To be quite honest, the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie is one of our most anticipated new movies of the year. We’ve fallen in love with it from the trailer alone, with its gorgeous animation and retro feel. It looks delightful.
And now, following an interview with director Jeff Rowe in the new issue of Empire Magazine, we know why. The director reflected specifically on the movies which have had an influence on his own, citing some classic coming of age flicks from across the decades.
“We wanted it to be like Stand By Me and Lady Bird. But, you know, with Ninja Turtles,” explained Rowe who stated his desire to create “the ultimate teen coming-of-age film.”
Of course, for that you need characters who are in the early or mid-teens. And, Rowe has made sure his characters really feel like teenagers. “They’ve got a lot of that inauthentic confidence that teenagers have: when you’re a teen, you don’t know any better, so you operate with this hyped-up sense of, ‘we can do anything’.”
Stand By Me, one of the best ’80s movies in its genre, and the more recent Lady Bird are both fantastic movies following the struggles intrinsic to the experience of growing up.
So, we know this is going to be important to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem too. The plot of the animated movie follows the four turtles as they seek acceptance from New York’s inhabitants who live above the sewer. This puts them on an unexpected path to confrontation with an army of fierce mutants, with classic characters like Bebop and Rocksteady.
Perfect! For more movie magic, check out our guide to the best movies of all time, as well as our guides to the Dune 2 release date, the Oppenheimer release date, and the Transformers 7 release date.