Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993) - Comic to Movie #6

My legs hurt. My arms hurt. My spots hurt. Even my bandana hurts.

Director
Stuart Gillard

Cast
Elias Koteas - Casey Jones/ Whit
Paige Turco - April O'Neil
Stuart Wilson - Walker
Sab Shimono - Lord Norinaga
Vivian Wu - Mitsu
Robbie Rist - Michaelangelo voice
Brian Tochi - Leonardo voice
Tim Kelleher - Raphael voice
Corey Feldman - Donatello voice

Never have I ever seen the infamous Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III. It took a global pandemic to get me to sit down and watch this. Right off the shell, this is not an obscure movie. That goes without saying.
TMNT III wasn't on my list of comic book based movies to review. It wasn't on any of my lists of movies to review. So, why am I reviewing this third installment?
My local libraries are my prime avenues to obtaining many obscure titles, including obscure movie adaptations of comic books. But with the lock-down in place, borrowing titles hasn't been an option.
Some movies on my list to review are actually serials from the 1940s and 50s. Though they're available on YouTube, they have a run time over five hours long. I just need a day to get through at least one of them.
I was going to put off my "Comic to Movie" string of reviews with something else I plan to do, but I decided I didn't want to postpone anything. There's enough of that going around.
My review of TMNT III is more for my own sake, to be honest. Though I've always loved the first film from 1990 - an underrated comic movie in my opinion - it doesn't fit with the general theme of these lesser known, not-so-appreciated comic book movie reviews. It's too well known, and so much has already been said about it.
With circumstances being what they are, the heck with all that for now.
The subject matter in part one made quite an impression on me when I saw it in the theater, and several more times on home video, back in 1990. I was in second grade that year.
The first film, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, has a great story line that I think is overlooked by general audiences merely because the movie is about teenage ninja mutant turtles. They were created with the intention of ridiculousness.
The themes of family, friendship, forgiveness, and integrity sets this apart from other comic movies that merely rely on the franchise they're based on for money. 
It respects its young audiences, appealing to their maturity rather than assuming their just kids so, the movie doesn't need to try very hard. Quite the opposite.
On top of all that, the puppetry from Jim Henson's Workshop is fantastic and fun to watch.
The second movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Secret of the Ooze certainly makes up in the goofiness that's in short supply in the first.
It's much more garnered towards young fans, with fight scenes that are more comical when compared to part one. And it doesn't take plot points as seriously as the first. How did Shredder survive the first movie? And why is his presence in the second movie so sloppy? He was intimidating in the first movie. He was his own cartoon character in the second.
I remember the anticipation when it was announced there was going to be a part two. Rumors went around that Bebop and Rocksteady were going to be in the sequel. But obviously that isn't the case. What kids got were a mutated wolf and snapping turtle which became new characters called Tokka and Rahzar. Despite that, kids back in the day still referred to them (myself included) as Bebop and Rocksteady.
We had to wait approximately 25 years to see those guys on the big screen thanks to director Michael Bay. That much was great about 2016's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows.

It was laughable, too, even back in 1991 that Vanilla Ice has a featured song in part two. No kid I knew listened to him. And if they did, they kept that guilty pleasure strictly to themselves.
When part three came out in 1993, I just wasn't interested in seeing it. I never heard anything good about it. And just never bothered to see for myself...until now.
Rather than starting off on or under the streets of New York City, this movie begins in 17th century Japan as samurai warriors chase a man on horseback.
Once they have him cornered, an unknown woman watches them from some bushes. They end up kidnapping this guy.
The movie transitions to modern day New York City, where the turtles are still living in the subway they moved into in part two.
Corey Feldman returns as the voice of Donatello, which he played in the first movie. And Elias Koteas comes back as Casey Jones, whom he played in the first movie as well.
April O'Neil, played this time by Paige Turco, pops in to visit the turtles as she's just returning from a flea market.
She brings back an Asian style scepter among other gifts for the turtles. Oblivious as to what it really is, Donatello leads in a little research.
Meanwhile, back in ancient Japan, the kidnapped man turns out to be a prince named Kenshin (Eidan Hanzei). The kidnappers return him to his father, Norinaga (Sab Shimono), and the father and son get into a little family quarrel. Dad is upset his son has dishonored the family name. Son is irked his dad is all gung ho 😄 about going to war.
See what I did there? I said "gung ho!" Get it? No, you probably don't. O.k... Sab Shimono played "Saito" in the 1986 comedy Gung Ho with Michael Keaton. I guess I'll have to review that movie later. I thought the reference was clever.
Anyways, this domestic bickering is interrupted by a stuck up English trader named Walker (Stuart Wilson) who has come to supply Norinaga with weapons and manpower.
After their argument, Kenshin goes to sulk in his self pity when he comes across the same scepter April finds centuries later.
He reads the inscription engraved on the side. "Open wide the gates of time."
And suddenly, he trades places in time with April.
One thing leads to another, and the turtles trade places with four unsuspecting samurais from ancient Japan so they can go rescue her.

Donatello figures out they only have 60 hours to find her, and get back to modern New York City. During the rest of the movie, they don't appear too concerned or rushed about making sure they locate their friend and get back within 60 hours.
Once they do find and rescue April, now they have to find the scepter. Time is truly of the essence, but I didn't get the impression the turtles cared too much.
Still, they find it in an easy "oh, there it is" moment.
All the while, the girl from the beginning of the movie, Mitsu (Vivian Wu) watches the turtles closely as he first discovers them by a river. A little while later, their identity as turtles doesn't remain any kind of secret throughout the movie.
April comes across a prisoner named Whit, also played by Elias Koteas. To April, he looks just like Casey Jones. It seems like a bigger plot point will come from this. But I think I missed it. This character's purpose seems forced. I'm willing to bet it was the only way to give Koteas more screen time.
I'm happy they brought Casey Jones back from part one. But like Koteas's role as Whit, Jones really serves no purpose in the movie other than to attract an audience. "Looks who else is back, kids!" Otherwise, he's just...there.
I appreciate the movie going someplace the other movies didn't. It attempted to be different and engaging by placing the turtles in a brand new and unfamiliar scenario. Kudos for originality and offering something new to fans of the franchise. I appreciate that.
But it's just over all a tiresome movie. It's even haphazard at times.
The puppetry is a joke. I swear in a few scenes with the turtles, I could hear mechanical noises and clicks when the turtle masks would move to talk.
And the movements look way to mechanical unlike the fluidity in the masks seen in part one.
The story line was entertaining and intriguing at first, but I found myself just wanting the end to hurry up and arrive. By the last 40 minutes of this movie, I had to struggle to stay invested in what was happening.
My overall feeling about TMNT 3 is that it's generally underwhelming.
The turtles get a silly laugh here and there. It tries to throw out some catch phrases in the hopes at least one will stick with audiences. I don't remember if any actually did. I don't recall any.
Nothing about the movie, other than the setting in ancient Japan, stands out.

Sab Shimono in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III.

Maybe if movie producers gave audiences what they really wanted to see with the Ninja Turtles, then perhaps the third movie, and even the second, would be more worthwhile and profitable.
Audiences wanted the characters they were familiar with. No one wanted a Vanilla Ice cameo, two mutants that could have so easily been Bebop and Rocksteady, and a Casey Jones return that ended up being too superfluous.
After 23 years, I can now say I've seen all three 1990s turtle movies. But, is it something to brag about?