As one of the most aggressively marketed franchises in pop culture history, it’s no surprise that so much of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has been absorbed by mass audiences (hey, you learn four key things about them in their name alone). The rambunctious, obnoxious scientific oddities have appeared in loads of different iterations since their stylized, pulpy debut in Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman’s comics in 1984—and you can trace both the shifting tastes in the turtles’ young target audience as well as the desperation of those marketing them.
From their cinematic debut in 1990 all the way to their new Spider-Verse-inspired animated outing in Mutant Mayhem, Raphael, Leonardo, Donatello and Michelangelo (note: are the Turtles Italian-American?) have spent their 11 feature films trying to juggle their kiddy audience with the brooding, brutal (if tongue-in-cheek) vibes of the comics. Of course, their films have always been tied up with their relentless commercial appeal, which means there are plenty of incredibly janky and dated outings. But while no Ninja Turtle movie may be Oscar-worthy, they all manage to offer something the others don’t.
Between cartoon specials, animated features, and attempts at bringing the Turtles into the real world, trying to assess the highs and lows of TMNT films is like trying to devour a 20” New York cheese pizza without the mutated metabolism of a teenage reptile. Nevertheless, cowabunga we must!
Here is every Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, ranked:
11. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993)
Popular consensus may place this third live-action entry higher than The Secret of the Ooze, but the narrative and aesthetic cheapness of this film (sometimes called Turtles in Time) sinks it lower on this list. The Turtles are sent back in time to feudal Japan, where they find themselves neck-deep in a lazy daimyō conflict that challenges you to be entertained. It’s also not impossible to feature no recognizable Turtles characters as villains, but this one suffers hugely from it. No film on this list gives bigger “not theatrically released” energy, despite a) four other entries being non-theatrical releases and b) this film actually was released in theaters. It’s clear by 1994 that Turtle Fever was cooling.
10. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016)
For some reason, this 2016 sequel was received more positively than the 2014 version—but muted box office returns killed this franchise cold. This film reeks of studio anxiety to shove in as many franchise favorites as possible—Stephen Amell’s Casey Jones, Tyler Perry as mad scientist Baxter Stockman, not to mention villains Krang, Bebop and Rocksteady… it’s not just pandering to anyone with a passing knowledge of the turtles, it’s as cluttered and pandering as people feared from a Michael Bay-produced Turtles reboot. It’s wild how hard it is to pay attention to anything in a movie this busy.
9. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (1991)
A complete cultural oddity of seismic proportions, The Secret of the Ooze personifies the ultimate endpoint of capitalist zeitgeists—something hyper-designed at every stage for its dumb kid audience that appeals to them in no way. The first installment’s earnest emotions and refreshing edge have been sanded down; in some cases, established TMNT characters are substituted for original babyish versions that make it clear how little the film respects its audience. The humor is nauseating, and the cringy, shrill pantomime of many sequences might as well have question marks superimposed on the screen. At the same time, it remains fascinating stuff—a commercial that ends up promoting only the conservative consumerism of ‘90s America. Vanilla Ice gives the only tonally correct performance. This is also the funniest possible film to be dedicated to Jim Henson’s memory.
8. TMNT (2007)
The first theatrically-released Turtles outing in 14 years upscaled them to 3D animation, even though the results suggest that maybe they shouldn’t have. By far the ugliest film on this list, it’s worth noting for taking the Turtles as seriously as they ever have been; a post-Shredder New York sees Leonardo and Raphael competing to see who can be the most jaded and angsty as they explore vigilante life without their brothers’ help. But it’s a chore getting invested in the story of an immortal warrior unleashing ancient monsters on the city. Mutant Mayhem is a much stronger animated Turtles film that features original villains.
7. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)
A lot of fans expressed outrage at the Michael Bay-ification of their beloved turtles, a strange complaint since the franchise has always reinvented itself to shamelessly cater to the younger generation’s shifting tastes. (Okay, yes, the Turtles’ design is hideous.) For what it’s worth, this live-action/CGI hybrid is actually pretty fun, with gonzo, flashy action sequences and fun, if near-constant turtle banter. Even Megan Fox works as plucky reporter April O’Neil. Sure, the reveal that the Turtles were April’s pets that her scientist dad experimented on is lame, but nearly a decade on, we can get a bit nostalgic over the super-serious “everything’s about destiny” blockbuster trope that was so popular back in the day (shoutout to The Amazing Spider-Man).
6. Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2019)
There was a time when DC’s animated output was regarded as superior to their live-action counterparts, but by 2019, the stilted animation and unchallenging storytelling meant that an adaptation of your favorite Batman run was guaranteed to not live up to the hype. Not that we’d ever accuse Warner Bros. of being cheap. Thankfully, this comic book crossover could never be mistaken for high art, and largely scratches that childish itch of making your action figures all play with each other. What if Batman fought Shredder? What if Oracle met Donatello? What if Alfred ate pizza? These pressing questions and more are confidently answered in a film that knows what to play straight and what to have fun with.
5. Turtles Forever (2009)
This made-for-TV movie commemorated the 25th anniversary of the Turtles in a very prescient way: By having the different iterations of the characters cross over in a multiversal adventure. The Turtles from the 2003 cartoon collaborated with those from the ‘86 film, and honestly it’s really charming to do this universe’s No Way Home, but without it costing hundreds of millions of dollars or the film pausing every two minutes for applause. There’s a sincerity and sweetness here that proves it’s possible to do nostalgic fan-service without it feeling like a soulless corporate ghoul. Plus, the last act takes place in the hyper-stylized black-and-white world of Laird and Eastman’s comics, a retro callback that deserves its own opening night live reaction video.
4. Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie (2022)
This film capped off a two-season animated reimagining that was the most recent TV version of the Turtles but also the least well-known. The show’s voice cast, including Ben Schwartz and Omar Miller, reprise their roles from the series, adding Haley Joel Osment as the hockey mask-wearing vigilante ally Casey Jones—this time, he’s a warrior from a wartorn future where the Turtles lead the charge against the evil alien Krang, and he travels back in time to help the Turtles stop his future from every happening. It’s a sparky, exciting watch with gorgeous 2D animation and compelling character work, even if the story reaches too hard for its emotional beats.
3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Coming Out of their Shells Tour (1990)
This is as high up the list as we could in all honestly push it. In a just world, it would be at number one. Fresh off the hype of the first live-action film, the Turtles went on a live music tour across the country from 1990-91 (why?!), and the VHS-released concert recording it got doesn’t just reveal how disastrous the idea was, but is a lasting testament to cinema de jank. It’s embarrassing at every single stage: The songs are completely disposable, the atmosphere in the theater seems insufferable, and if you’re tuned into the millions of tiny ways live performance can go wrong, it’s a treat from start to finish. Do you like people in suffocating costumes trying to dance in time with dubbed voices that never stop screaming? This concert film doesn’t care, you’re getting it anyway. It’s hard to take your eyes off the screen even though every fiber of your being is begging you to look away; in its atrociousness, the film captures the ridiculousness of the franchise like no other. Shredder roasting six-year-olds in the audience may be the best incarnation of the character.
2. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023)
The newest, freshest, and definitely-not-greenlit-in-the-wake-of-Spider-Verse Turtles boasts gorgeously stylized animation and, for the first time in forever, a dynamic between the Turtles that doesn’t just make them feel like brothers, but actual teenagers. It helps that they’re voiced by actors actually in their teens, but the Seth Rogen-written and produced film benefits from prioritizing the teasing, pranking and obnoxious nature of the Turtles’ bond, filtering their emotional anxieties and dreams through their home life (Jackie Chan is a top 3 Splinter) and the villains they have to fight: A community of similarly mutated animals with a vendetta against the humans who won’t accept them. It’s thrilling, sweet and silly stuff, marred only by the choice to make the Turtles as Gen Z teen as possible, meaning there’s a lot of TikTok-era humor that calls attention to itself a few degrees too eagerly. Still, it’s difficult for Mutant Mayhem not to make you giddy with childish glee.
1. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)
There’s no way of trying to explain that this film honors the stylized grit of the original comics without sounding like a giant baby, but the first time the Turtles made it onto the big screen remains a highlight of the franchise. The film takes seriously whatever it can, and leans into the goofiness of everything it can’t—beneath the lumbering but impressive Jim Henson animatronics and corny surfer-bro humor, there’s a real sense of the brothers as individually personified characters. What’s more, the care and affection they feel for their fellow rubber-clad siblings feels really sincere, something made clear in a brilliant retreat the Turtles take to an isolated farm after a costly defeat. Shredder, with his orphanage of wayward children indoctrinated into ninja-hood, benefits from being a lot less cartoony than he had been before/will be in the future. And Splinter’s a big puppet rat! This Ninja Turtles film gets a prize for being as good as it could be at the time it was made, and reminds us that the ‘90s may be the era that the Turtles were born to thrive in.
Rory Doherty is a screenwriter, playwright and culture writer based in Edinburgh, Scotland. You can follow his thoughts about all things stories @roryhasopinions.