Air Clears Around Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movie Controversy

It’s been more than a year since Michael Bay first made the infamous statement that had TMNT fans frothing at the mouth. If you’re one of those fans, chances are you remember exactly what we’re talking about. That being said, most people in the community feel a lot differently about the project today than they did a year ago. While the film still has a rather negative image, recent revelations and decisions regarding the movie have given some of us reason to be hopeful. After all, our beloved turtles aren’t exactly aliens anymore and the official title of the movie has been changed back to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! Okay, the truth is that some of you still aren’t sold and probably never will be. Regardless, it’s important to give credit where credit is due and appreciate what the filmmakers/studio have done after all of the fan outrage last year. The biggest complaints have been addressed and this new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie is starting to look like it could be serviceable. Some of you may still be upset about casting choices, CGI turtles or even the apparent choice to focus more on recreating the TMNT of the original animated series, but these are minor quibbles in comparison to what we were dealing with just twelve short months ago.

Any major controversy that once existed has been pretty well squashed, as some fans are even starting to get excited about this project. Say what you will, but it’s probably a pretty good sign that the people behind this film have worked hard to convince at least a portion of the legion of TMNT fans that they aren’t out to destroy our childhood. We’ve been saying it all along: The fans are your audience, so it’s usually a good idea to keep them happy. The studios listened and decided to rethink a few of their decisions, which isn’t exactly an every day occurrence in the film industry. Now let me be clear: The fans didn’t have anything to do with the creation of the script. They didn’t choose the actors/actresses, they didn’t chose the focus of the film, they didn’t elect to have CGI turtles running around New York. However, it’s a pretty safe bet to say that fan outrage surrounding the “Ninja Turtles” name choice and Michael Bay’s alien comments lead to them eventually changing their stance on both. In fact, if you listen to Bay’s more recent comments, it’s as if he wants to disassociate himself from the project by saying that this is the director’s vision; this isn’t a Michael Bay film, this is a Jonathan Liebesman film. What those comments really mean remains to be seen, but I’m sure the fans will come up with some clever ideas about that.

While the dust has yet to settle and we don’t know what we’re really in for quite yet, I think it’s safe to say that this Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie looks a lot more promising today than it did at this time last year. As we head into June of 2013, we’re officially one year away from the release of the film. Let’s just hope that our thoughts and feelings about this new TMNT movie are still positive a year from now, because we’re sure that a majority of the fans would really like to see something good come out of this whole debacle. What do you think? Let us know in the comments below!