Underdog Kids

Phillip Rhee is a man of many talents. I've watched all his Movies since I was a Kid. Every Movie has a positive story & message, Underdog Kids is no exception. This Movie delivers the true meaning of Martial Arts, self-discipline, courage, friendship, love, respect and honor. Important parts to Martial Arts & Life that I see disappearing, over run with brutality & violence to make money or have a Gold Belt. This Movie shows that there is more value to life.

It's a heart warming story, with many challenges young kids face on a daily basis & show's how these particular characters overcome the obstacles. It's an inspiring independent Movie to watch, that I think all ages would like, although its aimed toward a Family orientated genre.

It doesn't have all the glitz and glamor you'd get from a blockbuster Movie with massive funding. It somewhat lacks post production and fancy editing, however the story surpasses that. For me thats what a good movie is all about. So go in with an open mind, sit back with some popcorn & enjoy Underdog Kids.

This is horrible. And, of course, even if the film does have a message, the message doesn't overshadow the choppy editing, exaggerated fight sequences, unrealistic performances, cheesy dialogue, ineffective humor, and predictable plot. This film is the worst example of martial-arts filmmaking I've seen in years. It does not even come CLOSE to Rocky or The Karate Kid. Those movies are MUCH better not JUST because of the message, because from a filmmaking perspective, those films are excellent. Underdog Kids uses the aesthetics of martial-arts filmmaking and butchers it-somehow, Philip Rhee is actually being unintentionally satirical when using the aesthetics of classic boxing/martial-arts films. However, this makes for good entertainment, I guess, because it's so terrible-THAT terrible, it's actually funny.

Now, what's this film about? Well, you won't find many differences from this film's plot and other classic karate film plots. This film follows the same basic concept of good-kids-versus-bullies-and-ruthless-Cobra-Kai-like-team. Nothing new, just your typical martial-arts storyline that doesn't have much originality to it. But, hey, Rhee doesn't care, 'cause as long as he's getting that cold, hard cash at the end of the day, he doesn't care that he just made the worst martial-arts movie of all time. The story follows a group of kids who are trained by Philip Rhee's character, a martial-arts expert who understands the art and teaches them how to fight not only the other side (which is a Cobra-Kai-like team with your typical angry instructor), but to fight their struggles. However, the message doesn't matter, 'cause everybody gets lost in the meaningless editing techniques used throughout the film.

Particularly, its choppy cuts. The cutting and transitions don't seem to mix well, and the editing, as a result, doesn't exactly add to the excitement of the action scenes due to its choppiness. The cutting just doesn't work, but you know what also doesn't work: the slow-motion.

Apparently, Philip Rhee hasn't watched The Matrix, and should know that you don't need fast editing and camerawork, or even slow-motion, to create an exciting action scene. The Matrix doesn't just have exciting action scenes, it has a good story.

Philip Rhee, however, seems to focus on using exaggerated slow-motion techniques that just look dumb and don't even mingle well with the action scenes. Rhee relies on this slow-motion technique to propel the action scenes of Underdog Kids.

But this is where Rhee really fails-the fight scenes. Nothing looks realistic-even the moves which are mastered by the kids are moves that even Bruce Lee wouldn't be able to do. They include crazy flips, all kinds of kicks, and certain movements that make us wonder if we're just hallucinating or if this is actually real life. These moves are so exaggerated that the fight scenes suffer as a result of the terrible choreography. Especially the reactions of the victims don't feel genuine either. The victims' reactions are terrible and feel like the actors are just acting and not actually bringing realism to the screen-like this is even the way people react when fighting.

Oh, and yes, don't get me started on the ending. We all know the team of good kids are gonna win against the ruthless team, so I don't even need to put up a Spoilers! alert for that one. And, yes, they do win at the end-and also, to make the opposing sides reconcile, Rhee decides to cram in an inept conclusion to both teams' feud by having the villains instantly change their ways, abandon their instructor, and apologize to the opposing team. And WOW! That's just...that's just...well, that's very good writing.

And, yes, let's not forget the dialogue. Corny discussions are frequent throughout the film, which include dialogue like "That was mean, man" and "He calls that the fart of death" (in one scene I will later discuss). This dialogue is low-budget, lowest-rate, and just dumb. If only Rhee watched The Social Network as well.

Not only does Rhee includes this kind of dialogue, but the film has terrible humor as well. One scene, in particular, is ineffective in adding to any humorous effect intended by Rhee, in which a boy, pinned to the ground by his fighting adversary in a martial-arts fight, uses flatulence to win the fight. Is this even considered funny? That's because it isn't: it's cheap laughs. And, of course, we need commentary on the boy's flatulence as well ("He calls that the fart of death")

Overall, Underdog Kids shouldn't even be a movie: it is so dumb and terribly made that it seems to be one of the movies you watch to laugh at just because it's so bad. Watch this as a guilty pleasure.

Not a bad movie. Cute kid movie. Reminded me of a Karate version of The Bad News Bears.

I took my 11 year old to see a private screening and he really enjoyed it. Kids either like something or they don't. Although they are not "critical" of editing, acting, color, sound .... they are brutally honest.

Was it the best editing, no. Best acting, no. But it was a cute little movie that we need more of. No cursing, no inappropriate scenes like some kids movies.

Although it was not the best movie I have it seen, I have definitely seen worst. Great little indie movie ... support it!

