Review: 'Mutant Mayhem' is the 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' movie we always dreamed of

Finally, a “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” movie that really earns a “Cowabunga!”

Since they became pop-culture touchstones in the late 1980s, Michelangelo, Donatello, Raphael and Leonardo – the pizza-loving youngsters, not the Renaissance artists – have starred in a mixed bag of movies and TV series. Particularly lackluster have been the live-action vehicles that have hit the big screen, from the bad 1990s films to the middling 2010s franchise.

Thankfully, the foursome is animated again but also enjoyably inspired, courtesy of the new action comedy “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” (★★★ out of four; rated PG; in theaters Wednesday), produced and co-written by Seth Rogen. Director Jeff Rowe (“The Mitchells vs. the Machines”) smartly casts actual teenagers as the main characters, makes them pop via a super-cool comic-book visual style and surrounds these familiar heroes in a half shell with a top-notch supporting cast.

Best of all, it's the kind of zippy, 99-minute adventure bound to satisfy kids and adults alike in the cinematic doldrums of August.

Fifteen years after swimming in some experimental mutagen ooze as baby turtles, Mikey (Shamon Brown Jr.), Donnie (Micah Abbey), Raph (Brady Noon) and Leo (Nicolas Cantu) live in the sewers with overprotective rat dad Splinter (Jackie Chan). They’ve learned martial arts through old karate tapes and YouTube videos, but because he distrusts humans, Splinter forbids his adopted sons from going above ground unless they’re on a grocery run.

But the isolation, plus checking out the occasional drive-in movie (like “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”), leads the BTS-loving, kung fu-fighting turtles to dream of going to high school and being superheroes that the whole city will love. On one of their rare nights out, they meet aspiring teen journalist April O’Neil (Ayo Edebiri), who’s investigating a crime spree by the mysterious criminal Superfly that threatens her high school prom, and the turtles and April team up to help each other.

The turtles discover that Superfly is actually a mutated housefly (hilariously voiced by Ice Cube) and he runs with a gang of mutant animals. Our heroes' excitement that there are other folks like them in the world soon turns to dismay, however, when the youngsters discover the human-hating Superfly wants to unleash the ooze on a widespread scale and take over the world.

'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles':When does 'Mutant Mayhem' come out? Cast, trailer, what to know

“Mutant Mayhem” is pleasantly goofy, with secret conspiracies and a Godzilla-sized mutant monster terrorizing the Big Apple, and makes up for other forgettable “TMNT” incarnations by being clever with its humor and leaning into the mindset of adolescents. (What teen, turtle or human, doesn’t feel like an outsider or resent being kept from things by their parents?) But there’s a certain level of authenticity that the new movie taps into, much like the recent Tom Holland “Spider-Man” films, rather than being simply kid stuff.

And like the “Spider-Verse” movies, “Mayhem” embraces more stylized animation – reminiscent here of the original “Turtles” comics – that differentiates it from your average super-slick Pixar movie or even past “TMNT” projects. The look of the mutant animals is plenty spiffy, and Rowe went deep into the lore for his A-list voice crew: Rogen and John Cena play the duo of warthog Bebop and rhino Rocksteady, Rose Byrne is toothy Australian gator Leatherhead, Post Malone cameos as silky-singing manta Ray Fillet and Paul Rudd is the scene-stealing Mondo Gecko.

There is a strong nostalgia element with the turtles, considering they were akin to Batman and Superman for those who grew up in the 1980s and '90s. But chances are, most folks don’t know any of the actors voicing the main turtles, and that’s the special sauce in “Mutant Mayhem.” Comical Mikey, super-smart Donnie, hotheaded Raph and leader Leo exude an irrepressible youthfulness and playful spirit that appeal both to hardcore fans who grew up with the old movies (and that terrible Vanilla Ice song) as well as the kids getting an intro thanks to the best "Turtles" outing in decades.