“Annecy 2023 saw a work-in-progress screening of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem met with a standing ovation. The footage, a mix between completed animation and unrendered CG, promised a charming journey with the ninja turtles while showcasing the painterly, off-kilter art style that was met with an outpouring of praise upon the release of the film’s trailer.“
“One of the film’s producers, Ramsay McBean, worked on the side of animation vendor Mikros, who Nickelodeon hired to help on the film. McBean carried with him a passion for artistry which matched that of Rowe, their goal of having a unique-looking film aligning. “I know that the team that Mikros, we all had the attitude of like, ‘you give us a painting, we’re going to make your painting move,’ like, we’re not going to try and like make it look like the CG version of your painting, we’re going to make your painting.”
“That ability to stay true to the intent of the original artist allowed for a harmonious production between Ramsay’s team at Mikros and the team assembled by Rowe, which included alumni from his co-directing effort, The Mitchells vs. The Machines. Rowe spoke about becoming more confident after his experience on Mitchells, “I think on Mitchells, we were a little bit timid because we were first time directors. We were like, ‘Are we sure we wanna put a line around these characters?’ going into this film, I was like, ‘there will be lines on the characters, there’ll be lines around the characters, I’m not going to ask permission.’”
