Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (1991)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (1991)

Directed by Michael Pressman | Starring Paige Turco, David Warner, Michelan Sisti, Ernie Reyes Jr., and Vanilla Ice

Cowabunga—this sequel knows exactly what it is, and it doesn’t apologize for it.

I caught this one at our local drive-in’s 35th anniversary screening (shout-out to Kingdom Media Club for putting it together), and with a beautiful sunset as a backdrop producer Kim Dawson gave a Q&A before the movie which really drove home how much heart went into keeping this sequel fun and accessible.

Here’s the thing: if you’re thinking about letting your kids watch this, or if you’re feeling nostalgic yourself, you’re not going to run into anything that’s going to blindside you. The turtles are fighting bad guys, cracking jokes, and being goofy—which is pretty much the whole point. The fight scenes are genuinely well-choreographed and fun to watch. There’s no blood or gore to worry about, no sexual content (just a quick joke with a Michelangelo poster that lands and moves on), and the dialogue is playful without being annoying.

Yeah, you’ll hear some name-calling (“stupid,” “idiot”), and there’s one bit of crude humor, but it’s mild stuff. One character smokes, so that’s worth noting. The action gets a little chaotic when the bad guys tear through the city, but it’s the kind of mayhem that feels like controlled chaos in a superhero movie—not gratuitous.

The acting is deliberately over the top, and the dialogue has puns that land more often than they miss. Michael Pressman directs the whole thing with this self-aware energy that says: “We know this is a movie about talking turtles, so let’s have fun with it.” And they do.

If your kids are 7 or older and you want something that doesn’t require much thinking but delivers genuine entertainment—and honestly, if you want something the whole family can enjoy together without cringing—this is a solid choice. It’s the kind of movie that knows its place and does that place really well.

Available to rent or purchase on Prime (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/4pE2Wmj

🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢 out of 

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Playing with Fire (2019)

I was invited to take part in an exclusive screening event for John Cena's newest movie, Playing with Fire. Starring John Cena, Judy Greer, Keegan Michael Key, and John Leguizamo, this movie is a cute end of fall movie. The casting in this movie was excellent. John Cena plays a great no-nonsense smoke jumper which plays perfectly off Keegan Micahel Key's second-in-command who has the bulk of the humor in this movie. John Leguizamo's character felt quite underdeveloped to me with several quirks left unexplained. The writing was spot-on with what you'd expect from a Nickelodeon movie. The language that was used was no worse than would be adaptable for most 6-year-olds. There was one scene with a picture of a very scantily clad lady in the firehouse bunks that was played for humor, but I felt was quite unnecessary. Also, Mr. Cena spends quite some time showing off his upper body. Nothing out of the ordinary if you used to watch him on WWE, but maybe a little too much skin for a kids' movie. There was also a scene at the beginning of the movie that jokes about infidelity and I thought that was highly uncalled for. There are some scenes of peril so if your child gets scared easily or has an empathic heart, you might want to wait to catch it on Redbox. If you wanted to see Instant Family, but the language kept you away, Playing with Fire should be the next movie you check out! With lots of laughs and almost as much heart, Playing with Fire is a great movie to enjoy with your 2nd graders on up! Enjoy, and see you at the movies!

Overall, I'd give this movie 🔥🔥🔥
                                      out of 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