It stars the show's regular voice cast of Ben Schwartz, Omar Miller, Brandon Mychal Smith, Josh Brener, Kat Graham, and Eric Bauza, with newcomer Haley Joel Osment as Casey Jones.
In the film, the Turtles, with the help of their new ally from the future, Casey Jones, set out to stop the evil alien force, the Krang, from invading Earth.
Nickelodeon approached Suriano and Ward to make a Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film during the development of the second season, and the two worked on both simultaneously.
After Leonardo breaks Donatello's pizza box stack record, Raphael alerts both of them and Michelangelo to a theft unfolding by Hypno-Potamus and Warren Stone, with the key that Casey is looking for included among the stolen items.
They parasitically possess the members of the Foot Clan and send them after the key while they prepare the portal on top of the Metro Tower, the tallest building in the city.
Sometime later, the heroes enjoy pizza on top of the Brooklyn Bridge, with Casey revealing that former Foot Clan recruit Cassandra Jones is his mother.
In February 2019, it was announced that feature films based on Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and The Loud House were in production for Netflix.
[1] Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie began development months prior, in October 2018, but production didn't begin until March 2020.
[2] Showrunners Andy Suriano and Ant Ward were first approached by a Nickelodeon executive to develop a film during work on the second season.
The idea that would get the green light involved a mysterious stranger arriving from the future, warning the Turtles that an alien species called the Krang was set to invade the planet.
[3] While writing the Krang as villains, Suriano and Ward aimed for them to be "formidable adversaries to the Turtles" and establish them as more dangerous foes than the series' portrayal of the Shredder.
[12] Hayden Mears of IGN gave the film an 8 out of 10 rating, praising its fight sequences, designs, humor, emotional core, and performances (particularly Ben Schwartz as Leonardo) but criticizing the plot for its simplicity.
She summarized: "All in all, Rise is as dependable as a Manhattan slice: not mind-blowing in the slightest, but just delightfully cheesy enough to keep kids and adults alike satisfied".
[15] Jennifer Borget of Common Sense Media gave the film 3 out of 5 stars, praising the animation and emotional core, though finding characterization lacking.
He found the future timeline to be the most compelling part of the film, commenting that "Middle-Aged Mutant Ninja Turtles might not roll off the tongue as easily, but it probably would have been a better movie.
He directed some praise to the climax, which he described as "a freefall battle that, albeit brief, is an exciting action scene that makes me eager to go back and watch it again".