Why Ninja Turtles 1990 is a Better Movie than 99% of What’s Produced Today

I watch this movie about once a decade. I watched it once with a friend at the beginning of the 10s, and I watched it on Netflix the other day. I have the VHS.

This was the movie I watched as a kid. This and Star Wars were my two favorite movies. I had thought that bad guys wore helmets and masks, and wore capes until I was about five or six. That was my vision of bad guys; Shredder and Darth Vader.

The truth is, I've heard some people call this a silly movie. Well, it's no less silly than Star Wars Episodes I - VI. And given the thematic texture of the story, the good acting, the splendid characterizations, the human touch of complex relationships built within a stunningly short amount of time... This is actually a good movie. You have to be a prude or curmudgeon to say otherwise.

I'd say, it's a good movie for many reasons. The action seems well thought out---I mean, what action sequence in any movie is hyper realistic---we don't want real action in movies, as that's kind of sick to watch. Do we want Steven Segal or Daredevil action sequences in a Ninja Turtles Movie? The action it did have offended naredowells in parent's groups, spoiling the franchise. And despite all that, it is believable through the tone it carries. As a child of the 90s I watched A-Team and Knight Rider, and yes, even Star Wars--- The tone they took was realistic enough. As that's art's purpose, is to produce a tone that mimics real life. That's what textured this movie, was a believable atmosphere and tone that felt gritty, but not overly so, so the movie would have to be R rated.

Compared to modern movies, the movie is well formatted, very well plotted, very tangible as a comic book movie. I mean, the Foot could be something quite menacing, as when I watched it recently at 32, I realized how complex the villains were. They were not two dimensional, but were on the dimension of a true threat. They were ninjas, using their stealth to steal. That's a pretty complex idea, and one that could put ninjitsu to use. More than that, the teenagers were a perfect demographic, of kids in their teens becoming the scions of this organization. As, who ultimately joins gangs? People don't think about it like that. The Foot has a very realistic and believable texture that hits me every time I watch the movie.

All in all, it's not Scorsese, but it is a genuinely good movie for what it is. I mean, really, movies like this are what make cinema great. And what killed the franchise were overburdened parents who probably think Loony Tunes are violent... So, we can take them with a grain of salt. But, if you want to know why the following movies sucked in comparison, well, it was because of parent groups protesting the violence in the movie. And, I happen to like the action sequences because they kept me interested. Indiana Jones, Star Wars, etc, etc, etc, those movies are great because they are nonstop action. That's what we want in movies, but Ninja Turtles does what modern movies cannot, and that's weave a complex texture of plot and theme through the movie. Which, is probably why modern movies are failing right now, for the lack of theme and texture. Ninja Turtles was good storytelling, and it shows.