Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows is, like its predecessor, better than it has any right to be.

The superhero boom has been good for something, it seems, as it raises these younger-targeted franchises in quality. Having said that, we reviewed the first as an enjoyable romp stealing not-a-little from Spider-Man plot-wise. This sequel is, quite simply, an enjoyable romp stealing not-a-little from The Avengers. The ending is almost carbon-copy just with less wanton collateral destruction.

I've still got an issue with the CGI here: the turtles look a lot better but still a little confused (and, seriously, is the best way to appeal to a younger audience to deck these guys out with 'bling' and tribal tattoos?!) and the less said about Splinter the better. This film brilliantly brings in Krang and, whilst he looks like he does in the cartoon, he's accurately described, even in the movie itself, as 'a piece of chewing gum with a face.'

The human characters are a little less one-note this time as well: Will Arnett's Falcon is a bit more rounded, Casey Jones gets brought in and, whilst veering from cop to vigilante slightly fast, works well with Megan Fox's returning April. Fox again is the one you wait for on-screen but the film's decision to almost immediately put her in a school-girl outfit is, frankly, unnecessary and detracts slightly.

The humour still doesn't hit home with an older audience (there's a fart joke for goodness' sake) but is to be expected in a TMNT film and this sequel does try to appeal more to older audiences going so far as to have a 12A rating (there's even, shock horror, one use of the 'S' word).

Overall then, a better film than the first, still lagging behind the major comic-book hitters in characters and adult themes but that's kind of the point.

Thoroughly entertaining, zippy and consistent it's, once again, well worth a watch. Good entertainment.

3 stars ***