When Turtles Forever just emerged on TV, everybody highly anticipated the film. The new (2003) green team fighting the good old Technodrome, Bebop and Rocksteady, and another, more brutal, but also inhumanly cruel Shredder. This was a decent combination of both animated franchises of the time, pretty action-packed, high-spirited in the good old adventure sense, and even Easter Eggs directing to Star Wars did not spoil the story. (For instance, Technodrome began to look much more like the Death Star, and the Shredder becomes an "upgraded" version of Mr. Darth. Aw -- Ah for the moment when he says: if destroying the Turtles means an end to everything, including himself... "SO BE IT!" Yes, -- that's the way a true comic book villain behaves!) Therefore I'm not against these changes, reminding the viewer of SW. It's really fun. Everything in the movie is bright, dynamic, strongly positive, and the fans would love it... if not for a small, but irritating nuance.I think the story's somehow spoiled by the authors' irony (let's not say sarcasm) about the 87 Turtles and their world. April, pursued by a giant mutant banana (everybody got, what did he really want from the girl? No, not just to dinner off her -- look once more at 87's April pretty figure and all those big... dignities, then you'll surely guess the scary banana's intentions). It's not that serious, I know. It's just... unpleasant to watch.But, despite all this, I daresay it's a good movie. In the end, we see both the green teams saying farewell. It'a nice emotional moment, and no irony this time. "Turtle Power!!"In a word -- every era has their own Ninja Turtles. It's good the estafette was transferred to another ones.

This crossover is one of the worst I've ever seen. The movie is hateful and disrespectful to the original 1987 Turtles. They are portrayed as complete blithering buffoons. The entire movie from beginning to end is just, "2003 Turtles are awesome! 1987 Turtles suck! How could you like those morons!?" Different characterization is gone, the 1987 turtles are reduced to Mikey clones whose every last bit of intelligence is stripped from him.Before everyone says, "But the 1987 turtles were like that!" let me tell you: no, they were not. Although the 1987 turtles show degenerated over time, it was much better in the beginning. This crossover movie takes the worst they could find and then dialed it up to 11, while bringing in nothing of the good stuff that made people fans of the original show; while at the same time, doing the opposite with 2003 Turtles show.It's hateful, and absolutely disgusting to sit through.

Having grown up watching the old 1988 series, it was great to see the specific characters of the turtles and their villains then, in the universe of the new more serious turtles that kids watch today. The whole thing is animated well and has an interesting enough storyline. The only thing I slightly disliked about this movie, was that the older versions of the characters, both good and bad, are depicted as being somewhat helpless in the 21st century Turtle universe. They mostly get the goofy lines and carefree attitude. However, to be fair the old show was never as serious as the newer one apparently is, and there were excellent tributes to the old show. One running gag in the movie I really enjoyed, was that the older turtles would sometimes direct their attention to the viewer, which would confuse the 21st generation characters. At some point a turtle is actually asked; "Who are you talking to? There is nobody there!"Although there is definite goofiness and corniness present, this movie offers a nice look at the turtles through time, and is a nice way to end this saga of the turtles (as Nickelodeon is apparently planning to make the next show fully CGI).

I was a kid when the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series came out. I was, to put it lightly, a fan, as well as for the first two theatrical movies. It's this young-inner- fanboy that had a "Cowabunga!" at the news that they would be brought back for one time only to the new 21st century show. I thought it would be just one episode, but as it turns out it's really a fond goodbye (for at least now) to the franchise of cartoons. It's premise brings both universes, and then some, together like this: a trans-dimensional portal has opened thanks to 1988 turtles bringing them into the 2003 turtle universe, and with them the Technodrome and Shredder and Krang the brain. But as it turns out, the Shredder from the new 2003 show - not really called Shredder but something like Ch'rell, comes back to life and plans to wreak total havoc on not just the turtles present but ALL of the turtles from the dimensions and incarnations by going to the source: the original Eastman-Laird comic- verse. Yeah, it sounds confusing, and a little too geeky to get into, but somehow it works. It should be interesting to see the reactions from fans of the 2003 animated series, or just younger folks, who aren't as familiar with the 80's animated series let alone the original comics. It's a blast from the past though, and the kind of movie that would probably be interesting to watch with young kids with their parents who may have grown up on the show themselves. We get the wacky (and sometimes just stupid and goofy) antics of the old turtles, but contrasted with the self-serious newer turtles (who do have their own merits as a ninja-style show) it makes a lot more sense and the two even compliment each other. It's like watching an awesome evolution given homage and a new creative story like something out of Roger Rabbit: what happens if the entire dimensions are destroyed by means of cutting off the source? Everything, it would seem, would just disappear. There's plenty of solid action, corny one-liners, and some genuinely funny scenes (my favorite was the old-school April having to be saved by a banana monster, among other creatures), put against a backdrop of cool animation, and some mocking of both young and old. It works, more or less, as its own self-contained movie, and as a lasting tribute to the boys in green.