If there's one thing I can't stand in film, it's unnecessary sequels created to continue milking a franchise. It's even worse when sequel is nearly enough to ruin a franchise, such as the third Ninja Turtles film. The third film removed any sense of seriousness left over from the first film and amplified the campiness of the second film. In this installment of the Ninja Turtle trilogy, the team must use a magic scepter to travel back to 17th century feudal Japan to rescue April who had teleported on accident. It seems blatantly obvious at this point that the filmmakers were running out of ideas by this point.<br /><br />In my personal opinion, this time travel plot line feels like a major cop-out. It's as if the filmmakers had no previous experiences with the franchise (whether it be the movies, cartoons, or comics) and, rather than pull from existing popular story arcs, writer/director Stuart Gillard thought to himself, "What would be a WACKY adventure for these guys? DUH! Time travel!". If I never see another comedy that relies on the tired fish-out-of-water routine for the rest of my life, I'll be a happy man. The bulk of the movie's humor relies on the Turtles being tossed into 17th century Japan, and five men from Japan being introduced to modern times in exchange. Why couldn't the filmmakers have gone with something, I don't know...entertaining? I would've much preferred to see the Baxter Stockman/Mousers story arc brought to the big screen instead of the "zaniness" of Ninja Turtles trying to ride horses.<br /><br />On a positive note, Elias Koteas returns as Casey Jones, one of my favorite elements from the first film. Koteas is actually in a double-role: Casey Jones and Whit, one of Walker's crew members in Japan. Koteas brings some humor to the movie and actually makes some parts of the movie enjoyable. Paige Turco returns for a second run as April O'Neil, though she seems to be hamming it up a bit more this time and comes off as irritating more often than not. Probably my biggest complaint on the film's recasting was Splinter's voice; James Murray replaced Kevin Clash (who had voiced the character in both I and II). Rather than the voice of a Japanese elder that we became accustomed to, it now sounds as if Splinter is a guy with a bad case of laryngitis. It's distracting and a bit of a let-down.<br /><br />The third film is a major disappointment for the Ninja Turtle franchise. It practically killed the series until Kevin Munroe revived it in 2007 with his CGI film. When it comes to the Ninja Turtles, I wish filmmakers would give us less Three Stooges-style slapstick and concentrate more on decent stories and creating great action sequences. And, please, no more time travel.