3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain

Things are in a pretty sad situation when former professional wrestler and host of American Gladiators, Hulk Hogan, gives the movie’s most emotive performance. He does just that, in “3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain,” released in 1998, playing the role of Dave Dragon, an action hero from a television sitcom that just got canceled. Dave, whose hair line is receding and is embarrassed to be seen by his fans wearing red stretch pants, is performing for the last time at Mega Mountain, an amusement park, where evil ninjas take over the park and threaten the owner of the park (Pat Mahoney) to give Medusa (Loni Anderson) $10 million or else the park will be blown to kingdom come.

Luckily the three ninja brothers are at the park as well. Rocky (Matthew Botuchis), Colt (Michael O'Laskey II) and Tum Tum (James Paul Roeske II) have been dropped off at the park by their parents (Alan McRae and Margarita Franco) and are left to celebrate Tum Tum’s birthday there.

Since the boys have been trained by their Grandfather Mori (Victor Wang), you can be certain that the bad guys will not be able to escape. Even Tum Tum will be able to take on guys half his size.

There are gunfights, physical fights on top of roller coasters, dart attacks, and a SWAT team that can’t figure out how to get through an electric fence! Why is that? In the end, Medusa, the leader of the villains, forcefully tells the brothers “your training is far superior to my warriors.” Lady, wasn’t that the whole point?

Obviously the brothers would not be so cool if they didn’t learn a few valuable lessons.

They wouldn’t have been able to take on everyone without Dave, who tells the brothers, “Real heroes know when to play it cool,” or without their new neighbor who also happens to be a computer genius, Amanda, played by Chelsey Earlywine.

Anita Gates of the New York Times said in her review, “For most moviegoers over 12, this, the fourth ''Three Ninjas'' movie, will be interminably boring. But it's possible that young children will enjoy the film, since it falls into both the action category and the children-are-smart-adults-can't-do-anything-right genre.”

The amusement park workers are stupid since they basically fell for Medusa as a nun even though she is wearing pounds of makeup and dangling earrings.

Do yourself a favor, and avoid this entire series because they just got worse and worse with every single film. The biggest slap in the face for moviegoers is that the late Jim Varney, who you might remember as playing Ernest P. Worrell, is in here playing Medusa’s right hand man. Now that is a shame.

Phew, what a relief. It’s a good thing I’m done with this horrible series. At least I am done with this series, and now I’m happy.

Thank you for joining in on my reviews this month and…wait a minute. Next month is October! You know what that means!? HALLOWEEN MONTH!!!! Are you looking forward to it, because I sure am. See you all then.

The Expendables trilogy

Special treat today everyone! I went and saw “The Expendables 3,” so I thought that maybe I will review that today. However, like everything else that has been released this year, I need to review the first 2 movies before I get to the third one. Sit back and enjoy because this will be a long post on “The Expendables trilogy.”

The first “The Expendables” movie came out in 2010, which is that type of all-out, over the top action movie that you just don’t see that often because Jeffrey Lyles stated in his review, “the human brain can only take a movie that provides the equivalent to getting three consecutive adrenaline shots so many times.” So if you were one of those kids who grew up in the 80s and saw the action movies released then, there’s a slight chance that you won’t be on the edge of your seat enjoying this awesome movie that got made, despite the fact that it stars all the major action stars from the past, present and future.

This was directed and co-written by Sylvester Stallone, who really does know about action movies and is considered one of the big three action stars of the 80s, the others being Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger, both who appear briefly in cameo appearances in this movie.

After the success of both “Rocky Balboa” and “Rambo,” Stallone proved that he still knows how to please his audience that want to see him in more action movies. “The Expendables” is no different since it includes explosions and characters you care for more about than the good guys packing with guns fighting the villains.

Stallone plays Barney Ross, the leader of a group of Expendables who take on impossible tasks, if the pay is decent. His team consists of Gunner Jensen (Dolph “I must break you” Lundgren), Lee Christmas (British action star Jason Statham), Yin Yang (Jet Li), Hale Caesar (former NFL player turned actor Terry Crews), Toll Road (UFC fighter Randy Couture), and their contact, Tool (the great Mickey Rourke).

