Ninja Kids

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.

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.

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.

Somebody posted complaining about how three kids cannot beat up 30 or 40 bad men. Well if you were a kid, you'd adore this film. I first saw this film when I was I believe five years old. I grew up watching the movies along with the rest of the series: 3 NINJAS KICK BACK and 3 NINJAS KNUCKLE UP. I'm not trying to sound cheesy or anything. I rather watch the series than watching Teenage Ninja Turtles. I think every generation of young kids would have liked 3 Ninjas if they are really interest in Martial Arts. Sure, the film will probably fade away from our interests as we grow up. But in my own opinion and my experiences, I think 3 Ninjas was one of the excellent film of early 1990s that young viewers would enjoy. Now I'm a teenager and I laugh at the thoughts of how obessed I was with 3 Ninjas but that doesn't mean I shouldn't destroy it existence.

For a kiddie flick, and this film is certainly not aimed at anyone upwards of adolescence, '3 Ninjas' isn't bad in the grand scheme of things. It is, undoubtedly, better than many of the martial arts films aimed at children that have been produced (check out tosh like 'Tiger Heart' and 'Double Dragon' for proof!).

The film centres on three young brothers-- thirteen-year-old Rocky, twelve-year-old Colt and eight-year-old Tum-tum-- who have been studying martial arts since they were toddlers, under the tutelage of their sensei grandfather. The boys' father, an FBI agent, doesn't approve but he is too pre-occupied with catching bad guys to stop them. Then the boys find themselves at the centre of a kidnapping plot by one of their father's perps Snyder, who incidentally was also trained in martial arts by their grandfather.

The film has many unrealistic scenes where the three wee moppets take down hordes of grown men with ease and cue the 'Home Alone' style tricks as the boys rig their house against three would-be teenage kidnappers who have the IQ of toast (one of whom was portrayed by Patrick Labyorteaux, who went on to play Bud in 'JAG'). However, to the film's credit, Snyder was depicted to be genuinely cruel and threatening and the three young actors, especially the elder two, who played the brothers were not as irritating as many child actors can be.

This is an enjoyable film for kids, especially those interested in martial arts (it did influence me to take up Tae-Kwon Do as a kid!), or those who watched it as a child themselves. Unfortunately, the two sequels '3 Ninjas Kick Back' and '3 Ninjas Knuckle Up' were much cheesier and less watchable and the fourth film '3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain', filmed much later in 1998 and featuring different kids in the role of the brothers, was just so atrocious that it's better to pretend it doesn't exist.