Ninja Kids

This, without a doubt, is the KING of "back-in-the-day" fun stuff. Its "The Goonies" for the 90's, and, well...sure kicks butt compared to "Home Alone." Did you cheer when he rolled down his own stairs in a sled? Not exactly. Of course who wouldn't cheer for three kids taking down a six-foot, two hundred-plus pounder henchman (who's really posing as a light-up dummy)? Even though slightly unintelligent...plot remains solid with sharp humor and on-your-feet fight scenes. Yet, its not exactly Bruce Lee...but did you ever see Bruce Lee kick butt at age 13? See the movie. It's definitely some high-kickin' fun.

Victor Wong, Michael Treanor, Max Elliot Slade, and Chad Power star in this great family action film. Victor Wong stars as the grandfather who teaches his three grandchildren the art of being a ninja. Soon they're kidnapped by an old acquaintance of Grandpa's. This movie is also very funny and no doubt everyone in the family will laugh out loud. I recommend this film to anyone that likes action films mixed with humor.

I used to watch this movie over and over when. I was younger. Yes as a adult now I laugh at how bad this movie is, but that's the point. It's not meant to be taken serious. It's a movie for kids from the 90's that pokes fun at it self at times. It's a good movie to kick back and enjoy to relive some of your childhood if you watched it growing up.

Back in 3rd grade, I had just moved to a new town, so I was at the library in that town. I had just been done watching the live-action Ninja Turtles movies for the first time, so I also discovered a little VHS called "3 Ninjas". Of course, after seeing TMNT I, II, and III, I just HAD to watch this movie. And I did.

As a kid, I just ate this stuff up. I loved these movies to death. I thought they were the best things ever. I never understood why everybody hated it, but I got older, and I realize why many people hate this movie: It's too unrealistic. But who cares? Not every movie has to be just like real-life. Of course, the 3 Ninjas formula with kids beating the crap out of adults has grown since the release of this movie, but it has gotten way stupid, to the point where the bad guys are bumbling fools who don't fight back. But you don't see that in this movie. It has a pretty dark tone to it. Snyder, the villain isn't just some stupid fool like with things like this nowadays, he's a pretty menacing villain, so that's something that holds up.

Another thing that holds up is the action. I love the fight scenes, but it's too bad that a lot of the violence was cut to secure a 'PG' rating. But it's cool now, since the extended cut has surfaced and for some reason only played on movie channels like Showtime.

This movie also has some pretty awesome music. It's a shame that an OST for the film's score was never released.

Something I don't like about the hate for this movie is how everyone seems to just call this a rip-off of Home Alone and the first live-action TMNT movie just because of the quote from the Boston Globe on the cover of the VHS and DVD. Look, guys, the Boston Globe panned both Home Alone and TMNT, they're not trying to promote it as a rip-off or anything, so calm down.

That's my review. Don't look for Citizen Kane in this movie, and don't pass it off as something on the same level as Dora. Just look at it as entertaining fun.

And as for the sequels? Well, Knuckle Up and Kick Back were good. Knuckle Up is my favorite because it's action on overdrive, and it doesn't care what the MPAA thinks, because they got a PG-13 rating and took it. Kick Back brought back the same charm that the original had. But High Noon at Mega Mountain was crap. The plot was too silly, but it's fun to watch and laugh at.

A great many people claim that Citizen Kane is one of the greatest films, and whilst there is some truth to the fact that Orson's masterpiece was, in terms of style, innovative - 3 Ninjas is truly a superior film on every level.

3 Ninjas combines Chaucerian comedic metaphors, injects some Wordworthian bathos, mixes in some satire worthy of Swift, and comes out with a film so incredible that this reviewer cannot describe it with a sufficient number of superlatives!

A dramatic stripping away of racial and social mores in the modern day United States, 3 Ninjas is extraordinary in its realistic treatment of a multi-ethnic family - because, after all, every Japanese person knows karate!

I'm amazed that so many of the actors involved in this fine production have not gone on to star in any other films, and was surprised to note that the film was absent from the Academy Awards shortlist. Perhaps a remake can be arranged if we all join hands, find a Japanese friend to teach us the mystical ways of the East, and pray that that chap from Happy Days is still alive.