TMNT 25th Anniversary DVD Box Set Review

In case you haven’t noticed, this year is the 25th Anniversary of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Mirage is celebrating by releasing as much stuff for my fellow fanboys and I to buy as possible. We’ve seen the re-release of the classic TMNT action figures, video games, and more, and now we get new box sets of all the TMNT movies.

Warner Bros. sent me a copy of the standard DVD set, which you can pick up here, and that is what I will be reviewing, but remember, the films are also now available in high definition for the first time with the TMNT Blu-ray box set. Our good friend The Retroist reviewed that set a few days ago.

The video and audio for the first three films are noticeably improved from their last incarnations on DVD. Although I haven’t seen the Blu-ray set (should arrive soon!), I’m glad I have the new standard DVDs. The set includes:

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie (1990)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Secret of the Ooze (1991)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: Turtles in Time (1993)
• TMNT (2007)

I can honestly say that the first TMNT movie is one of my favorite movies of all time, and that’s not just because of nostalgia. I’ve re-watched it many times to make sure I’m not kidding myself, and every time I watch it I’m reminded of how amazing it is. Think of the landscape in 1990. The Turtles were everywhere, had been on TV for three years, and had permanently placed a stake in pop culture worldwide. Who could have predicted that the first movie based on the franchise would actually be awesome? I guess the reason I love the first film so much is because it is a lot better than it needed to be.

But I digress (I could write a thesis on the first film, and probably will some day), what about the extras? Well, unfortunately, there aren’t a whole lot of extras to be had on the first three discs. I was hoping we would get some cool retrospective documentaries about the films and Turtlemania in general, but instead there are trailers and some previews for the upcoming video games.

In this set, the discs are housed in a cool TMNT wallet that looks like a sewer cover. This is kind of a bummer for people who are neat-freaks about their DVD collection, but then again, that’s why it comes in a box. They also thew in some temporary tattoos and a complete set of TMNT Ninja Masks. Now, I didn’t expect these masks to fit on my head, so I was pleasantly surprised to open it up and see they’re fanboy-sized.

They’re so awesome I had to take an embarrassing picture of myself.

Are you a TMNT fan? Then head over to Amazon or your favorite local retailer and buy it today!