ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ

You can't keep a good turtle down: 14 years after their last big screen outing, the teenage mutant ninja turtles are back, rebranded as TMNT and re-envisioned in top-drawer CGI. It's a reboot for the twenty first century - darker, smarter and altogether better looking - that takes its visual inspiration from The Incredibles and pits its heroes in half shells against a crazed industrialist (voiced by Patrick Stewart) who's trying to build an army of ancient monsters.

TMNT picks up the story of the Renaissance-monikered turtles some time after the events of the live action movies. Shredder has been defeated (well, possibly...) and the group has split up. Leonardo's hiding in the jungles of Central America, Donatello runs a tech support hotline, Michelangelo is a kids' entertainer and Raphael has a secret nightlife. Torn apart by brotherly rivalry, the turtles are banned from fighting by sensei Splinter until they can "act as one". It ain't easy being green...

"IMPRESSIVELY CINEMATIC"

Although it lacks the truly adult wit and appeal of The Incredibles, this is far removed from the turtles' cutesy Saturday morning TV 'toon or the lame 90s live-action trilogy (remember Vanilla Ice?). Director Kevin Munroe gives it an impressively cinematic feel, his digital camera zooming between New York tenement buildings or following a breathless fight between Raphael and a mini monster (scored to "Black Betty"). The turtles themselves occasionally look like they're made out of plasticine, but hey it's way better than watching four grown men prance about in rubber shell suits...