Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows

I would say this is a movie made for kids, but, if you take your boy to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, he will emerge as a man after seeing Megan Fox parading around the early scenes in a sexy schoolgirl outfit. You can’t say this movie is going for subtlety.

Michelangelo (voice by Noel Fisher), Donatello (voice by Jeremy Howard), Raphael (voice by Alan Richman) and Leonardo (voice by Pete Ploszak) are back to fight crime in New York City (and catch a Knicks game here and there, so they truly do find themselves in the middle of disasters all around the city), but dissension is building in the ranks.

A couple of the turtles are upset their imprisonment and defeat of Shredder (Brian Tee) has been credited to Vernon (Will Arnett), and they want to come out of the shadows to be part of society and bask in their rightful glory.

Yet, circumstance may put them in the spotlight in ways they did not imagine.

Shredder has teamed with evil scientist Baxter Stickman (Tyler Perry) to escape while being transported to a new prison.

And, along the way, Shredder is transported some other part of space where he meets with the alien Krang (voice by Brad Garrett), and they make an evil deal to team up and take over planet Earth.

Can the Turtles save the day?

Can you follow all of this?

Does it even matter?

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows is a movie made for hardcore fans who will swoon and scream with giddy joy as all sorts of “monumental” moments and favorite characters appear on screen.

Casey Jones donning his hockey mask is treated like Zeus being granted thunder and lightning.

However, in all honesty, I have never liked any version of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

I didn't like the cartoon versions in the 80’s, 2003 and presently.

I didn’t like the live action show in the 90’s.

I didn't like the movie in 1990.

I didn’t like the movie in 1991 with Vanilla Ice.

I didn’t like the movie in 1992.

I didn’t like the movie in 2007.

I didn’t like the movie in 2014.

I don't like this movie.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows is a flat movie emotionally, story-wise and action-wise.

Writers Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec toss out all sorts of ideas and themes, but none of them are deemed important enough to be developed or rendered meaningful.

The movie is reduced to a series of bombastic and hard to follow actions scenes interrupted occasionally by more one-liners than a Celebrity Roast of Chevy Chase.

Sure, Nemec and Appelbaum rehash the themes about teamwork, which I thought we addressed in the last movie, but that’s about as deep as this one is going to get.

If you love the Turtles, have a blast.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of The Shadows is rated PG-13 for sci-fi action violence.

112 Minutes