York, Casey goes off to find April O’Neil who can help him find the Turtles. Meanwhile, Leonardo (who became leader at the end of the series) is goofing off with Mikey & Donnie irritating Raph who feels he doesn’t understand the importance of leadership even as a now-master ninja. Suddenly, Hypno-Potamus & Warren Stone rob a museum on behalf of the Foot Clan stealing a mysterious statue. The Turtles attack but botch the mission following miscommunication between Raph & Leo which aides Hypno, Stone, and the Foot’s escape. April (who’s majoring in journalism) is investigating a scoop she received on a university doing strange testing. After accidentally sneaking up on April, Casey is attacked by her and captured. 

Raph berates Leo for not taking communication as a team & leadership in general seriously ending in a fight that’s stopped by Splinter. April arrives with Casey and he’s interrogated by the team. Casey warns them of the future and is initially not taken seriously until he brings up the Krang gaining Splinter’s attention. Splinter tells everyone the history of the Krang and their past attempt to terraform Earth into their planetary likeness only to be stopped by a previous era of mystic warriors. Realizing that the statue the Foot took was a key which sent the Krang to Earth they work with Casey to take it back. In the battle the group fail to stop the Krang’s arrival and are easily over powered losing their mystic powers which causes them to retreat. However, Leo refuses to leave successfully obtaining the key instead & stopping more Krang from coming. He’s nearly killed in the attempt but saved by Raph who allows Leo to escape as he himself is captured. 

The Krang leaders who made it to Earth begin terraforming the planet and Leo, Casey, Mikey, & Donnie go to stop them and rescue Raph as Splinter & April stay behind to destroy the key. A battle ensues underground where the key is once again taken by Krang and Casey & the Turtles enter the new Krang lair where Raph & others have been mutated into the creatures. After being split up Casey comes to realize that Leo isn’t the leader he knew him as in his timeline yet and berates him similarly to Raph. Leo finally admits his weaknesses as leader and as a brother promising to do better. Donnie & Mikey try to take over the ship but fail and are captured while April & Splinter defeat one of the Krang leaders. The mutated Raph attacks Leo as Leo attempts to reconcile with him. After understanding why Raph was so careful as not only the former leader but eldest brother Leo successfully gets Raph to break free from the Krang’s hold. The Turtles’ mystic powers return, but they’re still no match for Krang.

Leo sends the head Krang leader into a portal back to their universe and has Casey close it on Earth’s side destroying the device that was sending more Krang & terraforming Earth. Leo is trapped in the other universe with the head Krang who attacks him mercilessly. Working together Raph, Mikey, and Donnie use their mystic powers to save Leo bringing him back to Earth and trapping Krang back in the other universe. Leo swears to be a better leader and make the family stronger than ever with Raph agreeing to help. It’s revealed that Cassandra Jones (a former member of the Foot turned Turtle ally) who was aiding New York in the battle against the Krang is the mother of Casey who stays behind in the present. 

Just like the series before it, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles the Movie had a bit of a cursed run in development itself. Originally planned for release in August of last year some unfortunate production issues caused a massive delay to August of this year. For fans of this incarnation of the series (which it gained a lot of during it’s last legs) don’t hold your breath on this version continuing any time soon or at all. It’s written as a series finale and ties up a handful of loose threads left over from the series. It’s entirely possible that a series continuation was apart of the new Nickelodeon deal with Netflix and the ending leaves that open, but I’m doubtful. 

In regards to the film itself it does a really good job of adapting a fan favorite story in the Krang invasion. If you’re not familiar with the TV series (which is also on Netflix & Paramount+) this is a show about the very early training of the Turtles whereas previous TV adaptations were based on the Turtles having just completed their training so here they’re rookies. There’s also a much heavier emphasis on the mystic arts compared to previous adaptations which only lightly touched on the subject. Much of this is tied together between the film and series. There’s a ton of character development for the Turtles in particular mainly in regards to Leo & Raph. The usual rivalry dynamic between the two is heavily present here, but not in an antagonistic sort of way at least in regards to Raph.

Raph who was the former leader in the series is genuinely concerned with his brothers safety under Leo’s leadership who replaced him at the end of the show. Leo is still arrogant and brash personality traits that previously got him into trouble in the show as he was more concerned with looking cool than completing a mission efficiently with many of his victories like his brothers being dumb luck. Raph has enough self-awareness to recognize this hence his worry. Leo ultimately gains the same level of self-awareness realizing that his actions, especially as leader has extremely devastating consequences if he’s not more careful. The Krang aren’t jokey enemies like in past incarnations (including the 2012 series) they’re made to be taken seriously and the film does a good job of portraying them as such. Something to note the tone of the film is much darker than the show which I wasn’t expecting but it works for a series finale and makes the “go big” feel the film was going for that much more effective. There’s also some swearing and language in the film which I also wasn’t expecting. 

The animation is just as fantastic as it is from season two of the show albeit a bit prettier. It actually sucks knowing how Rise of the TMNT went through a lot of crap for production during the series and film. It was almost doomed to fail from start to finish and it’s even more heart-breaking because I saw the series improve in quality in real-time throughout its run. At the very least fans can have solace in knowing the series got a proper ending something most in it’s position don’t get too often. 

THE BAD: A lot of the elements that make the show feel special are either seldom used or completely absent in the film. Like Earth’s mystic realm which had been a huge part of the series is sort of abandoned in the film outside of further establishing the importance the Turtles’ mystic powers actually hold. Baron Draxum; a major character in the series & ally of the Turtles is also absent in the film, but this was likely due to John Cena (who voices Baron) having an ever increasing schedule by the time development & production on the film had began. 

OVERALL THOUGHTS: From start to finish Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had a raw hand dealt. It received unfavorable comparisons to Teen Titans Go! and just as it was finding its footing it became one of the first TV casualties of the COVID-19 pandemic as it began. There’s no telling what Viacom has planned for the TV front of the Turtles (we know a second film reboot is on the way), however if they think Rise of the TMNT has second life through the power of streaming they should take the chance and go for it especially after the series gained a much larger following upon cancellation. The movie is an excellent example that this version of the series really has something special and tons of untapped potential deserving of being realized to the fullest. Otaku Dome gives Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles the Movie a 90 out of 100.