Plot introduction:
The story begins after the villain Slater was completely defeated by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: New York City regains its former peace, and Mr. Splinter (Makao) To enhance the combat effectiveness of this underground escort, Leonardo da Vinci, the most capable of the four turtles, was sent to South Africa to learn ninjutsu. Without bad guys to do evil, the turtles seemed to be of little use. After Leonardo da Vinci left, the three brothers lived a boring life: Michelangelo made a living by dressing up as a turtle-shaped clown to create atmosphere at birthday parties. The inventor Einstein hid in the underground world and worked as a technician; when the Turtles no longer exerted their magical powers, a "Batman"-style Night Walker appeared in New York City to maintain law and order. In fact, he has the most sense of justice among the four turtles. Strong Raphael.
Splinter’s original intention of sending Leonardo da Vinci to train was to use a strong leader to unite the power of the turtles. As a result, the turtles who were busy with their own chores became more and more unfamiliar. The proud Raphael Da Vinci was unconvinced that he could take on this important task, and eventually a quarrel broke out when Raphael insisted on carrying out the task alone, and the good brothers who had been through life and death turned against each other.
Bad guys always take advantage of this moment. Millionaire Max (Patrick Stewart) has a healthy appearance but has extremely terrifying ambitions: he devotes himself to collecting mysterious cultural relics from all over the world. In fact, he wants to use these sacrificial artifacts to summon evil forces from ancient times when the position of the planet produces an abnormality. He commanded a terrifying army composed of monsters and robots to take over the world; and Slater's remnant army "Ghost Foot Ninja" joined the evil camp under the leadership of the mysterious Kara (Zhang Ziyi).
At present, New York City is facing an unprecedented threat. How can the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, whose organization has collapsed, regain their strength and work together to defeat the two more terrifying opponents?
Behind the scenes:
An unknown director recreates the collective memories of a generation
In the early 1990s when "Pizza Hut" had not yet become popular in China, the concept of pizza had Through the four turtles that walk upright and are good at dancing and performing stick kung fu, the story is deeply instilled in the minds of children. The cartoon "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" has become a symbol of childhood memories of a generation along with "Mickey Mouse" and "Transformers". This is why as soon as the news that it will be made into a movie came out, Green Turtles caused a stir around the world. trend.
In fact, in the United States, which is rich in superheroes, the appearance of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is really a bit unprecedented: the protagonist is neither tall nor handsome, has neither artifacts nor supernatural powers, and the only way to save the world is to It's just real boxing and kicking skills. When authors Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman published this comic that followed the superhero trend in 1984, they did not expect it to be very popular. Only 3,000 copies were printed at the time. Who knew that they were snapped up immediately after it was released? Once it was sold out, it was later adapted into an animation that has been broadcast around the world for more than ten years, and peripheral products such as toys are selling like hotcakes.
How could smart Hollywood people waste such money-making material? Therefore, in 1990, New Line produced the first "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" movie, which grossed 135 million at the box office. New Line, which enjoyed great success, subsequently released two sequels, although due to shoddy production It has been criticized, but this series has earned a total of nearly 300 million US dollars so far.
Ten years later, Warner Bros. has taken a liking to this once-popular "fat man" again, but this time they don't want to think about putting a rubber suit on the actor as stunt makeup like in the past. Instead, we use three-dimensional CG technology, which has more room for use and is more popular, to cover all shooting and production work. But at first, Warner Bros. was not sure whether they could obtain the adaptation rights from the original author. When producer Galen Walker submitted a creative proposal to author Peter Laald and was waiting for the other party's response, Peter suddenly said: "Turtle!" At this time, a small turtle was slowly crawling in front of them. Perhaps it was this turtle of unknown origin that brought good luck to Galen Walker: He sat on the return plane and opened the signed comics given to him by Pete. The title page clearly stated: "Let's make this into a movie together, man!"