The group is tasked to take down a Latin American dictator only to find out that the real person they need to take down is former CIA agent James Munroe (Eric Roberts, who you might remember as Sal Maroni from “The Dark Knight") who also has a group of bandits with him, including occasional professional wrestler “Stone Cold” Steve Austin.

Do you think the fight between Steve Austin and Randy Couture sounds interesting? Stallone believes that it does as he admitted that some of his other favorite fights include a big man/little man fight between Jet Li and Swedish actor Dolph Lundgren. Here's an interesting tidbit: Dolph Lundgren has a Master's Degree in Chemical Engineering, and had no interest in acting. Now he is an actor. Go figure!

I’m pretty sure that no one would have played a better villain than Eric Roberts.

Lyles described the movie in his review, ““The Expendables” is a man’s man action movie without any fancy wire work, poorly designed comic book costumes, wisecracking teenagers, an over reliance on CGI and most importantly no 3D that’s all too prevalent in today’s action flicks.” It’s filled with explosions, car chases, shoot-outs, and some serious fight scenes. It’s great to see that Stallone can still think up of some creative ways for good guys to kill the villains. At least it's nothing like Michael Bay's work, where he overuses the explosions, shaky cameras, slow-motion moments, and everything that once looked cool.

As with any other action movie, it’s filled with a surprising amount of humor on the action silliness making it the definitive cap on the action movies released in the summer of 2010 as the year’s unequaled action movie.

Stallone tried to get other big named action stars in this movie like Wesley Snipes, Steven Seagal, and Jean-Claude Van Damme, but for certain reasons they didn’t sign on to be in this movie.

The only downside to this movie is that there weren’t any cameos from the other action stars I mentioned, or even Jackie Chan and Chuck Norris, which is always open for the sequels. For an action movie like this, there should be sequels since there are a handful of action stars that should make appearances, whether briefly or as one of the main stars.

Next up we have “The Expendables 2,” released in 2012. The mission in this film you ask? One of Barney Ross’s members is killed by the villains so he is asked by his team what they will do. His response, “Track him. Find him. Kill him.” For that mission, it really plays great in this action-packed throwback.

Since the first film was so successful, you can probably guess that most of the original cast would return for more violence. Both movies depend on this elemental pride: bringing a team of famous action stars together to bring an over abundance of testosterone onscreen. This time, a few new stars signed on including the famous action star Chuck Norris and the “Muscles from Brussels” himself, Belgian actor Jean-Claude Van Damme. Chris Hemsworth’s little brother, Liam Hemsworth, who you might remember from “The Hunger Games” earlier that year, also joined the cast.

As the movie begins, the team of highly-trained Expendables is sent on a mission to rescue one of their associates. From the first lines of this rough script, we already feel the intensity of how the violence is going to be.

Finally, a mission from Mr. Church (reprised by Willis) sends the team and a new ally Maggie (the pretty Nan Yu) to recover some files from a downed airplane. Their mission is interrupted by Jean Vilain, played by Van Damme, who steals the files and murders one of the members.

Then the movie is about revenge when Ross decides to track down Vilain.

Unlike other action movies, “The Expendables 2” accepts its basic and, at times, ridiculous plot. The film appreciates the fact that it was made for fans of this type of action movies, a movie that completely copies some of the action movies from the past.

Fans that are looking to see their favorite action stars from the 80s and 90s working together on the big screen will not be disappointed, especially during the adrenaline-pumping climax where the heroes get to show off their ability to destroy things.

John P. Hanlon stated in his review, “Where the movie lacks is in its inability to overcome the shortcomings of its premise. The movie is great when the mega-stars are carrying machine guns, and it also works with its subtle and not-so-subtle nods to some of the biggest films of these star’s careers. But the movie never adds a level of intelligence or depth to the story that would leave audiences intrigued when the action slows down.”

If you’re looking for a great action film or a thoughtful film, “The Expendables 2” may not be for you. Fans of these famous action stars will be happy when they see their favorite stars back on the big screen showing how much they love their personas that made them so exciting to begin with.

“The Expendables 2” may not be for everyone, but it knows the audiences it’s for and gives audiences what they want. Those of you who miss the action films from the 80s will find it more than enough that they want more.

