Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (1991)

I just finished watching this movie. I thought about watching it, because I recently saw the first one which I also wrote a review on. I also felt like watching it, because you remember how the turtles like pizza and in this one, one of the main characters is the pizza delivery guy, Keno. While watching it, a lot of the movie didn't entertain me that much. It might have a good storyline, dealing with the ooze the turtles mutated from. But, a lot of the movie seemed too kiddish for me. Don't get me wrong, I like a lot of kid entertainment. Like my favorite movie in the entire world, which I also left a review on is a movie called Junior High Spy, even though that movie has bad acting. I also feel like if you want to go to places like Disney World, you still have some of your youth inside. Sometimes if something is too kiddish, it just seems too cheesy to watch and doesn't entertain you as much.Now, there's the first one which is entertaining. I enjoyed the first film, I like the dark atmosphere in the film. I also like how they show the Foot Clan and teen boys from back then entertaining themselves. This movie is the 2nd in the series, and we miss the days when the turtles were stuntmen in costumes. This movie while meant to be a sequel from the first, seemed to leave things out as sequels often times do. I mean, April seems to change in this one. Yeah, she's played by a different actress. But, in this one she lives in a nicer apartment in a nicer area of the city. She also seems to appreciate antiquity in the first, which isn't shown in this one. Also, Danny was a main character in the first film who even hung around April in a deleted ending scene. It doesn't look the same without him, or his Dad Charles Pennington, especially at April's Channel 3 News. It also isn't quite the same without Casey Jones, even though Keno probably replaced his role. The foot also seems different in this film than the first.What else do I want to say. I saw the 3rd one recently, as I have a Blu Ray set with the first 3 TMNT movies. I saw on wikipedia how the 3rd one got mostly negative reviews, including one review of somebody who considered it only entertaining for kids and almost as if that movie was written by kids. I don't think so. The 3rd one seems less cheesy, and it takes us back to 17th Century Japan. Also, I felt like the plot for that movie was hard to understand, even as an adult. That movie could also look like you're watching a different movie when you see ancient Japan. It also is nice to see the turtles in the past, and not in their typical urban environment, and a villain besides Shredder. That movie couldn't be written by a kid, I don't think most kids are really familiar with the Samurai in 17th Century Japan. This second one seems more like it was written by a kid, as it's a plot a kid could come up with.So, the movie entertained me a little. I mean the Go Ninja Go Ninja Go sequence was cool. The climax while it could have been better was cool. But, a lot of the movie seemed slow pace, and cheesy. I'm sure the first one will entertain you more than this one. If you like history, like me you'd probably prefer the 3rd one. So, for entertainment purposes and remembering the turtles from when they were men in costumes, I give it a 5.

