Title: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Dave Green
Starring: Megan Fox, Will Arnett, Stephen Amell
Runtime: 1 hr 52 mins

What It Is: Our favorite ninja reptiles are back! This time, the Shredder (Brian Tee) has coupled with brilliant Dr. Baxter Stockman (Tyler Perry) to create a weapon capable of jumping through dimensions. With that, our Renaissance themed heroes still hiding in the shadows this sinister duo will drive them into the light. As a poisonous mutagen that Shredder creates changes common criminals BeBop (Gregory Anthony Williams) and Rocksteady (WWE Superstar Sheamus) into horrendous creatures. Now April (Fox) and new ally Casey Jones (Amell) will help end this threat.

What We Think: This is nowhere near as good as the 2014 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles revamp. It lacks that freshness and crispness in the story. Casey Jones is all but wasted. Casey Jones is my favorite character in the entire canon, ruin him and you ruin the film for me. I already miss Elias Koteas. Megan Fox continues her reign of terror when it comes to the art of acting. Will Arnett is slightly less annoying and I have no idea what the fantastic Laura Linney is doing in this. A weaker script and much weaker direction really make this film fall flat.

Our Grade: D, I appreciate what David Green who directed the grossly underrated coming of age film Earth to Echo which I enjoyed. Here he gets no chance to tell any story and I cannot really recommend this for anyone outside of the hardcore Turtle fans. There’s a bit more camaraderie between the brothers but nothing I don’t believe will top the elevator scene in the first, and yes I compare the sequels to the original especially when the sequel stinks as much as this one does.