One part which was so funny was when Schwarzenegger’s character, Trench Mauser, says, “I’m out of bullets. I’ll be back.” Church says to him, “You’ve been back enough. I’ll be back,” and Mauser replies with, “Yippie-ki-yay.” That part I almost fell out of my chair in the theater laughing. Good thing I was the only one in the theater when I saw this movie, which was the only time that has happened, so I was able to be as loud as I wanted and say whatever I wanted because no one would be there to stop me. I said a lot of jokes and imitated every one of the actors.

Now, after a long sum up of the first two, let’s now get to “The Expendables 3,” which came out a month ago. When I saw this in the theaters, there was only one other person in the theater watching this. He was sitting in the front, while I was in the back. Rich Cline started his review of this film by saying, “Striking a tone somewhere between the po-faced original and the silly Part 2, this rampaging action nonsense is badly overcrowded and chaotic, but there's plenty of comedy and whizzy stuntwork to keep the audience entertained.” Of course the film is helped out a lot with iconic action stars and newcomers.

The movie starts with a prison break, as Ross and his team of Expendables rescue an old friend named Doc (Wesley Snipes, the same man who brought us “Blade”) then head off on one of their missions that also involves a supposed-dead enemy Conrad Stonebanks (Mel Gibson making his return since “The Passion of the Christ”), who is out to get the Expendables. So Ross and his old friend Bonaparte (Kelsey Grammar, who you might remember in the hit sitcom “Fraiser”) go and find four new members (Kellan Lutz, the hot MMA fighter Ronda Rousey, Glen Powell and professional boxer Victor Ortiz) to take on Stonebanks, but obviously the plan does not go well. For the final showdown the old team comes in, CIA boss Drummer (Harrison Ford) former colleagues Trench and Yin, and chatty newcomer Galgo (Antonio Banderas).

Since the cast keeps growing, some of the characters are brushed to the side (Crews and Li are not in the film that much), while others hover around the scenes saying their sarcastic humor. Even Schwarzenegger says his famous, “Get to the choppa” line in here, which I cracked up at. Each of the characters has their moment of action, as the film rocks from set-piece to set-piece in an overabundance of bombs, bullets and blades. All of this is enjoyable because the actors are gladly not taking any of this seriously. The scene-stealers this time are Gibson, who is enjoying this role as the villain like Van Damme was in the last movie, and Banderas, who’s hilarious and is very much like Rocket Raccoon from “Guardians of the Galaxy.”

Cline said in his review, “The film's simplistic morality dictates that none of the Expendables will meet their maker; instead, anyone who dares to confront them must die, which in this case means hundreds of faceless soldiers whose violent deaths are treated as meaningless (and edited cynically to get a PG-13/12A rating that lets kids watch).” Since the action is nonstop, it doesn’t allow much time to recollect yourself or to think about the plotholes. This is a movie that tells its audiences to just sit back and enjoy the violence, gasp the insane stunts and love the not-so-good digital effects that allow these old men to get into a lot of physical brawls. Cline ended his review by saying, “Not to mention the plastic surgery that almost makes them look like they belong in the middle of the fray instead of at home playing with their grandkids.”

In the end, I thoroughly found myself enjoying this trilogy, even though I admit that these are mindless action flicks. Producer Avi Lerner stated that there will be a fourth and fifth movie. Also, they are planning to have a spin-off with female action stars called “The ExpendaBellas.” It's sad that Bruce Willis did not return, but that was because of money negotiations where he wanted $4 million, but they gave him $3 million. They sadly couldn't even get Mickey Rourke to reprise his role as Tool, but he wasn't even in the film that much. Seagal said that he didn't want to be a part of this franchise because of a bad experience he had with Avi Lerner. If you haven’t seen this trilogy, definitely check it out. It's worth renting on DVD. The third movie might not be in theaters, but if it’s playing in your area, go see it, if you have seen the first two. If not, then wait for the DVD to come out. Remember, go see the first 2 movies before seeing the third one.

Thank you for joining in on this long post on "The Expendables trilogy." Stay tuned this Friday when we finally finish off "3 Ninjas Month."

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)

Alright dudes, the wait is finally over. I finally saw the new “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” movie today, which was released last month, and now I will let you all know what I thought of this awesome movie.

