As art it was terrible but the pre-teens loved it: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, reviewed  

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) began as a joke in 1984, a parody of the superhero culture of the time. It was originally a comic book but the stories have since expanded into toys, TV series and films, both animations and acted. The films have grossed more than a billion dollars and are likely to go on grossing down the generations of pre- and early teens. I am telling you all this because I have only just found out and I have never before seen any other TMNT products.

The latest – Mutant Mayhem – is an animated film. It is drawn in a style that suggests the animators were angry as they worked, perhaps because it is set, like all the stories, in an extremely dangerous New York City.

The turtles – Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello and Raphael – mutated into garrulous and ultra-violent teenagers after contact with something slimy in the city’s sewers. They speak a mix of the LA dialects of Surfer and Valley – kowabunga, their battle cry, is pure Surfer – and they have become earnest young defenders of all that is good in their city. Unfortunately quite a lot that is bad in the city also seems to mutate and the teens’ goal here is to defeat Superfly (voiced by rapper Ice Cube), who has mutated, first into a big vicious insect and then into a huge vicious insect.

From a mutant’s perspective, Superfly isn’t all bad, he is just on the hard right. Sure, he wants to exterminate all humans, but only to make a better world for mutants. He doesn’t understand why all mutants don’t agree. The turtles are soft left; they think they can make a deal with humanity and live together in peace.

This is, in fact, a back story.