Huge commercial success of 1990 science fiction action comedy Teenage Mutant Ninja Turles led to inevitable sequel. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze, 1991 film directed by Michael Pressman, was made unusually quickly after the original, but it also represented somewhat unusual departure from it.
The plot begins shortly after the films ended. Four humanoid pizza-loving giant turtles – Leonard (voiced by Brian Tochi), Michaelangelo (voiced by Robert Rich), Donatello (voiced by Adam Carl) and Raphael (voiced by Laurie Fasso) – have defeated The Shredder (played by François Chau), evil leader of the Foot, clan of mostly young and teen ninja. They have, however, lost their home and are forced to stay in apartment of their friend, television reporter April O’Neil (played by Paige Turco). Her report about toxic waste cleaning in New Jersey, however, brings attention of Splinter (voiced by Kevin Clash), wise giant mutant rat who was Turtles’ teacher. He is convinced that the ooze from the site was responsible for their mutation. When The Shredder returns and again leads his cohorts, the ooze gets his interest too, since he wants to use it to create his own army of mutated animals. Ninja Turtles must try to save Professor Jordan Perry (played by David Warner), aided by young pizza delivery man Keno (played by Ernie Reyes, Jr.) who possesses great martial skills of his own.
Golden Harvest and New Line Cinema, studios behind the original film, wanted to make the sequel quickly because they reasoned that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise, based on the original comic books by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, and made popular by animated television show, was at the height of popularity. Waiting a to make film longer risked making children – the franchise’s fan base – simply grow up and forget about it. New film, unlike the first, which had provided some jokes and similar content for older audiences, is completely oriented towards the children. Violence is toned down to almost ridiculously low levels and protagonists, despite being ninjas, almost never use any weapons. This approach is reflected even in the casting – Corey Feldman, who has voiced Donatello in the first film, is replaced by Adam Carl on the account of his real life drug problems that could have created bad publicity for family-friendly film. Characters, dialogue and the plot are extremely simplified and the jokes as light-hearted as possible.
Not all changes in the film are for the worse. New director Michael Pressman, a television veteran, is much more competent and disciplined than Steve Barron in the first film. Cinematography by Shelly Johnson insists on bright colours and action is taking place at daytime, making it more attractive and easier than follow than in sometimes confusing first film. The most notable change is, however, character of April O’Neil being played by Paige Turco, an actress with less skill than Judith Hoag in the first film. David Warner, on the other hand, is quite effective in the role of apparently mad scientist who, in the end of the day, has the heart in the right place; Warner later claimed that he immensely liked this role knowing it was the rare one that could be enjoyed by his children. Ernie Reyes Jr., stunt double for Donatello in the first film, appears in the role of very likeable character of Keno and delivers impressive display of martial arts. Although legendary puppeteer Jim Henson died before the start of the film, his company, equipped with more budget, did even better job of bringing Turtles to life with superb old school mechanical effects. For the most part it looks that The Secret of the Ooze would end as better film than the first. The ending is, however, quite disappointing. When TurtleNinjas crash into night club, they encounter Vanilla Ice performing at stage; this is followed by fam ous (and mercilessly parodied) rapper improvising song about ninjas which is supposed to be the film’s main theme. This is followed by anti-climactic showdown with the Shredder which cancels out all the improvements The Secret of the Ooze had it over its predecessor. Young children are the only audience that might enjoy this film, but today they might be baffled with some of obscure pop culture references. For older generations, this film doesn’t offer anything apart from a little bit of nostalgia towards early 1990s, and only for those who used to be its targetted audience. The Secret of Ooze, made at the zenith of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles popularity, had success at the box office, although significantly less than the first film. It was followed by 1993 sequel, 2007 animated film and rebooted film series in 2010s.
RATING: 4/10 (+)
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