Nearly 25 years after the original Ninja Turtles film was released in theaters, this reboot, which grossed $125 million, is the start of a new franchise when you look at the production values.

Kirk Baird of The Blade said in his review, “The turtles look great, move gracefully on screen, and exhibit character and reptilian charm.”

With director Jonathan Liebesman as the leader, it’s surprisingly a lot of fun. You might think this film is mindless and silly, but I don’t think so, and like I said before, it’s a lot of fun, with the main parts of the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” there.

April O’Neil, played by one of the hottest actresses, Megan Fox, is a TV reporter who just wants to cover all of the crime stories all over New York City. She crosses her fingers that with all of the research she has been doing on the Foot Clan (who Baird says, “a name derived because these evildoers step on everyone good in the city”) will boost her career.

Vernon Fenwick, played by Will Arnett (who you might remember as Gob Bluth on “Arrested Development”), is her cameraman, whose understanding for her difficulty is driven mainly by desire.

Eventually April comes really close in her story before the turtles come to save her. Unless you have forgotten the turtles’ names: Leonardo, played by Pete Ploszek and voiced of Johnny Knoxvill, wears the blue mask and is the leader of the turtles, who is normally calm. Raphael, played by Alan Ritchson, wears the red mask, is the strongest of the four and has the shortest temper who often likes to compete with Leonardo. Donatello, played by Jeremy Howard, wears the purple mask and is the smartest of the four, with a forte in technology that helps the turtles out when they are fighting crime. Michelangelo, played by Noel Fisher, wears the orange mask and is the comic relief, the simple and most laid-back of the turtles, and has a crush on April.

The turtles are all about six-feet tall, have an immense ability of ninjitsu and acrobatic skills along with super strength, and their shells protect them from a stream of bullets.

If you all know the basic, the turtles like to crack jokes, eat pizza, and fight crime.

They also live in the sewers, where they’re taught by a rat who they consider their father, Splinter (Danny Woodbury and voice of Tony Shalhoub), a rat who was mutated, along with the turtles, in a laboratory through the experiment of scientist and affluent corporate leader Eric Sachs (William Fichtner). The turtles’ arch-enemy Shredder, played by Tohoru Masamune, who is also the leader of the Foot Clan, wants the ooze that mutated Splinter and the Turtles for an evil plan.

You might be trying to make sense of all this, but should you really make sense in a bodacious Ninja Turtles movie.

Baird said in his review, “Liebesman was a director on the rise based on the trailers for 2011’s Battle Los Angeles, but the film tanked, and 2012’s Wrath of the Titans — a minor improvement over 2010’s Clash of the Titans — didn’t do his career any favors.”

Liebesman quite possibly is trying to start a radical franchise, now heavily on our nostalgia for “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” that was once insanely popular, and since this film was released in August, that is usually a dead zone for films.

This is why this film works. Liebesman notices that he’s got nothing to lose, so he puts in everything, holding just about nothing back. A dizzying down-the-snowy-mountain chase scene which has all four turtles, a truck, and bad guys in their SUVs, for instance, is adrenaline rushing and exciting. Don’t be afraid of missing anything. Baird noticed that, “here’s also a more than passing resemblance to Tim Burton’s Batman (1989) in the film’s quirky camera shots, dark tone, and even several plot elements.”

As director, Liebesman looks like the perfect dependent of Michael Bay. Since Bay produced “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” this pairing makes sense.

You will know that there are significant differences between the two.

Liebesman’s action sequences are far more contained and with far less sounding chaos around them than in a handful of Bay’s work. Unlike the “Transformers” movies, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’” cartoonish combat helps the story out rather than trying to replace it.

Even though this isn’t a great, tubular movie, it’s not a bad one either.

“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” is meant for the fans of the turtles’ franchise: the original comic books, the animated shows, the video games, and even the previous films.

Other cast members include one of the funniest comedians, Whoopi Golberg, as Bernadette Thompson and Minae Noji as Karai.

In the end, I’m happy that I saw this film, although I will admit that it’s nowhere near as good as the original. Still, it’s worth checking out, in my opinion, so you should check it out while it’s still in the theaters. It’s funny, action-packed, and has a lot of drama that will hold your attention, unlike the “Transformers” movies.

