After the enormous success of 1990’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a sequel became inevitable. Given the fickle nature of the series’ young target audience, New Line rushed out the follow-up: 1991’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze hit screens a mere 357 days after the first picture debuted.

This was clearly a “strike while the iron’s hot” deal, and Ooze did manage to do pretty well at the box office. It made $78 million in the US, a total that represented three times its budget.

That wasn’t nearly as good as the ten times its budget that the cheaper and higher-grossing first flick did. Nonetheless, Ooze turned a profit and spawned another sequel.

In the first film, we learned that radioactive waste turned ordinary turtles into a collection of humanoid superheroes. Trained in martial arts by a mutant rat named Splinter (Kevin Clash), turtles Leonardo (Mark Caso, voice by Brian Tochi), Raphael (Kevin Troum/Laurie Faso), Donatello (Leif Tilden/Adam Carl) and Michelangelo (Michelan Sisti/Robbie Rist) fight crime in the Big Apple.

Though left for dead in the original movie, archenemy Shredder (Francois Chau) returns here and seeks revenge. He steals some radioactive material to use to create his own army of mutant warriors. Of course, the Turtles fight back against this, and they use a new weapon of their own: martial arts-trained pizza boy Keno (Ernie Reyes Jr.).

At no point did the first Turtles threaten to become a great movie. At its best, it provided moderate entertainment and breezy fun but no more. Although the film boasted some charm, it failed to really impress.

With that as a backdrop, it became tough for Ooze to disappoint. After all, when the first flick never offers anything more than mild pleasure, how far can the sequel fall?

Not very. That means Ooze feels like a fairly close companion to its predecessor.

Actually, one could argue that Ooze works better than Turtles. The latter lacked much of a story so it succeeded mostly due to the inherent goofiness of the characters and premise.

That side of things lacks the same freshness in a sequel, so Ooze compensates with a more interesting plot and additional character development. No, the Turtles aren’t exactly well thought-out personalities, but they come across as a bit more individual here.

The idea of the new mutants adds life as well. They’re not the most dynamic villains, but they’re different, so I give the movie some credit for that.

Though Ooze easily could’ve stayed with Shredder’s human minions, it tries to spice things up a bit. I appreciate that.

Like its predecessor, Ooze often remains silly and insubstantial. Actually, it’s a lighter take on its subjects. While the original was already pretty peppy, it’s Hamlet compared to Ooze.

Which I don’t necessarily regard as a bad thing. This is a movie meant for kids, and it uses inherently absurd/silly characters. I guess a darker tone could work for the material, but I think the Turtles fare best when kept comedic and light.

We get that in Ooze, and the frothy spirit helps keep the movie watchable. Granted, it falters toward its climax, as the scene in a club – complete with Vanilla Ice cameo! – threatens to sabotage the flick. Nonetheless, it offers decent kid-oriented entertainment.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this 4K UHD disc. Expect a good overall Dolby Vision presentation.

For the most part, sharpness worked fine. A little softness crept into the image at times, but the movie usually exhibited appealing delineation.

Neither jagged edges nor more effects impacted the visuals, and I saw no edge haloes. Grain remained heavy but natural and I witnessed no edge haloes.

A cartoonier effort, the palette of Ooze proved brighter than that of the first flick, and the broad primary colors satisfied. With a boost from HDR, the hues seemed well-executed.

Blacks felt dark and deep, while low-light shots delivered appealing delineation despite all the grain. HDR gave whites and contrast extra range. Thanks to the source, this never became a great-looking film, but it satisfied.

The movie’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack worked pretty well. Music showed nice stereo imaging.

Effects cropped up around the room in a logical, well-integrated manner. The surrounds added solid involvement but didn’t overwhelm us.

Audio quality seemed appealing. Bass response was appropriate and demonstrated nice warmth and depth.

Speech was natural and concise, while effects offered good clarity and accuracy. Music was also pretty full and rich, though it could appear a little wan at times. While this wasn’t a great soundtrack, it merited a “B”.

To reproduce the theatrical audio, the disc also featured an LPCM stereo mix. Its soundfield spread across the front channels in a broad and well-placed manner.

The stereo track offered audio quality similar to that of the 5.1 remix. I felt pleased with the theatrical track.

How did the 4K UHD compare to the 2009 Blu-ray? The DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack seemed virtually identical to the BD’s Dolby TrueHD 5.1, but the UHD included the 1991 theatrical audio absent from the 2009 release.

With the UHD’s Dolby vision image, we got the expected improvements in terms of colors, delineation and blacks. While not a visual showcase, the UHD replicated the source well.

The BD lacked real extras but we get a good mix here, and we start with an audio commentary from director Michael Pressman. Along with moderator Gillian Wallace Horvat, Pressman looks at story/characters, cast and performances, sets and locations, photography and editing, various effects, stunts/action, music and connected topics.

Overall this becomes a good chat. Horvat acts as a quality interviewer and this develops into an informative and enjoyable discussion of the movie.

Four featurettes follow. John Du Prez to the Rescue lasts 13 minutes, 40 seconds and offers notes from composer Du Prez.

In this reel, Du Prez tells us a little about his career along with specifics about his Turtles work. The interview leans a little general but it comes with some decent notes.

Hard Cores goes for eight minutes, 17 seconds. Here we find remarks from former Henson Creature Shop mould shop supervisor Kenny Wilson.

As expected, Wilson looks at the various animatronics created for the movie. It digs into less detail than I'd like but it comes with a few good anecdotes.

With The Secret of the Edit, we locate a 15-minute reel. This one involves editor Steve Mirkovich.

We get thoughts about the cutting of the movies. Like the prior two featurettes, this one comes with some useful material but it doesn't tend to dig too deeply.

Behind the Shells spans 28 minutes, 36 seconds. It provides remarks from Pressman, creators Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman, creature creator William Plant, puppeteers Rob Mills, Kevin Clash and Mak Wilson, producers David Chan and Thomas K. Gray, stunt coordinator Pat Johnson, choreographer Myrna Gawryn, and actors Michaelan Sisti, Mark Caso, Kenn Troum, Leif Tilden, Ernie Reyes Jr. and Paige Turco.

Shot in 1991, “Shells” examines the origins and development of the Turtles along with some aspects of the film production. A lot of this feels like the promo fluff it is, but we get enough worthwhile info and footage to make "Shells" a good show.

In addition to a trailer, an Image Gallery provides 20 frames that show movie shots and posters. It becomes a mediocre compilation.

Produced literally as soon as its predecessor showed box office life, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze feels like an extension of the first flick. That makes it a moderately enjoyable kid-oriented romp. The 4K brings largely appealing picture and audio along with a mix of supplements. We get a good release for a decent flick.

Note: this Ooze 4K UHD currently appears only as part of a “Trilogy” set that also includes 1990’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and 1993’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III.