The Not-So-Good 3rd Ninja Turtles

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III is a bad movie with good parts, that's really all you need to know. I don't enjoy it as much as the first or the second, but it's worth watching at least once. Even if it is just to see how bad it is.

I really could care less for the film's plot. The four turtles are thrown into feudal Japan because they touch some weird staff thing at a parallel time with four people in feudal Japan doing the same thing. I'm not quite sure how that worked out. The way the turtles acquire this staff is just stupid. Basically, April just brings it over and says "Splinter'll like this."

One of the best things about the film is that the turtles get to use their weapons. The fights are much better than the second's and are actually pretty exciting. The film is more like II than the first, it's more lighthearted, and surprisingly some of the jokes are pretty funny, and the dialogue in general isn't terrible, but it's not exactly well-written. The turtles voices are all great, and Cory Feldman makes a welcome return in the role of Donatello, I missed him in the second film.

The film's cinematography is pretty good, the sets and lighting are decent, the scenes in Japan look really great, but the scenes in the sewer look like a set. Outside of the turtles, the acting is pretty sub-par, Casey makes a return, but his character is nowhere near as great as it was in the first. April O'Neil is basically there just to give the turtles the plot, which is disappointing to me because I really enjoyed her character in the first, and to a lesser extent, the second.

The puppetry is bad. Splinter looks horrendous and moves like a robot. The turtles' suits look horrible, the lack of Henson's team is very obvious here. When their mouths move it really draws attention to how bad the mechanics are. The spots on their costumes are supposed to be subtle, not draw attention to themselves like in this film.

Now on to the pacing, it's bad, the first two had terrific pacing and editing, here it's jumpy, and often intercuts with modern day scenes at the worst times. I also liked the score, it matches well with the time period. The film is just nowhere near as good as you'd want it to be, but it's also not terrible. It's watchable and enjoyable enough, and I pop it in every once in a while because it has its moments.

5/10