LE MONDE'S OPINION – WORTH SEEING
In 2024, they will celebrate their 40th anniversary. In other words, they have had four decades of fame taking them from television to movies, from shelves of tie-in products to video games. In all their forms, these four turtles have climbed the steps of fame without stumbling, swelling the ranks of their admirers along the way. And all this despite their admittedly unattractive physiques. With their big, wide-mouthed heads, shells on their backs, green skin and heavy features, when it comes to appeal, they had every right to hope for better. The trouble is, you can't choose your parents, nor their state of mind when they decide to have a baby.
For our famous ninjas, it all happened on the spur of the moment, in the apartment shared by two comic strip authors, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. On a November evening in 1983, their spirits were joyous; in this schoolboyish atmosphere, it was time for boasting. The two were having fun, trying to make each other laugh, coming up with jokes – for example, finding the most ridiculous animal that could possibly represent Bruce Lee. The first to take up the challenge, Eastman drew a turtle standing on two legs, with a mask over his eyes and nunchucks around his arms. The result made Laird laugh. Jackpot. Three other turtles were penciled in, equipped with different weapons. The two fathers fell head over heels for their offspring, giving each of them a name inspired by Italian Renaissance artists.
Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael and Donatello had just been born, and their stories and adventures would soon inspire dozens of comic books, a number of TV series and now seven feature films. The latest of these hit movies recently hit theaters and sweeps aside everything that preceded it. Directed by Jeff Rowe, distributed by Paramount and produced by the American channel Nickelodeon, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is the best film adaptation yet of the universe created by the Eastman-Laird duo.
This new version brings the turtles to life as we've never seen them before. That is, they're heroic figures firmly rooted in their time, suddenly seeming to take the leap into the 21st century without renouncing their past. They're fighters who get their shells wet and dirty in the New York underworld, move to the rhythms of hip hop and battle enemies a hundred times more hideous than themselves.
In the vein of the recent Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem opts for a more contemporary spirit. Clean walls are now covered in graffiti. The smooth 3D image has been covered with successive layers. It has been blemished, scratched by the intervention of 2D with its ill-timed pencil strokes and superimposed drawings. Animation is treated like street art, a coherent choice that suits these ninjas born in the city's sewers.
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