(Photo by Paramount/ courtesy Everett Collection)
All Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movies Ranked
Cowabunga! We’re ranking the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies, starting with the original! The story of Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, Michelangelo, and their sensei Splinter was a hit back in 1990, as audiences were drawn to the movie’s relatively gritty and realistic ninjitsu-practicing half-shelled heroes, in line with the Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird comic book. One year after, at the height of Turtle mania, came sequel Secret of the Ooze, which replaced April O’Neil with a new actress, brought back Shredder, and went to great lengths to tone down the weapon-based violence. One more sequel in 1993 sent the Turtles back in time, a box office under-performer that closed the book on the original movie trilogy.
But the franchise stuck around, through video games, comics, action figures, and numerous television series. Seems like there’s always a market for brash, active reptiles for young people to latch onto. This has led to film revivals throughout the years, including an animated film in 2007, and a Michael Bay-produced reboot in 2014.
The 2D animated movies have seen way more success with critics, like the Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and their crossover with Batman.
In 2023, Seth Rogen creatively steered the series into its first Certified Fresh film: Mutant Mayhem, emphasizing the teenage in TMNT with a Spider-Verse-inspired art style and brash, loud energy.
Now, we’re ranking all the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies by Tomatometer, with Certified Fresh films first! —Alex Vo
95%
100%
79%
46%
38%
35%
36%
20%
19%
