Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

A quartet of humanoid turtles, trained by their mentor in Ninjutsu, must learn to work together to face the menace of Shredder and the Foot Clan.

Critics in 1990 were sharply divided, with some finding it harmless, unpretentious fun and others dismissing it as a personality-free slog — the Jim Henson creature work being nearly the only thing everyone agreed on. A persistent undercurrent in the original reviews was discomfort with the film's treatment of its Asian villains, a conversation that split critics right down the middle. Audiences, particularly younger ones, have always rated it more warmly than the press.