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I'm a huge ninja turtles fan, but I'm also a video connoisseur. One thing I will point out before the review is that the first 3 films only carry their trailers as bonus features. There was a documentary created in 1992 entitled "Behind the Shells", but for some reason it was not included with these films. The 4th movie has all the extras from the original blu-ray release. So if you're a fan of special features, you will be let down. That said, I'll break down each film by quality of the film itself, as well as the quality of the blu-ray transfers. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Film - 9 / 10. The best one of the series. Story follows the turtles origins closely, acting is genuine, and there's an equal balance of violence and humor, what every turtle fan wants. Blu-ray Transfer - 3/10. It's not much of a step up from the dvd. The opening shot of the film is dull and grainy, just as you'd remember it from the VHS. All of the scenes in the sewers and the night shots are grainy and dark. The only shots you will really notice that look truly "blu-ray worthy" are the scenes outdoors at April's farm as they are very crisp and bright. The audio has little improvement, but it is clearer than the dvd. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze Film: 7/10. This film is not nearly as emotionally deep or involved as the first film, but still very entertaining. The humor remains intact, but the action has been purposefully toned down as parents of children complained that the first film was too violent. The director even admitted in the "Behind the shells" feature that they purposefully made the violence look more choreographed and fake to not offend parents. Tokka and Rahzar quickly became fan favorites, although if anyone was like me, they were disappointed the mutants weren't Bebop and Rocksteady. Blu-ray Transfer: 3/10. This transfer isn't any better than the first film. Grainy with film noise and scratches. It was not cleaned up at all and looks like the dvd version. The audio is just a slight step up from the dvd. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Turtles in Time Film: 3.5/10. A clunky script with a silly storyline. The turtle costumes also have been changed and their animatronic mouths are way out of sync for most scenes. It still has some fun action and spots of humor in it, but, as every turtle fan knows, this was the downfall of the trilogy and probably the reason the turtles disappeared from the big screen for over 13 years. Blu-ray Transfer: 9/10. Unfortunately, the worst film out of all the live action films has the best transfer. Bright colors, crisp edges, clean audio, little to no video noise. This is what you expect a blu-ray to look like. An excellent transfer. TMNT Film: 6.5/10. This film has helped to reignite the franchise in modern times. The story isn't fantastic, but the action is great, and the interaction between the brothers is more genuine, like the first film. Everyone was disappointed it was not a live action for the nestalgia effect, but we have the 2011 film to look forward to. The resolution of this film came too quick, but otherwise it was a nice way to bring the turtles back to the silver screen. Blu-ray Transfer: 10/10. The animation is bright, colorful, detailed, etc, etc. like any animated film. It's one of those films that will really show off your blu-ray player, television, and surround sound. Amazing. Extras included in the box: 5/10. I don't think the extras are anything special, but they had to spice up the 25th anniversary somehow. You get a ninja turtles beanie (pretty small, but cool), a reprinted sketch signed by Peter Laird one of the original ninja turtles creators, character cards with photos primarily from the third film, an advertisement for the upcoming TMNT fighter videogame, and a reprint of the original TMNT comic book in black and white. It all comes in a replica of a small cardboard pizza box which is cool packaging, but a pain anytime you want to get the films on the bottom of the box (if you leave the extras in the box). The only people I recommend this set to is my fellow, die-hard ninja turtle fans. Anyone else will find this to be a waste of money.
Posted by Polka4life
I will begin with the first three live action films. First they are all classics to me and bring back great memories. My first disappointment with the first three films is that they did not include any special features for these films!!! I thought this was supposed to be a 25th Anniversary Set?! Where are the making of the film featurettes, commentaries, interviews, etc? I would like to recommend a bonus disc with all the extras...that would have been nice…I believe Warner Bros. needs to learn from what Marvel Comics has done with their character movies. I have lots of Marvel Comic live action DVD movies and they always provide special features with extensive backgrounds on the history of their characters and the history of the comics. This would have been nice to have with a 25th anniversary box set. It seems as if all the money went into providing a great box set, well put together with extra goodies, but nothing else. I have a question: Where are the commentaries by the TMNT creators?! My second disappointment is a minor one. My favorite live action film is definitely the first one. I noticed some grains when watching this film. It’s probably because the film is the oldest of the three, so I don’t know if this could have been fixed much. It probably doesn’t help that the film is pretty dark in color either. Overall, I enjoyed all the live action films. I totally forgot how good the first film really is; and now realize how bad the other two are - especially the “puppets” in films 2 and 3, they seem to get worse. As for the CGI film, TMNT, this is great to see on Blue Ray. I saw this only once in the theaters and didn’t realize how good the film actually is until I saw it again. It was very entertaining. I like how it’s darker and provides a new dynamic with the turtles fighting amongst each other (as any four teenage brothers would…I grew up with two other brothers and I know how bad it can get - all that testosterone). The computer animation is awesome, the story is great. The Special features are good, but are nothing new compared to the stand alone Blue-Ray disc I hear. They should have added more extras for this disc as well, to make it special for the box set. Overall the box set is great, but the special features are weak. Thus I gave DVD Extras only one star. Sometimes, you get the opposite, with a poor box set, but with great bonus footage. I recommend you watch the films for what they are. Think back on actually how long ago they came out. Movies 1 and 4 are must sees. Movies 2 is subpar, movie 3 is poor…but in general get some pizza, have a bottle of beer or two, and enjoy!
Posted by CPEE2006
Definitely worth the purchase whether or not you've previously watched the movies or not. The blu ray quality is excellent as always, and the dvd's are even graphically designed to look like pizzas. Highly recommend.
Posted by nerwj
