There have been several attempts in movie history to bring theTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesout of the comic panels and onto the silver screen, and while one 90s classic had an excellent run accumulating a trilogy, others seemed like poor cash grabs to the fans.
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is the latest reboot to have a swing at adapting the treasured material created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, and it’s been met with an overwhelmingly positive response—but how does it compare to the other entries? Here is every TMNT movie ranked.
10Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows (2016)
If we could combine two movies at the bottom for joint last place, it would be the Michael Bay-produced Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles attempt, as they are equally hard to watch. Out of the Shadows performed worse at the box office and introduced fan-favorite villains Bebop and Rocksteady as CGI abominations and Tyler Perry asBaxter Stockman, which is an odd casting choice.
Laura Linney’s performance as NYPD Chief Vincent was the only saving grace to ground the cash-grab production with a bombastic story served up for titillation. The fact that no trilogy came from the sequel speaks for itself. Therefore, it’s best this reboot was left in the sewers.
9Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)
One of the many issues with Jonathan Liebesman’s reboot is the Turtles’ terrible design, attempting to make the heroes in a half-shell look more human and considerably older (not teenage), which failed miserably. The glaring miscasting of Megan Fox as an objectified April O’Neil contributed to the film’s tacky nature, but similar to Laura Linney, William Fichtner’s villain was the best component at a push.
Shredder’s design was also clearly influenced by Bay’s Transformers days, and it became clear very quickly that this reboot didn’t care too much for the source material. Mix in the adaptation’s struggle to find the right tone and lackluster story, and you’ve effectively got the worst TMNT reboot that deserves to lie at the bottom of this list alongside its sequel.
8Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993)
Now for a healthy dose of nostalgia found in the animatronic 90s Turtles trilogy that ran out of steam towards the end. The third installment dropped during a point of Turtles fatigue in 1993, and a below-par plot turned this feature into the lowest-rated Turtles movie to date—but at least they traveled to feudal Japan.
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Aside from a visually pleasing theatrical poster riffing off the popular Turtles in Time arcadebeat ‘em upwith the tagline “The Turtles Are Back…In Time,” this closing chapter suffered without the late Jim Henson’s Creature Shop piloting the Turtles, therefore, this disappointing conclusion stays in the low ranks.
7TMNT (2007)
The 2007 reboot shared a 3D animation style with Star Wars: Rebels, and the project at least had the original TMNT creators, Eastman and Laird, on the writing team. However, this respectable attempt falls by the wayside of its forgettable villains and failure to deliver an overall punch.
One of the more surprising elements of this reboot is the stacked voice cast, featuring Patrick Stewart, Chris Evans, Nolan North, Kevin Smith, and more, which makes it all the more frustrating that this entry wasn’t a grand success and, therefore, sadly withering away within the lower ranks.
6Rise Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie (2022)
Before Mutant Mayhem dropped in 2023, Netflix had a stab at its own TMNT feature in 2022, designed as the season finale of the Nickelodeon animated series of the same name. The animation style and your tolerance for Ben Schwartz’s voice are entirely subjective in this production, and the significant changes to the Turtles' personalities continue to be controversial in the movie.
Making Raphael the leader over Leonardo and giving the Turtles powers was a considerable departure that divided audiences, but the modern revamp of the IP and visuals combined with the goofy humor won a lot of fans over, but this entry just misses out on the halfway mark for its controversy.
5Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret Of The Ooze (1991)
There’s a lot to admire in the 90s Turtles sequel, The Secret of the Ooze, which not only delivered a stunning finale with Super Shredder and featured Vanilla Ice’s Go Ninja track but also managed to hold its own as a follow-up feature.
The prosthetics were on par with the debut; however, a number of jokes failed to nail the superhero landing, and many fans thought it was slightly too goofy. Additionally, they replaced Bepop and Rocksteady with Rahzar and Tokka, which was a weird choice, but it’s a solid entry to earn a middle ranking on this list.
4Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)
One year prior, director Steve Barron partnered with the late Jim Henson and utilized his Creature Shop in order to bring the Turtles to life, and at the time, this was the only way to bring these heroes to life and make them believable in live-action.
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This debut set a gritty precedent that the sequel steered away from, but it also delivered exhilarating action sequences albeit rife with camp 90s fun. It has a special place in the hearts of fans, making it a worthy fourth-place entry on this list and a wonderful tribute to the work of Jim Henson.
3Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023)
The recently released Mutant Mayhem takes third place in the ranks for its ability to juggle a heartfelt story, silly humor that’s sneakily hilarious, and an eye-catching animation style reminiscent of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
With excellent pacing combined with a host of TMNT villains,including Leatherhead, from the comics and a number of pop culture references to keep you on your toes, Mutant Mayhem is a stellar entry into the live-action franchise that honors the theme of family and belonging that is imperative to the IP and teases more to come—we’ll keep our fingers crossed.
2Turtles Forever (2009)
Marvel and DC are leaning heavily into their multiverse eras within live-action, but the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles first did it in the 2009 made-for-TV animated feature. Released to celebrate the franchise’s 25th anniversary, Turtles Forever saw the original 1987 animated heroes meet the versions from the 4Kids 2003 series and the comic-book variants too.
Portals opening to create a mega-crossover between character variants is messy on paper, but Turtles Forever actually pulls it off to deliver a meta smorgasbord for fans of all ages to gawk over, and its ability to deliver such a spectacle on a low budget earns it a second place on this list.
1Batman Vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2019)
Taking first place is the 2019 crossover animation Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which is every comic-book fan’s dream. Released as a direct-to-video feature, the animation adapts the popular comic series between DC Comics and IDW Publishing with a darker tone and animation style that finally sees the Turtles don (and keep) their menacing white eyes within a movie.
The Turtles not only battle Batman—voiced by The Last of Us’ Troy Baker with an eerie resemblance to Kevin Conroy—but they also team up with the Dark Knight to take down Shredder. With slick animation, a tight script, and a classic story that’s well executed, this is the best TMNT movie in our minds.
