Cloves and Fedoras is Seed Sings reviews for little known pieces of pop culture (or older pieces).  Feel free to contact us with your own submissions of undiscovered gems that must be known. 

As a kid, I loved the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

I mean I was obsessed. I had all the action figures and the toys attached with the action figures. Hell, I even had a Ninja Turtle back pack at some point during elementary school. You all know who I'm talking about when I talk about the Turtles. Leonardo, my favorite and the responsible one of the group, Michaelangelo, the prankster of the group, Donatello, the smart, engineer and inventor of the group and Raphael, the strong, bad boy loner of the group (ed note: What about my favorite - Splinter the Yoda like rat). As I got older, I, as most adults do, lost interest in "kid" things and my passions turned to sports and girls. It's kind of sad when I think about it now.  

The other day I was shopping for stuff at Target and I saw the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. The one from the 1990(pre-Vanilla Ice). I continued to shop, but going through the aisles all I could think about was buying the DVD. The inner child in me was beginning to come out and my passion for the Turtles was returning! The movie was only five dollars to boot. It definitely helps that I'm a father to a three year old boy that is now equally, if not more, obsessed with the Ninja Turtles. He and I were equally excited when I grabbed the DVD, showed it to my wife and proclaimed, "WE ARE BUYING THIS!" She was very happy as well. She is also a fan of the Ninja Turtles, I guess I married the right woman. So, first goal is achieved, myself, my wife and my son are all on board, excited and we purchase the movie. Next my wife and I decide we will watch it that night to see if it's appropriate for our son to watch. But, I was secretly concerned that it may not hold up and not only will it not be good for my child to watch, but adult me may not like it as much as kid me. This was a very big concern.

I'm here to tell you, if you were a fan as a kid and are now in your thirties, this movie 100 percent holds up. It's so damn good. I was as intrigued now as I was when I was a little kid. What made it even better, I actually understood the jokes and references the directors put in the movie for the adults. I also was able to spot a young Sam Rockwell playing a thug that sells cigarettes. I was pleased watching the movie remembering how dark it was. In the comics, the Ninja Turtles are put in many adult situations and they handle those in adult ways. The movie is pretty kid friendly, but some of the fight scenes are pretty brutal, with the Turtles and the Foot Clan taking some big time beatings. There is a whole scene where Raph gets his butt kicked by the Foot Clan and he takes a good beating. So bad in fact that Leonardo is relieved when Raph wakes up. Implying that Leo was worried that his friend may not wake up. That's dark for a kids movie. Casey Jones was pretty bad ass as well. He still had his patented goalie stick and Jason face mask and the writers of the movie decided to give him a baseball bat as well. He is also a super impressive fighter too. The fight scene when Raph runs into him in the park is really cool. The fact they made it look that real in a movie made in 1990 is pretty fantastic. April O'Neil was pretty cool in the movie too. She was an independent, funny journalist, who no matter what the circumstance, be it her house getting destroyed during a fight between the Foot Clan and Turtles, or her losing her job, she always stayed on the Turtles side and was happy and eager to help them. Splinter was classic Splinter. He treats the Turtles as if they're his children, which if you think about it they really are, and he just wants them to be safe. Shredder is pretty terrifying as well. He's very ominous and even captures and tortures Splinter early on in the movie. See what I'm saying when I say it's dark. This was everything I remember it being, but means so much more to me now. I still haven't shown it to my son yet being that it is pretty dark, but in a year or two I will show it to him. This was more for my wife and I. We were both very into it, so into it we didn't even play on our phones or chit chat during it, we just watched it.

Don't watch the new, terrible Michael Bay produced TMNT, watch the original from the nineties. You will not be disappointed.

Ty 

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for Seed Sing.  He is one man with one love for early nineties superhero films and needs people to help him cover pop culture. Write for Seed Sing.

Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik