Seemingly against all odds, we will soon be getting another Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. We’re not going to pull any punches here, we here at Cinema Blend did not give the original film in the newly rebooted franchise what one would call a "glowing review." It felt like a cheap cash grab that lacked fidelity that made the titular turtles so beloved in the first place. Having said that, sources close to the new entry in the series have come out and stated that the upcoming film has taken serious steps to correct the tone and direction of the franchise.
In a new behind the scenes featurette produced by MTV News, actress Megan Fox explains the importance of the man behind the camera in bringing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows to the big screen:
They hired a director who’s a super fan of the Turtles, they figured out the tone of the movie should be funny. This isn’t Turtles in Gotham City, that’s the wrong way to take it.
So basically, this movie has something going for it that the previous film did not: a director who genuinely reveres the source material. According to Fox, they seem to have found that in the form of David Green. Megan Fox most certainly has a point when it comes to the tone of what a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie should feel like. Studios in general seem to be catching on to this trend, handing off beloved properties to lifelong fans that will treat the material with the respect it deserves. For example, J.J. Abrams’ handling of the new Star Wars, or Joss Whedon’s take on The Avengers have both definitively proven that someone who has a prior relationship with the source material is generally the person with the best creative vision for big screen adaptations.
Ever since Batman Begins hit theaters back in 2005, superhero adaptations have consistently attempted to do things in a "dark," and "gritty" fashion, regardless of the hero. With some characters this approach works – see: Daredevil – but all too often studios apply it to characters that inherently have much more of a sense of humor than the Dark Knight could ever hope for – see: The Amazing Spider-Man franchise.
Check out the video below to see the rest of the MTV featurette:
Only time will tell of Fox’s assessment of Green’s vision is accurate. Overall the trailer for the film that recently hit the web seems to showcase a considerably lighter tone, with more familiar faces from the source material than the last outing could have ever hoped for. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows stars Megan Fox and Stephen Amell; it will hit theaters on June 3, 2016.
