After deftly balancing the fun with the serious in the first film, 'Secret of the Ooze' inexplicably regresses into more light-weight, cartoonish fare. If the goal was to increase mass-appeal by once again sanitizing the Turtles, it backfired, as 'TMNT II' made $120 million dollars less globally than its predecessor did just one year earlier.
While the tonal shift is jarring, there are two other key components missing here; 1.) The substitution of sets and sound-stages for actual location shooting, and perhaps most of all, 2.) The lack of Casey Jones. The athletically gifted, but charisma challenged Ernie Reyes Jr. is no substitute for the wise-cracking charm of Elias Koteas.
'Secret of the Ooze' is still blandly amusing at times, but like watered down sequels such as 'Conan the Destroyer' before it, it simply can't touch the original.
While the tonal shift is jarring, there are two other key components missing here; 1.) The substitution of sets and sound-stages for actual location shooting, and perhaps most of all, 2.) The lack of Casey Jones. The athletically gifted, but charisma challenged Ernie Reyes Jr. is no substitute for the wise-cracking charm of Elias Koteas.
'Secret of the Ooze' is still blandly amusing at times, but like watered down sequels such as 'Conan the Destroyer' before it, it simply can't touch the original.