Reception
Reviews for the film have been mostly negative by both fans and critics. Based on a sample of 22 reviews, the film holds a 27% "rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes with the consensus "It's a case of one sequel too many for the heroes in a half shell, with a tired time-travel plot gimmick failing to save the franchise from rapidly diminishing returns." It was poorly received by the LA Times as well.
Other common criticisms include the absence of any established TMNT villains, like Shredder or Krang. James Berardinelli gave it one out of four stars, citing that "any adults accompanying their kids will have to invent new and interesting ways to stay awake. Not only is this movie aimed at young children, the script could have been written by them." TV Guide gave it two out of four stars and said in their review, "If the time-travel gimmick has to be employed twice in a row then it's probably best to banish these characters to a retirement sewer." when commenting about a possible future film invoking time travel.
Despite most of the reviews from critics, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III debuted at No.1 at the box office.
As with the both previous films, the British PG version was censored due to usage of forbidden weapons (Michelangelo's nunchuku). For these scenes, alternate material was used. The cuts were waived for the DVD release. The German theatrical and video version was based on the censored UK cut; the DVD is uncut.
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—Billy Wilder (b. 1906)