I just don’t know.  I don’t know how I feel about Michael Bay in general, and I don’t know how I feel about him ruining, I mean working with one of my childhood favorites.  I loved the Ninja Turtles as a kid.  I mean, I really loved them.  I had as many of the toys as i could get my hands on (I never had a Michelangelo, and that makes me sad still). Raph was always my favorite.  Partially because he was the red one and partially because I was a very angry child.  I probably saw every episode of the cartoon, played every video game and saw at least the first two movies ( I may have outgrown it before number 3 came out).  I even remember there being some kind of Turtles on tour thing where they came and played as a rock band in a bunch of cities throughout the US.  I had the cassette of their music and I even thought it was good.  So, it is safe to say, that at one point, I was a pretty big TMNT fan.  So I get nervous when the idea comes up to reboot this franchise and try to cash in on my childhood.  I get even more nervous when I hear things like Michael Bay planning on not having them be mutant turtles as much as aliens from another planet.  That was an idea being kicked around at one point.  It didn’t work out, thankfully.

When the first trailer came out, I was not impressed.  There was obviously the nose issue, which everyone pointed out.  But, besides that, I just felt like it seemed too much like Transformers, which is a series of movies that I can take or leave.  I just don’t want Michael Bay to give my beloved turtles the Transformers treatment.

The second official trailer just came out this week, and it hasn’t won me over totally, but it does show some potential.  I would say it has moved the movie from the “I don’t ever want to see it. Ever” category and into the “If it was playing in the dollar theatre and I had nothing better to do, I’d watch it” category.  (I should find some categories with shorter names)  The trailer still feels a lot like a Transformers movie, but there are elements of the turtles we love in it, enough to make you wonder if it might be ok.  Plus, the trailer does make fun of the whole alien idea, and they admit it would be stupid.  You see a lot more of the family relationship and the relationship between Shredder and Splinter is hinted at.  Admittedly, Shredder is over the top, but it might work.  I think one thing that endears me to the turtles is that the whole idea is really silly, and it never really takes itself seriously.  So, a giant robotic samurai might fit in fine.  Plus, Will Arnett is one of my favorite screen actors.  He just always does a great job.  I have enjoyed his performances ever since Arrested Development, and I believe that he and Amy Poehler make up one heck of a comedy power couple.  If he is in this movie, it might be the saving grace.  He might be enough to make up for Megan Fox.  Might be.

Anyway, here is the trailer in its entirety.  Enjoy:

I’ll admit something.  I never saw Rise of the Planet of the Apes in the theaters.  Everyone said it was really good and that I would really enjoy it.  I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.  I never cared for the Planet of the Apes series of films. When I was a kid they always just creeped me out.  Not in a scary movie kind of way, but in a “it’s not natural to see talking apes” kind of way.  Then, when I was older, if I tried watching the movies, they just didn’t impress me.  I figured that it must have been something I needed to be into when they first came out to get it. So, when a new Planet of the Apes movie was announced, I wasn’t interested.  I was picturing this:

When it came out on blu ray, we rented it and we really enjoyed.  It was nothing like the old movies and TV series.  The ending obviously left it open for a sequel, or series of sequels.  I mean, the title of the film left it open for a new series of movies, so it was no surprise when the sequel was announce shortly after that and it was rushed into production.  After viewing the film, I joined a lot of fans in wondering what was going to be next for our friend Caesar.  Well, in just a few weeks, we are all going to find out.  The movie opens on July 11.  The first trailer premiered this week and cause quite a bit of buzz, almost as much buzz as the poster at the top of this post caused.

Here is the trailer:

This trailer blew me away.  It was action packed and exciting and a little scary all at the same time.  One thing that really stood out to me was how amazing all the CG looked in the film.  This day and age it seems like CG is taking over everything and it sometimes really detracts from the film.  That doesn’t seem to be the case with this title.  The CG looks amazing and blends really well with the non CG stuff.

The other thing I liked about this trailer is that it does seem to do what a preview should do.  It sets up the movie, the characters and the basic story without showing their whole hand.  It whets the appetite, makes us want more.  So many previews today give the whole movie away, but not this one.  It is a perfect mix of giving us enough information, and withholding important information.  I feel like I can watch it a hundred times, and still want to see the movie, and I am confident that the best part of the movie is not in the trailer.  There will be stuff in the actual movie that will blow us away that we haven’t seen.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes did a great job of setting up the new franchise, and it looks like Dawn of the Planet of the Apes will be a fantastic second installment.  A movie that is on my list of must sees, even more so after seeing the trailer.