ABBREVIATED to TMNT (presumably because the lead characters must now be Twenty-Something Mutant Ninja Turtles), Kevin Munroe's computer-animated romp drags the heroes in a half-shell kicking and "dude"-ing into the 21st century.

Fans of the original series will be in raptures: the new film remains faithful to the legend of the four brothers - each with a distinctive personality and coloured eye-mask - and their wily rat mentor, and in the closing frames, writer-director Munroe signals a clear intent to resurrect arch-nemesis The Shredder in a sequel.

"Soon, we will have business that involves familiar faces from your past," teasingly remarks Karai (voiced by Ziyi), leader of the mysterious Foot Clan.

Action sequences are orchestrated at breakneck pace, whether it be Mikey skateboarding loop-the-loops down a sewer pipe, or the four turtles somersaulting into battle against a monstrous, snarling beastie from another dimension.

The script promotes the age-old mantras about unity and co-operation.

So when one of the turtles is abducted, a plucky sibling rouses the team by declaring: "I know what we're gonna do: we're gonna rescue our brother and then save New York City!"

TMNT is fast-paced fun, especially for younger audiences, with Mikey providing most of the humour, surmising that a 3,000-year-old alignment of the stars, which unleashes hell on earth, is "like Haley's Comet... only monsters come out."

The visuals are polished although not jaw-dropping, and only a couple of action set pieces, like a huge battle, make the most of the big screen format.

Vocal performances are solid but poor Donatello serves no dramatic purpose, included presumably for the sake of maintaining the original line-up.

And that's turtley weak.

  • See it at the Empire and Odeon.