With years of multiple iterations of graphic novel-adapted mediums of fan-favorite IP, TMNT behind us, I guess there’s no harm in having another. Best of all is with producer Seth Rogen at the forefront of Paramount Pictures’ newest treatment with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is a cast and a vision that not only invokes a more teenage look than the usual illustrative hulking beefcake types, but we also get a version of franchise staple April O’Neil as the person of color she was originally meant to be before the powers that be demanded her character don the more whitewashed, yellow jumpsuit-wearing red-head as the toys sold so well.
This, and…well…Jackie Chan is voicing Splinter. So there’s that
In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, after years of being sheltered from the human world, the Turtle brothers set out to win the hearts of New Yorkers and be accepted as normal teenagers through heroic acts. Their new friend April O’Neil helps them take on a mysterious crime syndicate, but they soon get in over their heads when an army of mutants is unleashed upon them.
Headlining our title VO cast are Micah Abbey (Donatello), Shamon Brown Jr. (Michelangelo), Nicolas Cantu (Leonardo), and Brady Noon (Raphael), joined by Chan along with Hannibal Buress as Genghis Frog, Rose Byrne as Leatherhead, and the aforementioned Rogen pairing as Bebop along with John Cena as Rocksteady, in addition to Ice Cube as Superfly, Natasia Demetriou as Wingnut, Ayo Edebiri as April O’Neil, Giancarlo Esposito as Baxter Stockman, Post Malone as Ray Fillet, Paul Rudd as Mondo Gecko and Maya Rudolph as Cynthia Utrom.
Jeff Rowe (The Mitchells vs. the Machines, “Gravity Falls”, “Disenchantment”) directed the pic which hails from Nickelodeon Movies in its CG-animated debut next to Rogen’s Point Grey Productions’ producing along with Evan Goldberg and James Weaver. The film opens worldwide on August 4!
