Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Turtles is a great mash-up for any fan but as someone who grew up in the late 80s and early 90s, this was a lot of fun even if the Turtles’ designs weren’t my favorite, but was able to ignore as the humor was on point.
Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
(2019)
Genre(s): War, Action
Sony | R – 134 min. – $30.99 | May 22, 2018
Date Published: 05/25/2018 | Author: The Movieman
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Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.
THE MOVIE — 3.5/5 |
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Plot Synopsis: When a new menace in Gotham City begins stealing experimental technology, Batman (TROY BAKER) is put on high alert. But a team of warriors lurking beneath the streets is also on the case, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Led by Leonardo (ERIC BAUZA), these brothers – brainy Donatello (BARON VAUGHN), fearless Raphael (DARREN CRISS) and wisecracking Michelangelo (KYLE MOONEY) – are mysterious martial artists on a collision course with Batman, while darker elements are in play as the immortal Ra’s Al Ghul (CAS ANVAR) has joined forces with the villainous Shredder (ANDREW KISHINO).
Review: While I grew up a huge fan of both the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Batman, I honestly do not recall if I ever had received the team-up comic books, though I’d imagined I did considering I nearly got anything related to TMNT back in the late 80s and early 90s (even to go so far as choosing to see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III over Groundhog Day in the theaters… a regret I have to this day). With that said, this newest DC Animated adaptation was a great treat, with the filmmakers doing a pretty good job meshing two different styles, mainly the fantasy and kid-friendly elements of the Turtles, with the darker undertones of Batman, including his iconic rogues gallery who do come into play. That being said, I’d be lying if there it was uneven. On the one hand, the jokes delivered by the Turtles are indeed funny, but undercutting is some rather graphic violence: one being a ninja star thrown into a Foot Clan soldier’s skull, the other a security guard gets beheaded (no blood shown on that one); certainly takes a darker turn at times that’s inappropriate for younger audiences, though the film rightfully did get a PG-13 rating.
The animation side of things, this isn’t *my* Turtles of course and I’m unfamiliar with the current animated series outside of seeing some of the designs online over the years, so never been that big of a fan (same goes for the ones in the recent Michael Bay produced movies) and that’s carried over here. Batman is a little more streamlined with the newer animations for Robin and Batgirl (with anime style of animation), not to mention some nods to the look of Gotham City from Batman: The Animated Series. In the end, while imperfect with a thin plot, Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is still a fun animated movie that’s better suited for older audiences as the violent, albeit brief, was a bit surprising. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 2.5/5 |
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This release comes with a nice matted and embossed slip cover and comes with a redemption code for the Digital HD copy. Not a whole lot in terms of bonus material, but there are two featurettes: Cowabunga Batman: When Comic Book Worlds Collide (12:31) and Fight Night in Gotham (18:06), both looking at the team-up between two iconic comics. Also included is a Sneak Peek (9:18) for DC Universe’s upcoming animated movie, Batman: Hush. |
4K VIDEO – 4.5/5, BD VIDEO – 4.0/5 |
| Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is presented with a 1.78 widescreen aspect ratio and given a 2160p and 1080p on 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray respectively. There’s not a huge difference between the formats, however I did notice a slight uptick in terms of the colors thanks to the HDR and there was some minor banding on the Blu-ray, not as present on the 4K. All in all, this does look very good to excellent on either format as, honestly, most new animated should. |
4K/BD AUDIO – 4.25/5 |
| Both the 4K UHD and Blu-ray come with standard but sufficient DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 which really comes to life during the Arkham sequence as well as the finale where the action ratchets up, making good usage of all five channels with the LFE kicking on for some modest effect. |
OVERALL – 4.0/5 |
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Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Turtles is a great mash-up for any fan but as someone who grew up in the late 80s and early 90s, this was a lot of fun even if the Turtles’ designs weren’t my favorite, but was able to ignore as the humor was on point and story, albeit thin, good enough. The 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray combo pack has solid video and audio transfers, although the bonus material was okay. |
The screen captures came from the Blu-ray copy and are here to add visuals to the review and do not represent the 4K video.