History Film / TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1990

* AdaptationalPersonalityChange: Donatello's intelligence is expressed more subtly here than in most other adaptations; limited mostly to making nerdy or esoteric references when attempting to join his brothers in being TotallyRadical and fixing a truck with Casey (and ''somebody'' patched the payphone in the lair). Outside of these instances, [[ThoseTwoGuys he spends most of his screentime screwing around with Mikey]]. He is briefly seen tinkering with a gadget in the sewers before Danny reveals that he had Pizza, at which point he [[TrademarkFavoriteFood gets distracted and drops it]].

* PoliceAreUseless: Chief Sterns practically embodies this trope, refusing to take any meaningful action against the organized crime ring and refusing to hear out April's warnings as to what they are up to. Also counts as ObstructiveBureaucrat as he goes out of his way to badmouth Charles when she calls out the chief on his inaction on live television, which immediately gets her fired.

* SwordAndFist: To maintain its PG rating, the film never shows Leonardo or Raphael landing hits on mooks with their sharp weapons. After some {{flynning}}, they'll finish their opponent with a kick, punch, or other blunt attack.

* UnderestimatingBadassery: A rare heroic example: when Shredder arrives the Turtles are overconfident after besting his Foot army, and mock his name and armor to his face. Shredder resultantly [[CurbStompBattle completely wrecks them]] despite being outnumbered 4-to-1. While they briefly gain the upper hand when they realize Shredder has Splinter, his sheer skill and their [[HonorBeforeReason consistently engaging him one at a time]] allows him to win out until Splinter appears. Lampshaded by the Turtles once they've recovered from the shock of their initial thrashing.

* AdaptationalPersonalityChange: Donatello's intelligence is expressed more subtly here than in most other adaptations; limited mostly to making nerdy or esoteric references when attempting to join his brothers in being TotallyRadical and fixing a truck with Casey (and ''somebody'' patched the payphone in the lair). Outside of these instances, [[ThoseTwoGuys he spends most of his screentime screwing around with Mikey]].

*** Conversely, while Shredder is winning against the turtles, it's because he stepped in after his ninja were beaten and fights defensively using minimal movements and turning the Turtles' aggression against them, making him the freshest and most conservative fighter. But as the fight drags on, this approach starts to fail him; he is fighting four skilled opponents half his age, as Leonardo draws first blood, something that we never saw Shredder do to the Turtles. Shredder admits the Turtles might have won eventually with only the loss of one of them.

--->'''Shredder''': Fools... The three of you might have been able to overpower me with the loss of but one. Now your fate... WILL BE HIS! ''[readies [[CoupDeGrace killing strike]] on Leonardo]''

-->'''The Shredder:''' [[YouFool Fools]]... The three of you could've overpowered me with the loss of but one!

* DivergentCharacterEvolution: To one of the greatest degrees ever. Not only were the Turtles' conflicting personalities pushed further than they've ever gone but each Turtle has a unique and distinctive look and body type that would make them recognizable even without their differently-colored masks. Leonardo is slim and athletic, Raphael is muscular with some tough-guy scars, Donnie is a little chubby, and Mikey is short. The fourth movie mainly keeps these intact (although Donnie's slimmed down a bit) and gives Mikey InnocentBlueEyes to help show off his youth and innocence further.

* ShipperOnDeck: Despite his crush on April, Raphael ships April and Casey together as he cheers along with his brothers on the rooftop when the two kiss.

** The Turtles saying "I love being a turtle". Mikey in the first film, all of them in the sequel, Leo in the third.

* NonProtagonistResolver: Other than beating a ton of Foot Clan {{Mooks}}, the Turtles don't contribute much at all to the film's climax. Casey rescues Splinter, and Splinter shows up to save the Turtles from the Shredder.

* InterspeciesRomance: Pretty much ''all'' of the Turtles display some level of attraction to April in the beginning. Justified in that they were mutated into being part human, so they're probably attracted as much to humans as they are to turtles, unless the mutation also mutated their brains into losing their attraction to turtles and gaining attraction to humans.

* MuggedForDisguise: After beating up a Foot mook near the end, Casey disguises himself by wearing the mook's clothes over his own. He ditches the disguise shortly after rescuing Danny and Splinter.

** The Turtles say things like "awesome" and "wicked," while Don says something lame like "Bossa Nova" or "A Capella." The last one makes it funnier, because the music cuts out when the Turtles stare at him at how lame it is.

