WesternAnimation What happens with Darker and Edgier meets its Lighter and Softer past?
There are many crossovers in existence, but one of the more rare ones is the crossover involving multiple versions of the same franchise. Usually done for comedic effect, it can be a fun way to show differences between two portrayals of the same concept.
There's quite a huge difference between the 1980s cartoon and the 2000s cartoon, in terms of tone, characters, and art style, and seeing the two combined provides a lot of opportunity for fun. Fortunately, many of the obvious opportunities are taken.
The Darker and Edgier tone of the 2000s cartoon is quite the difference from the 1980s cartoon that many older viewers are more familiar with. However, the differences are exaggerated. The 1980s characters are portrayed as complete buffoons. While the original cartoon was clearly sillier than the new one (despite, ironically, having a more detailed and realistic art style, especially for the human characters and the world), here all the 1980s Turtles act childish, constantly cracking jokes, never taking anything seriously, and even crying in fear after a fight.
The "cracking jokes" at least makes sense, and is used to point out a fun difference between the original and the newer cartoon: fourth-wall breaking. The 80s Turtles occasionally break the fourth wall and joke to the camera, which at one point confuses and angers the 2000s villains, who wonder "Who are you talking to? There's no-one there!"
One of the more fun jokes is about the different characters in the different TMNT universes, and their portrayals. Krang (80s cartoon) is surprised that Shredder (2000s cartoon) is some kind of small, cartoony, octopus-like alien with a HUMAN daughter, for instance. The 2000s Turtles are surprised to see that 80s April O'Neil wears a yellow jumpsuit.
While the 2000s cartoon is Darker and Edgier, the tone of this entire movie is meta and playful. The 2000s Shredder allows his hatred of the Turtles to consume him, and he decides to search the multiverse for the source of the Turtles' existence, which turns out to be the original black-and-white 1983 comic book made by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird.
Don't expect a great plot from this. The story is just a setup for a fun premise, and to play around with a lot of crossover ideas. Other than the Flanderization of the 80s characters, it's pretty fun.
WesternAnimation Masterpiece
This could easily be the best end for a franchise.The story is creative,the differences between the worlds well shown and you can truly appreciate the work of everyone involved.I keep hearing complaints about the treatment of the '87 turtles,but I think not only it helps set the contrasts of the vary groups,but it also pretty logical(even the Batman of the Adam West series risked his life in his show,but how do you think he would react if put in "The Dark Knight"?).They are still shown as competent fighters,and they are as important for the plot as the others.Heck,87's Donatello is made smarter than 03's Don(oh,and he SAVES THE WHOLE MULTIVERSE ).This movie is full of little,beatiful details that make a fan heart melts. In facts it's so good it made me a turtles fan.So I highly raccomend it to everyone.
Score: 9.5/10
P.S.:TURTLE POWER!
P.P.S.:A giant banana is more goofy that magic mothballs that aren't really magical?Really?
WesternAnimation A note on the portrayal of the 80's Turtles
A lot of people have been saying the 80's Turtles were idiots who were given the shaft in this movie in order to make the new ones look cool. Now, I've only seen one episode of the 80's cartoon, and I'm a huge 2K3 fan, but I have to disagree with this. Consider this: when they first find the Technodrome underground, they face an army of robot ninjas and Bebop and Rocksteady. Who takes down a majority of the robots and the mutants through clever use of their environment? The 80's Turtles. Who comes up with the idea and perfects the Portal Stick? 80's Don. How do they get past the army of mutants and upgraded robots once Utrom Shredder upgrades the Technodrome? The 80's Turtle's blimp and party wagon. Who stops Shredder from squishing the Mirage Turtles with exploding throwing stars? 80's Don. Really, it seems like people miss the fact that, if it weren't for the 80's Turtles, the multiverse would've been kaput. Really what was going on was these guys were simply a more light-hearted group than the 2K3's. Sure, they could be silly, but that never got in the way of their fighting ability. In fact, one could argue that because the 80's world was much more silly, it gave the 80's Turtles a creativity that allowed them to think of solutions the 2K3's didn't, like using the boulders to smash robots, or the Portal Stick. And even after the 2K3's explained the stakes they were up against, they still said "Let's do it!" Now, obviously the 2K3 Turtles contributed too, but one thing the movie makes clear is that neither team could've succeeded without the other, and both were equally needed to combat the new threat. This is one of the movie's biggest strengths. It honors the franchise's history, while still being able to poke fun at it, like when Mirage Shredder was taken out. Heck, even the part where 2K3 Don points out that after all the crazy gizmos they've seen, a portal stick still sounds silly, is a bit of a subtle dig at the 2K3 show, pointing out some of their more ridiculous concepts. For me, this special showed everything great about the franchise. It could be dark and mature, but wasn't above laughing with you at the sheer ludicrousy of the concept of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.