Underdog Kids

Since hearing the announcement that Phillip Rhee would be returning with a new film, his first in 17 years, had me excited. Even more, the fact that martial arts legends Richard Norton, Don "The Dragon" Wilson, Danny Inosanto, Benny "The Jet" Urquidez, and Jun Chong were making cameos had me excited more. Rhee did a terrific job in not only giving a message about martial arts, but like the original Best of the Best, the film truly has heart.

What's really great is that in my opinion, this film could be a stepping stone for a new generation of future action stars. Seeing martial arts champions Rayna Valladingham, Aidan Considine, Tyler Weaver, Andrew Franklin transition to film as well as Supah Ninjas' Ryan Potter and Sean Rhee (Phillip's son), this is truly a fun film to enjoy.

If there is a film that martial arts film fans would want to break their kids with in watching the genre, this is truly one of those films to introduce them. A fun film with heart and some exciting martial arts action with a dose of family comedy.

The martial arts choreography and stunts were good (and that's pretty much it).

The story, the script and the characters felt so sub-par that it ruined the movie for me. It was so badly written, awkward, poor acting including the main actor, the martial arts master Phillip Rhee who both wrote and directed this movie, apparently not having any producers, co-producers etc. helping him with everything that is wrong with this movie.

But as I said, if you can wade through what is almost a parody that might be called "Mighty Karate Ducks" you will see some really nice choreography and stunts. It's clear Phillip Rhee had a casting that focused on martial arts skill and not acting. His acting was weak too.

Not worth the rent. If you have a serious craving for some martial arts and you've seen everything that is out there then you can at least check this one out an skip the nonsense between the martial arts sequences.

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.

Gosh the movie is so damn slow for a karate supposedly action movie .. and the production and the montage is so old and cranky like you can notice the switching between scenes is flipping like an MS Power Point slides or maybe a movie maker ,, even the soundtracks are unbalanced and so scattered all over the place :P The story is predictable and not genuine and the plot is not really new and the script is so loose !! As for the Acting it is so freaking bad i believe that was the how it was when the first human invented acting !! the visuals and the cinematography are another bad story that is so noticeable especially in the final fights .. it is a 2015 movie on the style of bad even older version of the original karate kid ... Even the one with Jaden Smith is in so many levels much better than this.

As for the cast ,, as i said earlier,, they're so bad at acting or maybe it was a montage problem !! if Phillip Rhee is trying to make a Jackie Chan experience out of this well i think he failed , and as for the kids my goodness i hope what i saw is just their "Learning Mode" .

Overall,, it wouldn't say it was a mistake that i watched the movie , because i got the chance to see what the other underworld of movie industry is trying to do ,, so i wouldn't recommend it to anyone. and the 2/10 was for trying to do a movie of sort !!

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.