** Wrath. If one can't control it, it'll cloud their mind. Leonardo loses against Shredder because of him provoking him into thinking that he killed Splinter. When Splinter appears proving him wrong, Shredder recognizes him as Master Yoshi's pet and loses because of his wrath towards him.

** Raph is also, as rude as he was, correct that "just sitting there on their butts" (his words) ''isn't'' going to help them find Splinter and that they should be out there looking for him, though he fails to acknowledge the timing and the fact that they don't even know ''where'' to look. [[BothSidesHaveAPoint On the other hand, Leo's argument]] ("What ''can'' we do about it? April's our only link to these guys, we have to wait until she comes up with something") is also valid, as the Turtles at this point have no knowledge of the Foot Clan and April is the only one who has at least heard of them. Raph had fought some Foot Ninjas in the subway but they are all gone and if they hadn't ambushed Raph later, they would never meet them again until April found more clues about them.
** However, Raph goes too far by accusing Leo of being their "great leader" when it's quite clear that Leo's just trying to keep it together under a scary situation. But then, Leo doesn't do himself any favors by telling off Raph for acting like a jerk and that his bad attitude won't help their situation, which makes Raph storm out of the room, leading him to get ambushed and nearly killed by the Foot, all because he was fueled by emotions alone.

** Raph is also, as rude as he was, correct that "just sitting there on their butts" (his words) ''isn't'' going to help them find Splinter. [[BothSidesHaveAPoint On the other hand, Leo's argument]] ("What ''can'' we do about it? April's our only link to these guys, we have to wait until she comes up with something") is also valid, as the Turtles at this point have no knowledge of the Foot clan and April is the only one who has at least heard of the Foot. Raph had fought some Foot Ninjas in the subway but they are all gone and if they hadn't ambushed Raph later, they would never meet them again until April found more clues about them.

** Raph is also, as rude as he was, correct that "just sitting there on their butts" (his words) ''isn't'' going to help them find Splinter.

* DarkerAndEdgier: Compared to the '80s cartoon. Justified as it was inspired more by the original Volume I comics by Mirage. The second and third movies [[LighterAndSofter reverse this]], with the fourth film striking a satisfying balance between the two.

%%* ActionFilmQuietDramaScene: The whole farmhouse subplot.

%%* BadassFamily: The Turtles and Splinter, of course.

%%* BatterUp: Casey does this with two different baseball bats... and a ''cricket'' bat!
%%* BattleAmongstTheFlames: The climax of the Apartment Fight.

%%* CanonForeigner: Tatsu, Charles and Danny Pennington.

%%* DaChief: Chief Sterns

%%* {{Determinator}}: April.
%%-->'''April:''' Are you denying such organization known as the Foot exist?\\

%%* MentorOccupationalHazard: [[spoiler:Nicely subverted.]]

%% The multiple uses of "damn" don't really qualify as "precision", given it was used at least 4 times by 2 different characters.

%%* RodentsOfUnusualSize: Master Splinter.

%%* SeenItAll: The cabbie, especially compared to his fare.
%%--> ''[Raphael somersaults over the hood of the cab]''\\
%%'''Passenger''': What the heck was that?!\\
%%'''Cabbie''': Looked like sort of a big turtle, in a trench coat. You're goin' to [=LaGuardia=], right?

%%** "SPLINTERRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!"

%%* ThoseTwoGuys: Donatello and Michelangelo.
%%-->'''Michelangelo:''' Pork rind?\\

%%* TrueCompanions: The Turtles.

* TakeThat: Twice from Raphael.
** When Raphael goes out by himself into the city to watch a movie, the movie in question being ''Film/Critters'', he comes out of the film in disgust and disappointment.
---> '''Raphael:''' Uggghhh! Where do they come up with this stuff?!
** While Casey and Raph fight each other in Central Park, the former takes out a José Canseco bat. Raph comments, "A José Canseco bat?! Tell me -- you didn't pay money for this!" At the time of the film's release, Canseco was a rival to the New York Yankees.

* TakeThat: While Casey and Raph fight each other in Central Park, the former takes out a José Canseco bat. Raph comments, "A José Canseco bat?! Tell me -- you didn't pay money for this!" At the time of the film's release, Canseco was a rival to the New York Yankees.