Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (Michael Pressman, 1991) Review

Oh yeah, I forgot there was a sequel to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The 90s was famous was the pinnacle of making sequels around kids films (now it's just standard...) which...usually isn't anything special. This film is your typical 90s sequel and, considering that this was the Ninja Turtles, it did well considering kids would want to see this. Is this just in it forth money or is it actually quite good...I'm pretty sure you can guess.

In this film, the ninja turtles (Leonardo (Brian Tochi), Raphael (Laurie Faso), Donatello (Adam Carl) and Michaelangelo (Robbie Rist)) discover the ooze that created them and their master Splinter (Kevin Clash). The turtles find out where the ooze is being made and try to find out 'the secret of the ooze' (you know, that is the title after all). The problem? Shredder (François Chau) has survived being crushed in a garbage crusher (and with no explanation....this is not a good sign) and he too wishes to find the ooze's origin to create mutants to fight for him. Now the turtles must stop Shredder from obtaining the ooze.

Can I just address one of my biggest pet peeves with this film? The characters Tokka (Kurt Bryant) and Rahzar (Mark Ginther). These two are mutants that become enemies of the turtles. Why do I hate them? Because they should just be Bebop and Rocksteady. They are established characters n the show so just use them! They're basically the same characters! The biggest problem though is that they tried to make the turtles more kid friendly. Yes, it is based on a cartoon but the first film set up a much darker world for them to be in. Now they've changed their mind and...it doesn't work. It just comes off as stupid.

I'm gonna ruin the ending here because it bugs me so much! In the ending, Shredder uses the ooze on himself and becomes Super Shredder (Kevin Nash). Now that is cool and even becomes a bit scary since we never see him as the battle takes place under a board walk and therefore can't see him fully. The board-walk collapses on him and...that's it. He's dead. What a terrible waste of potential. Yes, I am holding it against the film. It wastes SO MUCH potential in general and therefore ruins it.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II is a much worse film to the first. The first film did the franchise justice and made it it's own by making it much darker. The sequel, however, ruins this world and wastes all the great ideas they had. I'm not saying this is the worst film ever but it's not the best either (absolutely nowhere near) but it's just underwhelming.

Verdict:
5/10
Ruining the world that the first made and wasting all the potential that it could have had.