Any fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic book, of the animated series from the late 1980s into the 1990s and of the feature films of the 90s will undoubtedly understand how important this is.
From Wikipedia: The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are a team of four teenage anthropomorphic turtles, who were trained by their anthropomorphic rat sensei in the art of ninjutsu and named after four Renaissance artists.
From Merriam-Webster: Anthropomorphic - described or thought of as having a human form or human attributes.
Alien race? WHY?! They're not Battletoads.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Rebooting a classic film series that holds a special place in the hearts of millions of people around the world is one thing. Trying to be "original" by changing the origin of the turtles cann