TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLE: MUTANT MAYHEM Artist Talks About Its Cool "Spider-Verse Style" Animation

Earlier this week the first trailer was released for the Seth Rogen-produced animated film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem and a lot of fans loved what they saw! It looks like a great animated movie that’s true to the spirit of everything that we love about the Ninja Turtles!

One thing that a lot of fans have been talking about with the trailer was the animation style of the film, with many people comparing it to the street-art style animation from the Spider-Verse movies. Now, the visual development artist on the film, Kellan Jett, is talking about the style and he also wants to credit another animated film for the style… The Mitchells vs the Machines.

This makes sense as Mutant Mayhem was directed by Jeff Rowe, who also co-directed The Mitchells vs the Machines. In a series of Tweets, Jett wrote that the Spider-Verse "is beautiful and it opened the door for us to try something new," but added that the animation of Mutant Mayhem is more influenced by The Mitchells vs the Machines.

He said: "People keep saying our TMNT movie looks like Spider-Verse which I understand, it's an easy reference point for people. But for people who don't know, there are like 8 people on the Turtles art team that worked on one or both of the Spiderverse films." He then added that “an even bigger percentage of us worked on the Mitchells vs the Machines which I would say is a better reference than [Spidey]." 

In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, after years of being sheltered from the human world, the Turtle brothers set out to win the hearts of New Yorkers and be accepted as normal teenagers through heroic acts. Their new friend April O’Neil helps them take on a mysterious crime syndicate, but they soon get in over their heads when an army of mutants is unleashed upon them.

The voice cast of the film includes Micah Abbey as Donatello, Shamon Brown Jr. as Michelangelo, Nicolas Cantu as Leonardo, Brady Noon as Raphael, Jackie Chan as Splinter, John Cena as Rocksteady, Seth Rogen as Bebop, Ice Cube as Superfly, Rose Byrne as Leatherhead, Natasia Demetriou as Wingnut, Ayo Edebiri as April O’Neil, Giancarlo Esposito as Baxter Stockman, Post Malone as Ray Fillet, Paul Rudd as Mondo Gecko, and Maya Rudolph as Cynthia Utrom.

The film is set to hit theaters on August 4, 2023.