Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III

• Written and Directed by Stuart Gillard
• March 19, 1993 (US)
• Based on Characters created by Kevin Eastman     

An ancient scepter found at a flea market transports the Turtles back to feudal Japan. Happens all the time.

Unlike today, sequels of the past could be standalone efforts whose plot did not rely on events of the predecessor. This was only a few short years ago. While it doesn’t continue any stories begun in the first two films it also does little to grow the Turtles’ narrative. It’s just a one-off adventure with all the narrative impact to the characters of a 90’s one-shot comic.

As such Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III is a consequence free story for all involved that really has no impact on the existence of any of the characters. Not every story needs to be fate of the world. The story just needs to impact the world of the characters’ world. This just does not quite get there on any level.

Casey Jones (Elias Koteas) returns for this film having been totally forgotten about in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze. And weirdly he returns as if he wasn’t missing at all. Elias Koteas also does double duty in this as a character named Whit in feudal Japan, who turns out to be a spy but a spy with a bit of a conscience.

Elias Koteas as Casey Jones looks like he’s struggling to give a good performance because he has no idea why he’s there. Sometimes an actor’s dislike for a part comes across on screen and I am 90% sure what he’s doing here is transmitting his dislike. However, as Whit he’s rather into it. Not throwing himself full throttle into the part but he’s certainly liking it more than what he has to do as Casey Jones.

April O’Neil (Paige Turco) is a bigger factor in the film, but aside from being an excuse for the Turtles to willingly travel back in time, she doesn’t do too much. Much like the last story I think April could’ve been completely uninvolved in the narrative. It wouldn’t have taken too much for the Turtles themselves to be accidentally sent back rather than her initially.

I was waiting for April to scream “You can’t do this to me! I’m an American.” For those of you who don’t know that was a cliché line from a great many movies and TV shows during the 80s. She is no damsel in distress but rather a complainer in chief.

Our overall villain of the story is a Westerner named Walker (Stuart Wilson) who is really not even behind any of the issues that the commoners have with Lord Norinaga (Sab Shimono) but Walker is the baddie. I am not even sure why the people are pissed with Lord Norinaga. I know he is upset with his son Kenshin (Henry Hayashi) who is in love with the rebel leader Mitsu (Vivian Wu). They talk as if that romance is an important element but it amounts to little.

Walker is a good villain though during the finale he gets goofy as he develops an obsession with this bird he must flee the scene with. For the most part though he is cold and clinical in a way that is in opposition to much of the film. Just this side of twirling a moustache with a damsel tied to a train track.

The scepter when it switched the Turtles brought individuals from the past to the future leading to some stuff in the present. The story in the present is certainly a sub story just for scenes of those from the past reacting to the future. The main story is most certainly the past story. The problem is that the future stuff doesn’t really parallel or enlighten anything going on in the past other than a few moments of lover boy being desperate to get back to his girlfriend. I thought then and I thought now that they were added to stretch the film out into a theatrical run. 

Despite that this is a fun adventure but it’s a short story really stretched out. And the element that should be the heart which is the romance between the girl and the guy which is creating problems is not the center. It’s more of a side bit.

The directing is good and the dialogue is okay. And the jokes are jokes but not that good. And too often things segue into the goofy. This was aimed at kids but you do not need to talk down to the intended audience. And this does that. Plus characters just are with little reason why making nothing they do individually really matter or stick in your brain.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III is okay but not great. It will entertain but is a weak cap to the original trilogy.