Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze is a 1991 action / family film. It was the second Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film, being the sequel to the 1990 film, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The Secret of the Ooze was then followed by a third film in 1993, and a fourth film (simply entitled TMNT) in 2007. The film is commonly abbreviated to TMNT II.
The film follows the adventures of the four Turtles; Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo and Raphael. Roughly resuming from the events of the last film, villain Shredder returns to take back command of the Foot Clan, and work towards getting revenge on the Turtles. When he learns the secret behind the Turtles’ mutation, he becomes more dangerous than ever. The film sheds some light on the origins of Splinter and the Turtles, introduces two new villains; Tokka and Rahzar. Unlike the first film, this one rarely showed the use of their weapons. The Turtles instead fight bare-fisted for much of the film.
The film was released in March of 1991, and received mixed reviews from critics and fans. It departed from a lot of the darker feelings of the 1990 film, and in contrast was more light hearted than its predecessor. The film was still very popular, and it became the 13th highest grossing film worldwide in the year of its release.
The Turtles have been forced to move in with their friend the news reporter April O’Neil, because the Foot Clan know the whereabouts of their home in the sewers. While the Turtles are looking for a new home, they encounter a pizza delivery boy, Keno, who is trying to fight off a band of robbers. The Turtles intervene and help him. The Foot Clan is no longer as large as it was in the first film. Master Tatsu, Shredder’s right-hand man, attempts to take control of the gang but is challenged by Shredder himself. Shredder was thought to be dead, as a result of falling from a rooftop into a garbage truck’s trash compactor after a short battle with Splinter at the end of the first film. He now appears physically deformed and obsessed with obtaining revenge. He sends a Foot member to pose as an intern at the news network and trail April.
April is doing a report on a company known as TGRI. A scientist hired by the company discovers that toxic waste produced by the company has caused mutation in nearby flora, producing exponential growth. The Foot member posing as an intern informs Shredder of this, whereupon Shredder proceeds to dispatch the Foot Clan to obtain some of the waste. Splinter sees the report on television and later shows the Turtles and April the ooze canister that had caused the Turtles mutate into their present form. Splinter pieces the broken canister back together, revealing that it was from the TGRI company. The Turtles infiltrate the TGRI offices to seize a sample of the ooze, only to meet Tatsu and the Foot.
The Turtles find themselves confronting the Shredder’s mutants at a nightclub, in full view of every guest and performer. To appease the initial panic, Vanilla Ice, the lead singer at the club, improvises a rap song whose refrain is “Go Ninja, Go Ninja, Go!”, which is then sung as background Music to the fights taking place in the club. The Turtles use fire extinguishers to stimulate a swift activation of the antidote by spraying carbon dioxide into their enemies’ throats. The mutation is reversed, reducing the two monsters to their natural forms. The Shredder menaces the club, breaking the nearly carnival-like emotional backdrop created by the song. The Turtles use a sound amplifier to magnify a single noise produced by a keyboard, resulting in a powerful sound-wave that throws the Shredder out of the club and into the area among the docks below.
However, Shredder uses a vial of ooze to become a superior form of himself, extemporaneously called Super-Shredder. While fighting underneath a pier, the Super-Shredder, desperate to destroy the Turtles and heedless of all else, wrecks the structure, bringing it down on himself. The Turtles escape thanks to their reptilian nature. Shredder’s hand emerges from the wreckage, but moments later falls down, indicating that he has died.
The Turtles return to their new lair, where Splinter asks whether they were seen. They deny it, until Splinter displays a newspaper having a front-page picture of them, taken at the nightclub where they fought Tokka and Rahzar. It is not explained how the newspaper’s publishers managed to print the story between the time of the fight and the Turtles’ arrival home, nor how Splinter managed to get a copy. Splinter advises them to practice harder, then orders them to perform ten flips each, reminding them “Go Ninja, Go Ninja, Go!” The screen freezes as they begin the first flip, whereupon Splinter shouts “I made another funny, ha ha ha ha!”
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