Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (1991)

Movie Info

Hey, this ooze has some secrets!

Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Splinter are still recovering from their fight with the Foot and trying to piece their lives back together while staying at the home of their friend April O’Neil (Paige Turco). When the company that produced the canister of mutagen that changed the Turtles is discovered, the Turtles seek answers about their past. Unfortunately, Shredder (Francois Chau) has survived and is out to get the mutagen also. With the help of a young pizza delivery kid named Keno (Ernie Reyes, Jr.) and the professor that created the mutagen (David Warner), the Turtles must stop Shredder and the Foot again…plus his new creations Tokka and Rahzar.

Muppet attack!

Directed by Michael Pressman, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze was a no-brainer follow-up to the hugely successful Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film of 1990. The movie was met with less positive reviews but still raked in a big profit.

I saw Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the theater, picked up the VHS tape, and looked forward to the sequel. I had heard that the movie would tap more into the popular cartoon and was hoping for some more comic fun…unfortunately, the movie was a bigger disappointment.

Hey, it’s Stupid-Shredder!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ first film was virtually an adaptation of the first few issues of the underground comic book. It had some dark moments and felt a bit dangerous at points…but it also had a strange unbalanced humor. There were objections to the darkness so this film is almost all humorous…lots of Turtles, lots of wisecracking…no Casey Jones. It gets a bit annoying.

The effects of the movie also are better at points and worse at points. The Turtles honestly look a bit better though still seem big, bulky, and not nimble enough to feel like “ninjas”. A bigger budget however does get their mouths moving better and this is necessary to give them more life…I also wish they’d shut up. In addition to better Turtles, you get Tokka (an alligator snapping turtle) and Rahzar (a wolf) instead of Rocksteady and Bebop. It was supposed to be Rocksteady and Bebop but the makers decided to unfortunately create new enemies. The end battle with the mutated Super-Shredder feels like it should have been in a video game and looks horrible…and a new April O’Neil doesn’t help either.

“Go Ninja, Go Ninja, GO!

At this point, the Turtles are just a bit weird. It is odd to think that April (an adult) is hanging out with a group of male teenagers in her home, but it is ok because they are turtles (otherwise the law might be investigating). The movie has a built in music video with Vanilla Ice’s “Ninja Rap” (“Go Ninja, Go Ninja, Go!!!”) and the horrible song is probably the most memorable thing in the movie.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze falls into the so-bad-it-is-good. The movie has a few moments, but holds up even less than Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The series really failed with this entry, and I didn’t even see the third movie when it was released. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze was followed by Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Turtles in Time in 1993.

Related Links:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III:  Turtles in Time (1993)

TMNT (2007)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:  Turtles Forever (2009)