After the success of the first two films, one only wonders why did they come up with a third installment involving time travel. What could have been a great adventure for the heroes in a half-shell somewhat is marred despite the return of a cast member from the first film.
After the demise of their arch nemesis the Shredder and the Foot Clan, the Turtles live quietly in their subterranean home in New York, dancing and practicing their martial arts skills. Raphael (Matt Hill) has a problem that he feels after all the hard work they have accomplished, they should get some sort of recognition. Meanwhile, their good friend April O’Neil (Paige Turco) has finally gotten some well-deserved vacation time and sends the team gifts from the flea market.
She offers to give their mentor Splinter (James Murray) a rare object that could be from ancient Japan. Little does April and the Turtles realize that the scepter is actually a time travel device. The film tends to cross cut from there from modern day New York to 1609 Japan. A war has broken out in Japan involving Lord Norinaga (Sab Shimono), who has allied himself with a band of British pirates led by Walker (Stuart Wilson). Norinaga’s son Kenshin (Henry Hayashi) opposes his father’s war and allies himself with a local village woman, Mitsu (Vivian Wu). Soon, Kenshin and April’s worlds are turned upside down as the scepters transport each of them to New York and Japan.
Shocked by the actions, the Turtles soon realize that they must rescue April by time traveling to feudal Japan. They find someone to watch Splinter in the form of good ol’ vigilante friend Casey Jones (Elias Koteas). The Turtles, however, learn that to transport to Japan, they must find four people from Japan who have the same weight as the Turtles. Eventually, four of Norinaga’s men are chosen to take the Turtles place and end up in New York with Casey, Splinter, and Norinaga.
Once the Turtles arrive in Japan, they find themselves turned into samurai warriors. However, when Michaelangelo (David Fraser) is knocked out by Mitsu, the other three set out to find him only to end up helping Mitsu’s village. Soon, the Turtles are welcomed by Mitsu and her younger brother Yoshi (Travis A. Moon). Meanwhile, after rescuing April, who meets the mysterious Whit (Elias Koteas), a man who may or may not be working for Walker, the Turtles must find a way to stop Norinaga and Walker as well as find a way back to New York City before the time limit expires.
After the monster success of TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (1990) and its 1991 sequel, THE SECRET OF THE OOZE, that capitalized on the classic rivalry between the “heroes in a half-shell” and their arch-nemesis, the Shredder. Now that the Shredder is history, enter Stuart Gillard, who wrote and directed this third and final installment of the trilogy with bringing the Turtles through time. Perhaps he was influenced by the video game TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: TURTLES IN TIME, which was released around the same time as the second film.
Despite the return of Casey Jones, who proved to be a vital character in the first place, Elias Koteas doesn’t have much to work with except playing babysitter to four warriors and a prince. Perhaps this could be why he would end up playing dual roles, the second being Whit, a mysterious man who apparently has ties to the one of the villains of the film but changes sides due to some feelings for April, played by Paige Turco.
The other big change in the film comes in the forms of the Turtles. This time, the creature effects are done by Eric Allred and Rick Stratton, replacing Jim Henson Studios. They look completely different this time around but that’s not to say they still can’t fight well. In fact, their opening scene involves them dancing and training with Larry Lam as Leonardo doing an impressive combination of katana-wielding and superkicking with Ho Sung Pak doing some great forms as Raphael, Steven Ho doing some staff work as Donatello, and Allan Shishir Inocalla using the nunchakus as Michaelangelo.
The supporting characters aside from April, Casey, and Splinter just don’t really seem to mesh well as with the previous installments but do the best of their abilities. Walker is reminiscent of the villain from THE LEGEND OF ZORRO (1998) and it is no surprise that both villains are played by the same actor, Stuart Wilson. Meanwhile, Norinaga, well played by Sab Shimono (3 NINJAS KICK BACK), finds himself at first evil but then conflicted when he learns of his son’s disappearance and intentions. As for Vivian Wu’s Mitsu, she is tough and brash yet when it comes to Kenshin, feels nothing but love for him.
Once again Pat E. Johnson takes over as fight choreographer and while he makes good use of the martial arts skills of the fight doubles, there are technical advisers that must be noted as they helped bring the Hong Kong element as with the first film. Technical advisers from the film were David Lai and the legendary Lau Kar-Leung, who also worked together on OPERATION SCORPIO (1992) for Golden Harvest.
It must be the fact that the whole Shredder angle is wiped out and the time travel thing is somewhat cliched, but TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES III just seems to somewhat lack the magic of the first two films. However, it still is quite watchable and all around fun for the kids and martial arts fans.
feudal Japan • samurai • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993) • time travel • war
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