Guerreros de la virtud

So many people are saying that this movie is not worth their time. I am a movie fanatic, and this movie is a perfect movie for people of all ages. It is similar to the Dark Crystal, and many others like it. But what makes this one different is that actual little kids or people with disabilities that have never fit in with the crowd can watch this movie and get some confidence from it. I sure that we all need something or other to show us that we're all right for who we are and maybe that the real message this movie was sending. Go on and think that this movie is horrible, but no matter what I'll show it to my kid and my grandkids, because I enjoyed this movie.

This movie is like the little girl with the curl - when it's good it's very very good, when it's bad it's horrid. The sets are great and there are some neat effects, but for some reason whoever produced this decided to use five Ninja KANGAROOS as the heroes. I can just see the production meeting: "Hedgehogs? Noo. How about beavers? Noo. Kangaroos? Yeah, kangaroos!!".

The guy who plays Komodo (the head baddie) seems to have some talent and presence, but the director has him alternately mumbling, whining and screaming in a random pattern. The rest of the actors are an odd mix of caricatures and straight acting.

The plot and "message" are good but have been done before many times. Mr. Miyagi, oops I mean Yoda, er Obi-wan Kenobi, no I mean Master Chung keeps cropping up to spew some platitudes and even comes back after death to encourage Luke Skywalker, oops I mean Ryan, the boy hero.

This movie is not all bad and there's worse ways to waste an evening. The viewer ends up wishing, however, that the producers would have shifted some of their money away from sets and special effects and into a script and direction.

This film is one of those forgotten 90s rip-offs from the Ninja Turtle fall out. It's easy to forget how insane the turtle craze was but it is also easy to forget that the original TMNT movie was actually pretty decent. Most of it's sequels and copies were not.

Which brings us to this little gem...

It's a film so bad it's good. The fight scenes are sloe-mo with wind-blown leaves for no reason other than effect. The warriors of virtue are kangaroos with martial art skills, they personify the virtues eg patience....and it's fight to the death between good and evil. All told it's a great movie for kids that the adults can enjoy while pretending to be too old for it.

I first saw this movie many years ago. It thoroughly bored me, as starting about 25 minutes into it, I could predict what would happen at almost every turn.

Well, I read a few of the favorable reviews of this movie here at imdb and decided to give it another chance. Would it be better second time around?

Nope. Stopped watching about 40 minutes into it and tuned in Pokemon instead.

Rating: 4 out of 10.

I agree whole heartedly with Gene Siskel that this was just a cheap and mediocre hybrid of Power Rangers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and a failed attempt to ride on the coattails of both franchises.

Ryan Jeffers (Mario Yedidia) is a young, disabled boy named who, after being goaded by school bullies, winds up falling into a whirlpool that transports him to a fantasy world called Tao. There he meets the Warriors of Virtue led by Master Chung (Chao-Li Chi). Together, they must defeat the evil overlord Komodo (Angus Macfadyen) before he can conquer Tao, and then move on to Earth itself.

The story moved at a sluggish pace. Ryan is largely useless and spends more time complaining and asking questions than actually helping the heroes or impacting the plot. In fact, the titular warriors aren't very complex and don't get much chance to shine, thanks to Ryan being in the spotlight most of the time. Speaking of which, the warrior costumes were cheesy and ugly with poor lip syncing and obviously fake prosthetic tails.

The stunts and martial arts moves were fairly impressive, but this was mitigated by choppy editing and excessive blurring in most of the fight scenes.

Admittingly, there was some nice scenery, such as the interior and exterior of Komodo's fortress and the lush, forested lifestream where the free people live. Plus, there were some pretty funny and over the top moments, such as when Ming used his flashy martial arts moves to prepare and deliver orders at the restaurant he works. Finally, Angus Macfadyen's hammy performance was better than the rest, and is by far the most enjoyable part of the movie.

Still, any kid who grew up in the 90s (such as myself) would have turned this down for TMNT or Power Rangers any day of the week.