3 Ninjas (1992)

Director:

Jon Turteltaub

Writers:

Edward Emanuel (screenplay)
Kenny Kim (story)

Release Date:

7 August 1992 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Family | Sport

Plot:

Each year, three brothers Samuel, Jeffrey and Michael Douglas visits their Japanese grandfather, Mori...

Plot Keywords:

FBI | Martial Arts | Grandfather | Brother | Ninja

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Victor Wong	...	Grandpa Mori Tanaka
Michael Treanor	...	Samuel 'Rocky' Douglas Jr.
Max Elliott Slade	...	Jeffrey 'Colt' Douglas
Chad Power	...	Michael 'Tum Tum' Douglas
Rand Kingsley	...	Hugo Snyder
Alan McRae	...	Samuel Douglas Sr., FBI
Margarita Franco	...	Jessica Douglas
Kate Sargeant	...	Emily
Joel Swetow	...	Brown
Professor Toru Tanaka	...	Rushmore (as Toru Tanaka)
Patrick Labyorteaux	...	Fester
Race Nelson	...	Marcus
D.J. Harder	...	Hammer
Baha Jackson	...	Bully
Scott Caudill	...	Darren the Bully

Also Known As:

3 Ninja Kids (UK)

MPAA:

Rated PG for martial arts action, mild language, and theme.

Runtime:

84 min | Germany:93 min | Sweden:98 min (uncut version) | Argentina:87 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | Iceland:12 (video rating) | Iceland:12 | Iceland:L (original rating) | South Korea:All | USA:PG (Certificate #31916) | Australia:PG | Germany:16 | Sweden:11 | UK:PG (cut)

Filming Locations:

Santa Monica High School - 601 Pico Boulevard, Santa Monica, California, USA

Company:

Global Film Enterprises

Trivia:

The American version of the film cut numerous parts of scenes, most likely to secure a PG rating.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: Snyder's helicopter doesn't make any noise until it appears on screen. Helicopters are extremely noisy vehicles, and it should have been making noise, even out of the angle of view.

Quotes:

Grandpa: Two lessons you have to learn from this battle. Lesson 1, never attack unless you're gonna win?
Colt: And lesson two?
Grandpa: Don't climb a tree that's full of thorns. Uh!

Movie Connections:

References "Charlie's Angels" (1976)

Soundtrack:

Kid Power

Despite one or two funny lines it is mostly a tiresome and quite cheap cross between Karate Kid and Home Alone

The Douglas boys spend their summers and weekends with their grandfather Tanaka, a martial arts expert who, despite his age is still very able and is teaching the boys ninja skills. Their father is an FBI agent, currently trying to capture the criminal giant that is Hugo Snyder. However Snyder is also a former partner of Tanaka and uses this relationship to get close to the his foil's three sons. With Snyder planning a large missile sale to the Middle East, he gets associate Brown to use three lackeys to kidnap the children just in case. However, he doesn't reckon on the skills of the kids and the stupidity of his men.

Call me a sucker for punishment but after watching two of the later 3 Ninjas films I figured that I should at least get myself some explanation as to why more than one film had been made. I assumed that the first film must have been good enough to be successful and by extension have made enough money to have justified sequels to a fan-base loyal enough to cover the costs regardless of the product. However watching the first film left me all the more mystified because it turns out that this film series was cheap and poor quality from the very start. The plot is the usual stuff where the boy use their skills to help foil some criminal adults, in this case a criminal that their fed father is chasing. It is predictable fare and all it does is produce some Home Alone style fights.

If these were funny and exciting then the film would have its salvation but sadly this is far from the case. The fights are poorly put together with simple moves and nothing in the way of imagination about them. The comedy is basic as well, which is a shame because good physical comedy tends to cover a large age range of viewers but here it is nothing more than simple pratfalls. Turteltaud's direction is a matter of stringing together static shots while the use of music to convey danger or, more often, "wackiness" is just painful. I would lay into the acting of the children but suffice to say that they delver just as much as you would expect. The adults are no better with Wong taking it too serious and McRae and Franco offering nothing. If nothing else at least Kingsley and Swetow have the good taste to be hammy fun.

Overall then, few people will be surprised by the quality of this film. It is cheaply done with unimaginative writing and action. The only surprise is that despite this the film managed to churn out some sort of puerile franchise out of these distinctly inauspicious beginning.