We think we know the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Heroes in a half-shell, sure. Leonardo leads, Donatello does machines. Raphael is cool but rude. Michaelangelo is a party dude. They’re trained in martial arts by a large rat. They love pizza. They hate organised crime. Cowabunga!
But the new trailer for Seth Rogen and Jeff Rowe’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is a reminder that we’ve been missing one very big, very obvious thing. It’s right there in the name. Before they’re turtles, or ninjas, or mutants, they’re teenagers – and Mutant Mayhem looks like it’ll go big on the coming-of-age of four subterranean dorks, as well as eye-popping post-Into the Spider-Verse animation. Watch the new trailer here:
Keen to venture out from the dank underground hovel they call home (and also dojo) and see what adventures the surface world holds for them, the four brothers head onto the surface. As they come out of their shells and make friends with April (Ayo Edebiri from Big Mouth and The Bear), the turtles discover that they’re not actually the only freaky mutant animals around: when they go on the hunt for mysterious Superfly (voiced by Ice Cube) they find out that the streets of New York are going to become a battleground between humans and the superintelligent animals. “Humans are never gonna like us,” says Superfly, “so we’re gonna let the mutants rule the Earth.” X-Men vibes, anyone?
The visuals look properly stunning, mixing stop-motion with a neon palette in 2D animation, and voice talent includes Hannibal Buress, Rose Byrne, Natasia Demetriou, Post Malone, Maya Rudolph, John Cena and Paul Rudd plus, deliciously, Jackie Chan as sewer sensei Splinter. Turtle power, indeed.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem arrives in UK cinemas on 31 July.