TMNT

Perhaps this film will do well with young viewers who were not raised on the original Turtles (remember the plethora of themed figurines available in 1990?); those who never had The Secret of the Ooze grace the inside of their VCRs. Unfortunately, TMNT seems more like an atrociously written attempt at How the Ninja Turtles Got Their Groove Back. If you can get past the absurd modernisation of the characters (Donnatello is a call centre employee and April looks more like Lara Croft than her previous geeky incarnation), there are some impressive animation scenes of the underdog-cum-hero variety that will appeal to kids who can ignore the most unimaginative script ever written. This could be a stretch, but there is something evoking classic Greek drama in the scenes wherein masked brothers Raphael and Leonardo fight on the rooftop, and baddie Winters' unexpectedly noble fall. Those brief moments of intrigue aside, the new Turtles movie is extremely tiresome to sit through, even with Michelangelo's endearing valley-boy chants of 'Cowabunga'. [Ilani Blanke]