Two years after the end of the somewhat-forgotten Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series, we return to that universe on Netflix with Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie. It is a long title, but fortunately, the movie is only 82 minutes long. In that time, it is largely self-contained, making for a fast-paced story that is fun for both Rise fans and Turtle fans.
The movie begins 20 years in the future, and the alien race, the Krang, takes over New York. Future Leonardo (Ben Schwartz) sends his protégé Casey Jones (Haley Joel Osment) back in time to retrieve the key that allowed the Krang to invade in the first place and stop the initial invasion. As expected, Casey teams up with Leonardo and the other three turtles in the present to prevent the invasion, and of course, things go wrong.
Though certainly not as fun as the previous two Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated movies: Turtles Forever (2009) and Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2019), Rise still manages to be a fun entry in the franchise and even introduces new elements like Casey being from the future, the turtles having mystical powers, and even a reversal of the usual Leonardo and Raphael (Omar Benson Miller) roles as Leonardo is more a hot-head than usually portrayed in other iterations. A decent voice cast also makes it worthwhile.
Overall, if you’re a Ninja Turtles fan, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie is a fairly enjoyable pop-corn romp that doesn’t add much but is a decent way to waste an hour and a half.
