I believe the key to being a fan of the bloated mega-franchise that is the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is accepting that every iteration has its own brand of cringe, and you simply develop a natural immunity to your formative experience. I, personally, was inoculated via the '03 series, known for its serious and well-developed storyline, hokey 90s/00s aesthetics, and overuse of eye-rolling euphemisms like 'shell' because they couldn't let the turtles say 'fuck' even though they clearly wanted to.
Rise of the TMNT deserves credit for managing to grow on me despite having a
very different vibe. The bright and dynamic animation from Flying Bark Productions was a huge part of the draw, but I ended up quite enjoying a number of the twists they took with the setting and origin, and even the bold reinventions of personalities and relationships had their perks (open affection between siblings and friends is always welcome). In the cycle of endless reboots, sometimes it's nice to try something new.
That said, the cringe was often pretty real, and I did not have immunity. At least 75% of the show is just unrestrained goofy nonsense, and that is a lot of meme-ified filler to wade through for someone accustomed to a series where you're harder pressed to find episodes that
aren't part of a larger arc. The humour was a very mixed bag for me - I spent about as much time laughing in disbelief at how stupid something was as I did having a genuine chortle. The plot, when it emerged, could be interesting and even a tiny bit cool; attempts at being deep were feeble. Also, still not sure how to feel about Splinter's physical redesign. Choices... were made.
So I can't easily recommend the show in entirety. What I can do is recommend the thread of the main plot + some of the filler that made me smile to anyone who is in a similar boat. A boat named the S.S. I Enjoy Nostalgia, Familial Schmoop, And Animated Fight Choreography So Slick I Could Cry, But Boy That's A Lot Of Dabbing. It's roomy.
( guide to the main plot )*
( fun filler )Bonus: the voice actors singing the catchy theme song,
a capella style.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
