Summary
- The Rotten Tomatoes score for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is a record-breaking 98%, suring all previous films in the franchise.
- The positive reviews can be attributed to the unique animation style that combines 2D and 3D elements, as well as the authentic teenage voices of the four brothers.
- The high Rotten Tomatoes score bodes well for the future of the franchise, as Paramount has already announced a sequel and a companion TV series in development.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem's Rotten Tomatoes score compared to other movies in the franchise is record-shattering. The 2023 animated movie from Paramount and Nickelodeon is a reboot of the iconic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles characters that originated in comics in 1984. Their incredible popularity has meant a continued presence in pop culture in a variety of forms, including movie franchises. Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Donatello return in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem but as part of a new continuity with a fresh animation style and young voice cast that hope to set it apart from prior iterations.
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies have a rather poor track record on Rotten Tomatoes over the last several decades, even if a handful of the releases have been financially successful at the box office. However, it was the critical and financial underperformance of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows in 2016 that put the franchise on a theatrical hiatus. While there is always interest in more TMNT movies or shows, their history creates skepticism that a new entry will fare better. That is why the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem Rotten Tomatoes score is so pivotal, and the results are astonishing.
TMNT: Mutant Mayhem's Rotten Tomatoes Score Is 98% Fresh
Ahead of the movie's theatrical release, Paramount lifted the review embargo after critic screenings, and that means that the TMNT: Mutant Mayhem Rotten Tomatoes score has been revealed. As of the time of this writing, 43 reviews have been added to the review aggregator site, and they are incredibly positive. The result is TMNT: Mutant Mayhem debuting to 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. This is because of the 43 reviews tallied, only one gave the movie a "Rotten" rating. The rest praise the movie to the point where it has a "Fresh" rating and an average critic score of 7.7 out of 10. There is no audience score available yet.
Why TMNT: Mutant Mayhem's Reviews Are So Positive
There are quite a few reasons why Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem's reviews are so positive and can be used to help explain the extremely high Rotten Tomatoes score. One of the most common areas of praise is the animation style. Inspired by Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, the 2023 animated TMNT movie took an approach to infuse 2D and 3D animation together. This helps give the movie a visually unique style for the franchise that has also proven to be quite exciting when used properly in the past. Based on the reviews, TMNT: Mutant Mayhem's animation dazzles.
Another piece to the reviews and TMNT: Mutant Mayhem's Rotten Tomatoes score is the dynamic of the four brothers. The movie made a point to cast actual teenagers to voice Raphael, Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Donatello to bring authenticity to them. All signs point to the TMNT: Mutant Mayhem voice cast delivering in that regard, even when it comes to the other characters and villains that the adventure. The fresh take on the beloved characters also includes an appropriate hip-hop soundtrack, plenty of energy and action, and lots of humor that all help keep audiences entertained.
Mutant Mayhem Has The Highest TMNT Movie Rotten Tomatoes Score
Even if the current rating fluctuates a bit, TMNT: Mutant Mayhem's Rotten Tomatoes score is the highest ever for a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. This will be the case even if some more negative reviews begin to surface, as there is not a very high bar that it had to clear to claim this record. The highest-rated TMNT movie before Mutant Mayhem was 2022's Netflix animated movie Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie, which was a sequel movie to the animated TV show of the same name. Here is every Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie's Rotten Tomatoes score compared:
Movie |
RT Score |
|---|---|
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) |
41% |
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze |
35% |
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III |
19% |
TMNT |
36% |
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) |
21% |
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows |
36% |
Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie |
79% |
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem |
98% |
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem Rotten Tomatoes rating is record-setting for the franchise in a rather substantial way. It is only the second TMNT to have a Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The incredible 98% Rotten Tomatoes score for TMNT: Mutant Mayhem can really be put in perspective when comparing it to past franchises. The 2023 animated movie has a higher critic's score on Rotten Tomatoes than if the scores of each entry in the original live-action trilogy were combined. The same is also true for the two Michael Bay-produced reboot movies.
This also means that TMNT: Mutant Mayhem is the first franchise starter to receive a Fresh Rotten Tomatoes rating. The original live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles previously held this record with its poor 41% score. The 2007 animated TMNT movie fell short at 36% and did not receive any sequels, while 2014's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot received the second-worst rating for the franchise. While Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie did receive positive reviews, it was used as a way to wrap up the short-lived TV series that came before instead of starting a new franchise.
Mutant Mayhem's Rotten Tomatoes Record Makes TMNT's Future Even Brighter
The incredible Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem Rotten Tomatoes score is a great sign for the franchise's future. It comes on the heels of Paramount announcing that they are already working on ways for the story Mutant Mayhem begins to continue. The studio announced that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem 2 is already in development, as is a companion TV series that will take place between the first movie and its sequel. This news alone was viewed as a promising sign for fans of characters that this new iteration of them will continue to be explored, but some doubt still remained.
There have been countless examples in Hollywood history of movie studios announcing franchise plans prematurely and not following through on them after the most recent release is not well received critically and/or underperformed financially. This includes multiple canceled TMNT movies over the years. There were plans for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 4 to be made as part of the 1990s franchise, but the poor reception to the third entry effectively canceled the movie. Two sequels to 2007's TMNT were also in the works before studio acquisitions canned their development, while the live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3 was scrapped after the sequel's failures.
While the verdict on TMNT: Mutant Mayhem's box office is still out, the love critics have for the movie is a great sign. It indicates that Paramount is not just announcing more TMNT movies and shows because they want to use the IP. The reboot is actually a quality piece of entertainment that they have extreme faith in that audiences will want to see more of. As a result, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem's Rotten Tomatoes score makes the franchise's future look even brighter if the same level of quality is maintained with future projects.
Source: Rotten Tomatoes
