Animation film “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” is probably the best theatrical movie version from the comic series created by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman. Considering how all those previous feature films were forgettable or dreadful, that is not much of an achievement in my inconsequential opinion, but the movie is mildly entertaining at least, while also occasionally taking me back to my old memories associated with the franchise.

The best thing about the film is how it distinguishes itself to considerable degrees via the stylish freedom via its deliberately rough but undeniably striking animation style. Mainly thanks to this visual setting of the film, our mutant turtle characters look far less grotesque compared to the hideous live-action CG figure versions in “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” (2014) and the following 2016 film (I do not know why their ungainly appearances are still associated with the current Boston Globe critic Odie Henderson in my mind, by the way), and they and many other characters in the story are depicted with much more spirit and style than before.

The story, written by director/co-producer/co-writer Jeff Rowe and his several co-writers including Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, is your average superhero original tale. A certain mysterious radioactive material developed by a mad scientist voiced by Giancarlo Esposito is leaked into the sewer system of the New York City, and four little turtles and a rat are turned into humanoids after getting exposed to this radioactive material by accident. Under the wise guidance of the rat, named Splinter (voiced by Jackie Chan), these four turtles, Leonardo (voiced by Nicholas Cantu), Raphael (voiced by Barry Noon), Michelangelo (voiced by Shamon Brown Jr.), and Donatello (voiced by Micah Abbey), become plucky adolescent ninja warriors eager to experience the world outside, but that is the last thing Splinter wants for understandable reasons.

Having been rather bored with their routine night missions mainly involved with getting groceries (After all, they all get to eat, don’t they?), the turtles is quite excited when they happen to across a chance to be recognized as heroes. While they are having a little time for fun outside, they see an aspiring high school student named April O’Neil (voiced by Ayo Edebiri) having a trouble with some street criminals, and that is how they come to demonstrate their particular set of skills much more than before, though they are rather clumsy during the first combat in their life.

Anyway, this incident leads the turtles and April to a secret plan of a mysterious criminal mastermind named Superfly (voiced by Ice Cube), and April cannot help but thrilled about this as a girl still aspiring to be recognized as a journalist despite a very humiliating public incident caused by the anxiety problem she still has to overcome even at present. Despite the difference between her and the turtles, it does not take much time for her to befriend them, and Leonard comes to have a little crush on her to his colleagues’ amusement (Don’t ask me about how that is possible despite their apparent species difference).

During the rest of the story, the film relentlessly throws lots of gags and actions into the plot. Around the narrative point where the turtles finally confront that mysterious criminal mastermind, the film introduces more mutant humanoid characters, and it surely has some fun with juggling these many various figures, though the result feels rather superficial as these figures remain no more than mere plot elements even during the last act. While things get a bit more interesting as the turtles become conflicted a bit on matters of acceptance and freedom, but that is quickly discarded in the end as the film goes for more action instead of more depth.

The climactic action sequence of the film is mostly exciting while making some reference on those Godzilla flicks, and it is also more effective than many of recent passable Hollywood blockbuster products such as “Fast X” (2023), but the film still trudges due to its weak story and thin characterization. Although they are respectively imbued with some broad personal quality, our turtle characters do not have much personality beyond that, and they are marginally distinguishable from each other mainly due to the different colors of their headbands. As a result, they are occasionally overshadowed by more colorful characters in the story including April and Splinter, and we can only hope that there will be more character development in the possible sequel to follow.

At least, Micah Abbey, Shamon Brown Jr., Nicolas Cantu, and Brady Noon are believable with the youthful spirit of their voice acting, and a bunch of notable performers ranging from John Cena to Paul Rudd are solid in their respective supporting roles. While Jackie Chan certainly brings a bit of his familiar movie image to his rodent master character, Ayo Edebiri, who has been more notable thanks to her Emmy-nominated supporting turn in TV comedy series “The Beart”, is likable as required, and Ice Cube surely savors every nasty moment of his as the main villain of the story.

On the whole, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” is a bit better than expected, but it also feels like a mediocre warm-up exercise while also being two or three steps below “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” (2023), which is incidentally one of the best animation films of this year. I was not bored, but the film could do better, and I sincerely hope that the turtles will impress and engage me more in next time.