Boom! Swoosh! Zap! Picture yourself attentively watching the animated gang of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo, take part in an exhilarating and adrenaline-filled battle with a foreign alien species. You are left with so many unanswered questions about the details of this battle and why it’s happening. Amongst all of the chaos and fighting, the focus shifts to Leonardo and Casey, who are having an emotional and seemingly important talk about how to put all of this fighting to an end for good. Leonardo decides to use his interdimensional powers to send Casey back in time to prevent this species from taking over. The rest of the plot follows Casey traveling back in time and alongside the turtles, undergoing a series of missions and battles in order to prevent this alien species from dismantling peace on Earth.

Once Casey travels back in time, we learn some important background information that gives us clarity as to what was going on in the first scene. The alien species that Casey and The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were fighting is called “The Krang”, and this group of aliens has a goal of mass destruction. In order to prevent The Krang from rising to power, the gang has to hunt down and destroy a mystical key that would send them back to the prison dimension they had been dwelling in for the past one thousand years.

Something that really captivated me about this film was the excellent examples of teamwork and kindness. In the first part of their mission to defeat The Krang, Raphael, the oldest of the brothers, is taken hostage and the rest of the turtles have to find a way to get him back. Leonardo takes charge of the group and begins to boss everyone around, insisting that his way is the only way. As the fighting with The Krang escalates, Leonardo realizes that the gang needs to work together and take every member’s ideas into consideration in order to be successful.

I would highly recommend “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Rise Of The Turtles” to older children and young adults due to the vital lessons of collaboration and generosity displayed throughout the film. However, I would recommend parental supervision for young children simply due to a few instances of language that some parents may deem as inappropriate