Comocat said:
Dear M. Bay,
I am writing you to express my outrage at your choice of supporting actress in the upcoming documentary about inner city youths. I feel that in order to capture the full range of emotion from sewer dwelling ninjas subsisting on a strict pizza regimen requires actors of substantial pedigree. Furthermore, the exploration of boundaires of honor between a rat and his former masters assassin demands a supporting actress with credentials of the highest caliber. Sir, I implore you, in a feature film about turtle ninjas with the titular catchphrase of "cowabunga" do not cast just any tramp to represent the media of New York. I have enclosed my CV and letters of references should you change your mind.
Sincerely,
A. O'Neil
But I like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and I'd love to see an enjoyable movie made out of it. The original concept was based on parodying the over serious comics that were coming out at the time (hence the utter ridiculousness of the premise) it would be awesome if, right now that the superhero movie genre has hit mainstream, a good writer and director was able to bring us a satirical movie of that premise, essentially taking the mick out of the common superhero tropes while still telling it's own engaging comic storyline (think of what Hancock was aiming to be, only successful, or imagine Hot Fuzz except with superhero movies instead of buddy cop movies)
On the other hand I think a good writer could totally pull of a more serious adult version of TMNT. I'd imagine Tarantino would be perfect for this, he's made a career out of movies that tread the line between popcorn fun, ultraviolence, and self-parody. His movies are chock full of Katanas anyway, and the Bride wore a yellow jumpsuit, so technically he's halfway there.
Even discounting all that, the actual storyline is one of betrayal, revenge, and brotherly rivalry and affection, as well as having themes of not stepping up to the mark (Leonardo) always living in someone's shadow (Raphael) and eating lots of Pizza.
That's right, TMNT has freaking
themes running through it, you can even find them in referenced in the animated movies.
As Moviebob says, you can make a good movie out of any story, and that includes the TMNT. It just takes the right director who is willing to look beyond the initial bizarrity inherent in the story, and I sincerely doubt Michael Bay is that man.
You can make Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles emotional and meaningful, even to Linkin Park music
http://www.vimeo.com/50589359
(spent about half an hour trying to get that Vimeo clip to work in BB code, couldn't work it out. Grr.)
