Brief TMNT Splurge

From last week’s eight-pack “abed” Spartans, I went out tonight to see four-pack “tummied” turtles. This is how I placed watching TMNT to a berk: pang-celebrate yon sa lipas nang kabataan nating mga manggagawa. And true enough, it felt like a Friday night in the early 90s and I am tuned in to channel 2—the TV station which used to serve the animated series starring four heroes in a half shell exuding turtle power.

Like normal kids do, I claimed my own mutant turtle teenager ninja . “Akin si Raphael,” I used to say. I can’t remember how I ended up “owning” that turtle with the red band and a pair of forks. Funny thing there is that apart from his name, color and weapon, I no longer recall anything much about him. I knew Leonardo was the leader of the dudes, Michaelangelo was the funny dude and Donatello was the techie dude, but I have zero recollection about my dude.

It is enlightening to watch some of my childhood heroes with my 26-year-old brain—assuming my cerebral hemispheres are in synch with my biological age—as compared to watching them with my pre-teen brain. I now appreciate the turtles' psyche in a “real world” light. I end up finding out, too, why I was drawn to my turtle. I somehow identified myself to Raphael because he is me, minus the vigilante gig, of course. I shall not expound on what I have just shared because as it is, I know that self-searching is a lame way of watching a movie, let alone reviewing it. Let’s just say, I wanted my instant thought to go on record. That’s all.

It is the second day for TMNT so I will keep potential moviegoers in suspense. No spoiler from me this time around. Allow me to say, though, that seeing the teenage mutant ninja turtles hop around and kick ass were both entertaining and nostalgic, at least for me.

Let’s just see how it does in its opening weekend. And oh, by the way, please do stay for the closing credits. TMNT is a full-length animated movie. I believe it is but proper to sit through the names of the talents that made this movie possible. Who knows what entertainment you’d get? Probably spotting the names “Jebb Ng” and “Peter Pang” would do you good, too.