Looking back, TMNT 2 and TMNT 3 couldn't compair with the original. And it took them till 2007 to make a TMNT film really work as well as the first one. I blame Vanilla Ice for the second one.
Oh absolutely! The first TMNT was brilliant; it was funny and suprisingly touching, emotional and intense. You really felt the the Turtles' pain when they lost Splinter and Raphael's internal struggle. And I liked Corey Feldman's Donatello, lol. Sort of a weird combination of brains and insanity. I mean, who could forget the immortal:
"Awesome!"
"Righteous!"
"Bossanova!"
"Huh?....huh? Bossanova?"
"Chevynova?"
"No...."
"Uh...Excellent!"
"Yeah! Pizza, I need it!"
At the time my favorite Turtle was Michaelangelo, loved every single line he had:
"But no anchovies! And I mean NO anchovies! You put anchovies on this thing and you're in big trouble, alright? !"
Pizza Man (trying to find the Turtles' address): Terriffic, where the heck is 1 22 and an 8?
Michaelangelo (in sewer below): "You're standing on it, dude!"
Btw, little trivia here: The Pizza Guy is the actor inside the Michaelangelo suit. The passenger in the cab Raphael jumps over was the actor in Raphael's suit. The Foot soldier who slaps April is in Donatello's. And one of the gang members is in Leonardo's.
I even love the "Turtle Power" song at the end over the credits (and that 9.95 song that comes after, very 80s/early 90s). Though, I can't forgive this one little error:
"Leonardo, Michaelangelo, and Donatello. Head up the group with one other fellow, Raphael, he's the leader of the group, transformed from the norm by the mutagen goop!"
Look, I know it rhymes, but Raphael was NOT the leader of the group!
The 2nd film was OK, but just a little silly sequal (and Corey Feldman wasn't in it, which disapointed me, lol. Don't do drugs.). And yeah...Vanilla Ice...
"Yo yo, they're the green machine, gonna rock the town without being seen. Have you ever seen a turtle get down?...Go Ninja, Go Ninja, Go!"
LOL, and when the Turtles suddenly stop fighting and broke into amazingly well choreographed dance...yeah...just silly...
The 3rd was pretty dreadful, just wasn't well written. One of the few positives was the return of Casey Jones!