The premise of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles shouldn’t work in live-action. The story of four talking turtles and their adoptive rat dad, all proficient in martial arts, fighting crime in New York City, is much better-suited to cartoons or comic books. But, while the 1990 Ninja Turtles movie is far from perfect, it works surprisingly well.

Most of the credit belongs to Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. Designing the turtle costumes for this movie was one of Henson’s last jobs before he pᴀssed away, and he knocked it out of the park as usual. The mobility that the performers in these suits were allowed was unprecedented at the time. Despite being confined to a thick layer of green rubber with their backs encased in a half-shell, their facial expressions and body language aren’t restricted in the slightest.

The stunt doubles’ fight choreography isn’t lumbered or slowed down by the full-body prosthetics, and the expressiveness of the actors’ performances isn’t limited at all — it’s pretty amazing to see, especially for the time it was made. As a piece of cinematic storytelling, this movie is serviceable popcorn entertainment. But as a showcase for costume design and puppetry, it’s a masterpiece.

Another advantage of live-action is the live atmosphere of the shooting locations. Comics and animation can’t capture the vibrant hustle-and-bustle of New York City as effectively as a camera planted in the middle of it. The main characters are all played by guys in suits, but the city behind them is the real deal. That’s why the movie stumbles when the turtles flee the city and stay at April’s family farm for a while in the second act. If you take the crimefighters away from where all the crime is, the excitement level is going to take a nosedive.

The Flaws Of The 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movie Are More Glaring Than Ever Today

We’ve Since Been Spoiled By The Greatest Ninja Turtles Movie Ever Made

Now that we’ve been spoiled by a genuinely great Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie — 2023’s Mutant Mayhem, an animated masterpiece that really focuses on the “teenage” aspect of the characters for a genuinely moving coming-of-age story — the 1990 movie’s flaws are even more glaring. The turtles’ brotherhood is only surface-level; their friendship with April develops much too quickly and inorganically, and the movie’s Asian villains lean on harmful stereotypes. Plus, the product placement stands out when it goes against the characters. These kids live in New York and they’re obsessed with pizza, yet they order from Domino’s?

The script gives each of the turtles an equal share of screen time to round out their characters, and the voice actors imbue each of their roles with a unique personality. Brian Tochi’s Leonardo is the mature, level-headed leader; Corey Feldman’s Donatello is the smart one; Josh Pais’ Raphael is the brooding, angry one; and Robbie Rist’s Michelangelo is the immature one with an unrequited crush on April. The characterization is pretty one-dimensional — everyone has their thing, and there’s not much depth beyond that — but at least it makes them distinctive from each other, which these adaptations don’t always do.

I have fond childhood memories of renting this movie (from a physical store, back in the olden days), so nostalgia might be clouding my judgment, but it works a lot better than it should. It’s very much of its time — the slang, the cultural references, the old-school special effects — and Shredder is defeated far too easily in the final battle. He’s built up to be an unstoppable big bad throughout the film, then he’s killed in about five minutes.

But on the whole, the characters are endearing, the production design brings the world of the comics to life (even if the primitive effects are a little rough around the edges), and the fight scenes have a nice Jackie Chan-style mix of slapstick humor and genuinely thrilling action. It’s not a perfect movie by any means, but it’s about as good as a live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie from the ‘90s could be.