Mr. Movie: ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ sequel not enough to say ‘cowabunga’

Of all the late 1980s after-school animated shows, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is the most creative and had the funniest name. The movies in the 1990s were awful, and the turtles went bye-bye. With exceptional advances in CGI, they got another shot in 2014 . Raking in $191 million made it a box-office smash but a critical bomb. It was awful with a capital A.

In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, the turtles nemesis Shredder escapes from prison and teams up with Krang, a creature from another dimension that wants to conquer Earth. To do it, he needs three parts of a dimension door opener. Shredder, his minions and a mad scientist have to find them. The turtles — teaming again with April O’Neil and with new friend and police officer Casey Jones — are out to stop them.

This one has the same writers but a new director. Dave Green, who directed the awful Earth to Echo, heads up this one. When it comes to this type of film, one director is pretty much the same as another. All are at the mercy of their special effects teams.

The effects — especially the 3-D — are good, and kids will love it. Nikolas and Pierce, both 6, sat in front of me. At the movie’s end, they both yelled Cowabunga. I didn’t completely agree with them. The sequel is better than 2014’s, but it still couldn’t make me yell cowabunga.

This story was originally published June 2, 2016 at 1:00 PM with the headline "Mr. Movie: ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ sequel not enough to say ‘cowabunga’."