The filming plan was gradually confirmed, in addition to the producer and screenwriter for the first three "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" movies Kevin Eastman, who was also one of the authors, was also recruited. Warner was also looking for a suitable director, and soon they gave the coveted position to Kevin Monroe.
This name is quite unfamiliar to most people who are not familiar with the trends in the American animation industry. In fact, in the past ten years, he has served as a director for many TV shows, movies, and commercials while working for major companies such as Disney, Warner Bros., and Animation Channel. Scene design and even screenwriting, but it is the animation industry that made him famous. The authoritative American media "Animation Magazine" named him a "Rising Star in the CG Industry". Munro, who made a high-profile statement about his love and understanding of the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", successfully obtained the director's pass by producing a trailer.
As for the actors who dubbed the film, Munro had his own opinions. He was not interested in DreamWorks' practice of subservient to big names, and specially invited several actors who were more powerful than famous to lend their voices to the characters. , it is a pity that the Japanese actor Mako who voiced Mr. Splinter passed away the day before the film was completed. This cartoon turned out to be the legacy of this veteran actor who has worked hard in Hollywood for more than 40 years. Zhang Ziyi, who Chinese movie fans have to pay attention to, voices the female ninja Kara. The reason for choosing her is simple: Americans still regard her as a yellow-skinned and dark-haired star, which is more in line with the image of this character.
How to fish in troubled waters between a series of martial arts scenes and a PG rating
Because Kevin Eastman hopes that this "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" will have a breakthrough, he not only uses the latest With advanced digital technology, even the story is brand new. Monroe and the original author discussed creating a script that had nothing to do with the clues of the original work. He removed the villain Slater who had always "accompanied" the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and replaced it with a cooler and more exciting one. Bad new character. Many "turtle fans" were very dissatisfied with this. After all, Slater has always been an inseparable and important part of this work, but Munro insisted that even the original author Pitt approved of this idea and there was no need to question it. In addition, the new story not only promotes the spirit of police crime and punishment of rape, but also emphasizes the role of family and friendship in the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" group. Coupled with the PG rating, it is an absolute family-friendly inspirational film.
Referring to this PG rating, Munro understands that the generation of children deeply influenced by "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" has now grown up, but there is another generation of children who are being influenced by them, and these children and their The adults who enter the cinema are the most potential audience for the film; for these two groups of audiences with very different ages and requirements, it is necessary to implement fierce fighting scenes throughout the film without exaggerating the violent scenes in order to enhance the intensity of the visual shock. Express the wonderful movements on the camera and make them very clean at the same time; this time he is working with the famous Hong Kong CG animation company "IMGAI", which has close relations with the American animation industry, and the main production work is handed over to Colleagues from Hong Kong completed the work and challenged the time difference. The two places started working in 24-hour shifts. Hong Kong animators who grew up in martial arts films also provided them with the most ideal action scenes. The sewer world where the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles live in the film is also based on the sewers of Hong Kong. Constructed as a model.
As a 21st century film, Munro and the designers also did not forget to transform the Ninja Turtles into newer and more fashionable elements. The new Ninja Turtles are more stylish than the rubber man in the old movie version. She is thinner, has more slender lines, and the proportions between the turtle shell and the body are more even. It even makes people think that they are chest and abdominal muscles. In order to highlight the personality of each character, there are many small details in the modeling setting. -Such as small movements, skin texture, color difference, etc.-not just relying on differences in headscarves and weapons to distinguish their identities. But there are always people who don’t buy it. Some turtle fans feel that the new Ninja Turtles are too thin and have too dark temperament, which is inconsistent with the original work. In fact, this is a misunderstanding of the film, because the film is modeled after the comics that are already relatively dark ( Munroe's original idea was to make the film directly into a comic-style black and white effect), rather than the smoother lines and exaggerated cuteness of the cartoon. What is really worth worrying about is that the film is only 85 minutes long. How to allocate time to tell the story clearly with scattered clues without delaying the audience's enjoyment of the exciting action scenes.