I just finished watching this movie. I saw it On-Demand, as people who rent movies whether from Netflix, RedBox, or On-Demand probably notice how there are movies they haven't heard of that haven't made a theatrical release. There are also a lot of kids movies you can find when renting movies that you haven't heard of. Despite being an adult, I think it's good to watch kid movies, as I think it keeps the kid inside of you and allows you to keep up with younger kids when you're around them. Sometimes, you wish you could go back to being a kid again.

This movie seems to have a familiar theme we've seen in lots of sports movies for kids. A movie that deals with a group of kids who are seen as misfits/losers. So, a losing team where someone or something helps a losing team become a winning team. Those movies are frequently comedies and also cheesy. Well, this movie definitely has comedy in it, as you'll definitely laugh if you watch this movie. This movie also has cheesy scenes. So, despite the cheesiness that can make it more of a kids film, this movie was a great movie with a real message.

So, you can ask if this movie falls in the same category as other movies we might have seen when we were kids, what makes it different and why is the message in this movie more meaningful than the message they'd give in other movies like these? Well, in this movie there seems to be a different sport than most other movies in the same category. The sport in this movie, obviously is Karate. I think it's entertaining seeing martial arts in action, some of the scenes seemed reminiscent of scenes from the 2010 movie, Karate Kid with Jaden Smith.

Now, about the message and why the message was more meaningful. The message definitely left me as an adult feeling good, and was definitely a meaningful message. Rather than a movie dealing with coaching a team from the suburbs, this movie deals with coaching inner-city kids in a poorer section of the city. We don't hear those kids saying profanity which keeps it kid friendly, and PG appropriate. It seems like PG movies used to have more profanity, like in the '80s than they do now. In this movie, they say words like dang and heck. So, despite not hearing heavy profanity from these kids and not dealing with drugs, alcohol, or sex, obviously to keep it PG appropriate and kid friendly, we see other inner-city issues from the characters in this movie. We see how their coach responds to a lot of their troubles which can be great lessons and responses for not just them, but everybody. It leaves us with lessons that we did not decide the color of our skin we'd be born into, or the background we come from. But, what matters is how we see ourselves, and what we make of ourselves.

I only recognized one of the actors in this movie. That actor was Nicholas Bechtel that plays Sean in this movie, and who plays a character named Spencer Cassadine in ABC's Soap Opera, General Hospital. It's nice to see actors you recognize play roles in other movies. He was great in this movie!!

Another cool thing about the movie was the way certain scenes were done. Sometimes, movies seem to choreograph certain scenes to make them exciting for the viewers. Scenes that focus on the visuals, and music where the voices might even be muted. Those scenes in this movie were really cool, especially for a kids movie.

Now, you might see bad reviews from this movie along with good reviews too, like mine. However, I'd definitely recommend this movie if you like kids movies, and if you like sports movies. If you want to show your kids a movie, then I'm sure they'd like this. But, I'd also recommend it for you as I think the messages this movie leaves us with, are powerful messages even for adults!! I'm sure the messages this movie leaves you with will make you feel happy at the end.

Imagine my delight when I found out that taekwondo maestro Phillip Rhee was returning to movies after a 17-year hiatus. The fact that it was for a family film only lightly dampened my enthusiasm, but that thudding noise you heard earlier today was the sound of my crest falling when I saw just how stinky of a picture this turned out to be. UNDERDOG KIDS is clearly Rhee's passion project, and while I like the idea of a positive coming-of-age karate flick, it does far too many things wrong to endear anyone but very tolerant viewers.

The story: An ex-MMA champ (Rhee) coaches troubled inner-city youths en-route to a tournament which will pit them against the nefarious Beverly Hills Junior National Team.

Other reviewers have called it before me, and I concur that this a pretty obvious melding of THE KARATE KID and Rhee's own BEST OF THE BEST. I don't mind the mix, but the filmmakers have disappointingly decided to go the sappiest and most juvenile route with it that they could have. Whatever the movie has to offer in the way of inspirational life lessons has been dipped in schmaltz and covered in cheese, because one of the few things that can halt the pitiful sob stories of the kids and the hammy character-building of Captain Rhee is the asinine comedy, the highlight of which involves the designated fat kid of the group winning a match by farting in an opponent's face.

To their credit, almost all of the featured children have some serious moves, and if placed in the hands of more ambitious directors, they could probably make one heck of an action movie. Most of the fights here aren't bad, but aside from the overuse of slow motion and occasionally choppy editing, the tone of the movie ensures that the importance of these scenes never rises above that of a bunch of kids fighting each other – not even with the gravity of THE HUNGER GAMES. Richard Norton, Don Wilson, Dan Inosanto, Benny Urquidez, and Jun Chong pop up briefly, but not only do they not fight, they don't even have any dialogue. Phillip Rhee himself only has one match, and I am 90% sure that he's been considerably stunt-doubled.

I'm all for martial arts in the family medium, even when it goes against my expectations, but even if there are some kids over the age of eight who are up to sitting through this, I don't think their parents will be. As both a filmmaker and veteran of the golden era of low-budget karate movies, Phillip Rhee represents one of our best chances of seeing the style of yesteryear revived in the new millennium, but if UNDERDOG KIDS is a taste of what Rhee is interested in doing with his experience, I will be less interested in any future features he directs. Skip it.