bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

SCMP Reporter

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES III, with Mark Caso, Jim Raposa, Matt Hill, david Fraser, Paige Turco and Vivian Wu. Directed by Stuart Gillard. On Mandarin circuit.

THEY'RE green, they're fearless and they're back. Michelangelo, Donatello, Raphael and Leonardo - not the Renaissance masters but the sewer-living, pizza-eating Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - who have returned to right wrongs.

    In this third Turtle film, our amphibian heroes travel between the New York sewers and 16th century feudal Japan in a time-travel action adventure which was shot in Oregon.

  The first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film launched a thousand spin-off toys, stationery items, bags and T-shirts, and was the most profitable decision Golden Harvest boss Raymond Chow ever made.

  It remains the Hongkong film company's biggest earner, and the most commercially successful independent film in cinema history.

  It grossed US$139 million (HK$1 billion) in the US alone.

    Hot on its heels came a sequel, Secret of the Ooze, which was universally panned by critics and was dropped from Hongkong cinemas ahead of schedule.

  But anyone who thought this meant the end of the Turtles' screen career was wrong.

   There is a lot of revenue to be made out of them yet - which makes you wonder why the film will only be released in Cantonese here.

  The distributors' explanation is that Indecent Proposal is doing so well at the box office that the Panasia circuit can't find the room to schedule Turtles. This can't be any consolation to parents looking for a suitable film to take the children to.

    And as sequels go, this is far superior to its predecessor which suffered from cloying cuteness. The storyline doesn't pull any punches, but the action is well paced and the effects well integrated.

  It benefits from adhering to a straightforward plot and relying less on the gimmickry of turtle culture and more on fast-paced action.

   This is a wise move as the pizza jokes wear a bit thin after a while.

    Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III - The Turtles Are Back . . . In Time is a simple but entertaining film.

     It may not be intellectually engaging, but it maintains the interest and provides a few laughs along the way.

  Golden Harvest has invested in improving the puppets, and the result is that our green friends are more sensitive and expressive vigilantes.

     The film-makers also seem to have made concessions to parents' fears that the turtles are too violent.

   There is no doubt the main audience for this film will be children, and there are plenty of signs the movie has tried to address this from a moral point of view.

    For instance, there are plenty of martial arts scenes, but in comparison to many local films, they look more like choreography than combat.

  The turtles themselves are also given to philosophical meanderings on nature, the environment, respecting other cultures, and the dangers of violence.

  ''Fighting's for grown-ups - and only when you really have to,'' sighs one to a little boy.

  For those grown-ups in the audience, at least, the addition of these elements seem to be too heavy-handed for comfort, but the intentions are honourable enough.

  The downside to the turtle sense of social conscience is that the dark and very adult humour which made the original turtles such a big comic hit is lost.

  On the bright side, this is an ideal summer holiday film. It's a pity that non-Cantonese speaking youngsters will not have the chance to enjoy it unless they're just happy with watching moving pictures.



Turning turtle again - but in Cantonese