There was one part where near the end when the Turtles go into the building and they think they found an elevator but it's only a huge batch of Foot Soldiers, one of the kids in the back of the theater said, "Dang! They ran into a whole army." I cracked up laughing at that remark.

Good news is that they are planning on making sequels to this movie, so we should hopefully see more familiar characters from the show soon, like more of the Channel Six crew and the other villains. Turtle Power to that!

Well dudes, I hope you enjoyed my review on all the TMNT movies as much as I have reviewing them. Thank you for tuning in on all my reviews of the films and thank you for your patience for my review on the remake. Stay tuned this Friday for the finale of "3 Ninjas Month." COWABUNGA!!!

3 Ninjas Knuckle Up

Now I will talk about the third in the “3 Ninjas” series that should have ended with the first film, “3 Ninjas Knuckle Up,” released in 1995.

Joe Leydon of Variety said it best in his review, “The third time isn’t the charm for this latest adventure of the pint-size chopsocky heroes. TriStar is going through the motions with token theatrical exposure but it won’t be long before this uninspired installment in the kidpic series hits the video shelves.” Believe it or not, this film was actually filmed before “3 Ninjas Kick Back, which would explain why Michael Treanor and Chad Power are in this sequel and not the last. This movie turned out to be an even bigger disappointment than the last one, but you could probably figure out very quickly why TriStar thought it would be a good idea to keep making sequels.

Leydon said in his review, ““Knuckle Up” (which bears a 1992 copyright date) is thoroughly second-rate in all regards, with slapdash production values, cartoonish performances, by-the-numbers scripting and ridiculous martial-arts fight scenes that won’t convince any youngster old enough to watch “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.””

Simon S. Sheen, who also directed the first “3 Ninjas,” tires to lighten up this movie with a handful of clowning that would be funnier if the Three Stooges were doing them.

Once again, Rocky (Treanor), Tum Tum (Power) and Colt (Max Elliot Shade), are spending their summer with their Grandpa Mori (Victor Wang), who also is their marital arts sensei. Sadly, the brothers have plenty of opportunities to roundhouse kick, karate chop and basically injure many of the adults, who play the villains.

Alex S. Kim’s standard script shows the three brothers defending a Native American tribe against a cruel businessman named Jack, played by the late Charles Napier, whose dumping toxic waste on the Native American’s land. Of course Jack has evil thugs and corrupt city officials, including the Sheriff (Don Stark) and even the Mayor (Vincent Schiavelli), to make sure the Native Americans are in line. Now you can predict the formula, because our three main heroes and Grandpa Mori (along with his stunt double) once again prove that they are too much for the villains. Even though this film is only 85 minutes long, is feels really padded. Levy was right on the money when he said, “There’s barely enough plot for a half-hour episode of a weekly TV series spinoff.” Also, there’s even less effort put in with the acting, writing and filmmaking methods to interest anyone who is over the age of 10.

Do yourself a favor and avoid this one at all cost. You might be thinking, “But it has a good moral message with the toxic waste being dumped on the land.” Well sure, but it works better in other films than this disgrace of a sequel. Look out next week when I finally finish this series off.

3 Ninjas Kick Back

Who would have thought that “3 Ninjas” was good enough to have a sequel made? Well, they must have because in 1994, they released “3 Ninjas Kick Back.” I think this movie was made not only to make money, but also with their eyes on the international movie market. Set mostly in Japan and adding a female ninja to the three brothers, this sequel succeeds in communicating the positive and fun elements from both the Japanese and American cultures. Emanuel Levy said in his review, “This sequel may not be as big a bonanza as “3 Ninjas,” Disney’s 1992 sleeper hit, but TriStar should expect strong response from children of all ages.”

The second in the series puts our three main characters, Rocky (Sean Fox), Colt (Max Elliot Shade) and Tum Tum (Evan Bonifant) on two different stories. The three brothers have to help their Grandpa Mori, reprised by Victor Wang, return to Japan to give a ceremonial dagger he won 50 years ago to the new winner of the Ninja tournament. On top of that, they have to return home on time for their upcoming baseball game, where their team, the Dragons, play against their rivals, The Mustangs.

