Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze 1991

Gene Siskel, Chicago Tribune: I don't think my negative reaction is a case of a parent forgetting the sort of mindless entertainment that he himself enjoyed as a child; rather the turtle fights are more depressing than joyful. Read more

Dave Kehr, Chicago Tribune: One finds in them the same unabashed enjoyment of color and movement, of spectacular athletics and outrageous stunts, that animates the Hong Kong action cinema as a whole and makes it so superbly entertaining. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Los Angeles Times: More dialogue-heavy and somewhat less frenetic, this sequel is somewhat more to my own taste. Read more

Jay Boyar, Orlando Sentinel: If the new film is considerably less imaginative than your average Punch-and-Judy show, it is, nevertheless, a step up from last year's turtle-fest. Read more

Desmond Ryan, Philadelphia Inquirer: The plot of Turtles II hinges on toxic waste and that turns out to be a pretty accurate description of the film. Read more

Michael Sragow, New Yorker: The artful grunge is gone -- and so's the edge. The whole movie is bright yet colorless Read more

Janet Maslin, New York Times: The Turtles, when not battling Shredder or providing Vanilla Ice with the basis for a rap number, kid around in enjoyable ways. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: One can have a reasonably amusing time with this predictable sequel, which is a bit longer on action and shorter on wit and character than the original. Read more

Steven Rea, Entertainment Weekly: Neither as fun nor as faithful to the spirit of the original comics. It's a bigger, slicker movie, but not a better one. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Today's kids are learning from the Turtles that the world is a sinkhole of radioactive waste, that it's more reassuring to huddle together in sewers than take your chances competing at street level, and that individuality is dangerous. Cowabunga. Read more

Geoff Andrew, Time Out: The bigger budget is a blessing. Read more

Variety Staff, Variety: The murky lighting, uninteresting human characters and violence of the original have been modified in the more amiable sequel, mostly to good effect. Read more

Donna Britt, Washington Post: The second TMNT has enough jokes aimed at adults to make for a relatively painless outing for parents forced to take their kids to see it. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: Didn't seem quite as good as the first -- at least, in terms of reproducing the atmosphere of the original. Read more