Turtle-Mania peaked in the early nineties, with the cartoon soaring in the ratings, the toys flying off the shelves, and the Turtles' faces slapped on every sort of merchandise imaginable. The first film fed off that excitement, being so successful that it was, for a time, the highest grossing independent film ever. A sequel had to happen. And fast. Nearly a year after the original, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze" ninja-chopped into theaters.The film is a direct sequel, picking up days after the first. The Ninja Teens are still high on their victory over Shredder, despite Splinter's insistence that they focus on their studies. Shredder isn't dead though, somehow surviving a seven-story drop into a garbage truck. With a more messed-up face, Shredder pulls together the Foot in order to exact revenge on the Turtles. That revenge takes the form of the ooze that birthed the Turtles. The bad guys steal the last of the ooze in order to create two mutants, the brutish but child-like Tokka and Rahzar. The same ooze leads the TMNT to understand their past.Something I admire about the original film is how deftly it balanced the goofiness of the popular cartoon with the grittiness of the comics. "Secret of the Ooze" has no interest in balance. In the first film, the Turtles smash a light before attacking, avoiding detection. In the opening of this film, the team step in full view of a human, dispatching their enemies with slapstick comedy. So much for the Art of Invisibility. In that first scene, Mikey fights with a yoyo and sausage links. Donnie pretends to be an inflatable clown, whacking a guy with a foam bat. That silliness infects the entire production. While attempting to grab the mutagen away from the Foot Clan, the Turtles enact a game of football, surfing on office chairs. Previously, the Foot was a serious threat. This time, they're a joke, not a one putting up a fight. Tokka and Rahzar aren't much of a threat either. Their childish minds make them easy to outsmart. The worst thing they do is knock down telephone poles and flip a car. Even that scene is undermined by wise-cracking old people."Secret of the Ooze" was rushed into production. That shows in its ramshackle plot. There are elements that work. The mutagen's origin, an accidental mixture of chemicals, is satisfying. David Warner's Professor Perry is a decent addition. He advances the plot while having a personality. However, the plot mostly seems thrown together. The Turtles searching for a new home is decent but stumbling upon the abandoned train station is awfully convenient. The movie introduces a new character, karate pizza boy Keno. Keno, played by an overly earnest Ernie Reyes Jr., is annoying. He disappears for long stretches. He exists to help Raph infiltrate the Foot, which promptly gets the Turtle captured. The heroes escape that trap easily before willingly walking back into Shredder's lair. Combat between the Ninja Teens and Tokka and Rahzar is never delivered. Every time it looks like the fight is about to click, the movie is sidelined by goofy comedy.The biggest indignity faces the Turtles in the last act. The Foot's junkyard base is apparently located next to a dance club. The fight tumbles into the club where Vanilla Ice, signifier of nineties schlock, is performing. The patrons don't flee from the fighting terrapins. Instead, the funky white boy improvises a rap, the club playing along. Tokka and Rahzar are easily defeated, the Professor pulling a plot resolution out of nowhere. Despite the movie around him being a goofball comedy, Shredder remained a serious villain. He grabs a dancer and threatens to slash her throat. The Turtles' response? Michelangelo performs a sweet keytar solo, causing a speaker to explode, launching the villain into the equally improbable dock outside. The film wraps up on the potentially cool idea of Shredder drinking the last of the ooze, transforming into Super-Shredder. (Even if his armor mutating makes zero sense.) However, the neatness of that idea is undermined by the Turtles refusing to fight and the villain ending his own life by needlessly collapsing the dock.The film is a mess of campiness and squandered potential. Yet the movie still gets a few things right. The characterizations of the Turtles remain strong. A concept that reoccurs throughout every version of the franchise is Leo and Raph butting heads. Here, the head-strong Raphael wants to pursue the Foot Clan while Leonardo is more preoccupied with finding a new home. That rashness gets him in trouble, again, and after rescuing him, the brothers are reunited. Donatello was mostly Mikey's comedic foil in the first film. Here, he gets a juicy character arc of not accepting the casualness of their origin. He is also more fully established as the one who does machine, as his techno know-how comes in handy a few times. I even prefer Adam Carl's thoughtful vocal performance over Corey Feldman's. I also like Paige Turco as April more then Judith Hoag. Turco seems more comfortable in the part. The creature effects are even better then last time too. The Turtles' faces reach a new level of expressiveness. Tokka and Rahzar are memorably cartoonish in their designs as well."Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze" is a lesser film than the first. The sloppy screenplay and an abundance of kid-friendly silliness sinks it. However, I can't hate the movie. Any film that gifts the world of pop culture with a bit of ridiculous cheese like the Ninja Rap can't be all bad. However, I have a lot less nostalgic affection for this one. Instead of playing off the original's good example, it's more-or-less the silly kid's flick we expected the first one to be.

In this sequel, which was rushed into theatres the year after the first film, the Turtles get in touch with a scientist named Jordan Perry (David Warner), who has access to the mysterious ooze that originally transformed them. Unfortunately, the Shredder has returned, and he wants the ooze to transform himself into an unbeatable opponent. The Turtles work to keep the Shredder from using the ooze.This is one of those rare sequels that actually lives up quite nicely to the original. While it's not as good as the first, it really had a shot to be almost its equal. In fact, I enjoyed this movie better than the first, until it swerved into this goofy night club dance sequence with Vanilla Ice.Still, the spirit of the comics and the cartoon is alive and well in "The Secret of the Ooze." It's also a good TMNT movie because it deals with the Turtles' origins, which always makes for some great storytelling.This lacks the darkness and subtlety that makes the first film so good, and so adult, but its simplified plot and gags will appeal to the under tens. The sequel plays things very safe

Awful sequel that deals with the 'ooze' that created the Turtles. Shredder's back and wants to use the ooze to create more mutants. This is the one with Super Shredder, folks. The Turtles are so annoying this time around I was ready to give up fifteen minutes in. Watered-down violence, childish dialogue, and cheap sets don't help. This movie gave the world the Vanilla Ice "Ninja Rap" song. That alone is reason to hate it. Not to sound like a film snob but you have to be a six year-old, or the mental equivalent, to enjoy this dreck. What the hell was David Warner doing in this? Did he need money that badly? Avoid at all costs unless you're REALLY into Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.