In search of the dagger, which is a key to a secret gold cave, Grandpa’s old nemesis Koga, played by Sab Shimono, hires his nephew and two rockstar friends (Dustin Nguyen, Jason Schombing and Angelo Tiffe). Largely played, and wearing ridiculous wigs and costumes, they are exactly like the villains from the last movie, which Levy describes them as “more bumbling buffoons than villains,” and also give the reason for some funny fights and severe physical comedy.

To broaden the story’s request, scriptwriter Mark Saltzman sensibly adds a girl, Miyo, played by Caroline Julio King, whose skills let her teach the boys a new move or two in martial arts. Miyo also becomes Colt’s girlfriend, the teenager who begins to experience cramps of the heart.

Levy stated in his review, “A new bicultural and reconciliatory tone underlies “3 Ninjas Kick Back.”” Some of the previous American movies have showed heated competition and lack of sympathy toward Japan. However, this film strains the similarities of the countries and what kids of both cultures can learn from one another. Staying with Miyo’s family, the Americans get a geography lesson, eat Japanese food, and improve their karate. In the same vain, Miyo gets a firsthand lesson of American culture.

Charles T. Kanganis, who has directed a handful of action movies, knows that the essential factors in some adventures are comic energy and fast pace. Indeed, expecting a few of unnecessary scenes, like the one’s involving our main character’s parents (Alan McRae and Margarita Franco), pic benefits from kinetic humor and fast pacing.

Levy said in his review, “Tech credits, notably the lensing and colorful production design, are most proficient.”

The film’s moralistic dimensions are so well put together into the narrative that they’re hardly noticeable. Levy even stated, “Still, as in “The Wizard of Oz,””The Secret Garden” and other classic fairy tales, younger viewers will get a flavor of a new and “dangerous” magical world with a healthy dosage of traditional family values, such as security of country and comfort of home.”

Want my honest opinion? Not only is this film feeling more like another cash-in to copy “Ninja Turtles,” but it almost feels like it’s copying “The Karate Kid II.” Seriously it does, with the traveling to Japan and Rocky falling in love with one of the Japanese girls. Don’t you think that, for those of you who have seen this movie? If you get the chance to not see this one, do so. If you have seen it from your childhood, do yourself a huge favor and save yourself from seeing this again because you will not like it.

Now that I got that out of the way, let’s try to recollect ourselves before next week when I look at the third in this horrible franchise.

3 Ninjas

Well, it looks like you children are back in school for another year. To add on to your misery, this month I will review another franchise that ripped-off Ninja Turtles. I’m of course talking about the “3 Ninjas” franchise. For those of you who grew up watching “3 Ninjas,” you might have liked it as children, but now, looking back, you probably don’t remember it fondly. To prove that, I will review the first “3 Ninjas” movie, released in 1992.

If you were one of those kids that either begged your parents or you were allowed to watch violent movies like “The Karate Kid,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” or “Home Alone,” save yourself from the misery of “3 Ninjas.”

However, if you only saw those movies as harmless, cartoony enjoyment, then consider “3 Ninjas” in the same ballpark. Actually, think of it as a clone.

The story, which Chris Hicks described as “little more than an outline for three big set pieces,” shows three brothers (Michael Treanor, Max Elliott Slade, and Chad Power) learning karate from their aging but very agile grandfather, Mori Shintaro (Victor Wong).

There’s a subplot in this movie that shows the typical workaholic dad, FBI agent Sam Douglas, played by Alan McRae, who makes his kids learn martial arts while he basically ignores his family. Want to guess what the moral will be at the end of the movie? Also, the boys bump into your typical school bullies, played by Baha Jackson and Scott Caudill.

Most of the film focuses on this evil gunrunner named Snyder, played by Rand Kingsley, whose evil plan is to kidnap our three main heroes so that their father will leave him alone. On top of that, Snyder was taught in his youth by Shintaro.

Like all movies, the first fight sequence is the opening, which shows the three brothers being trained by their grandfather and end up meeting Snyder and his henchmen for the first time. The second arrives when three goofballs (D.J. Harder, Race Nelson and Patrick Labyorteaux), as described by Hicks as “talk in Waynespeak (as in "Wayne's World"),” attempt to kidnap the boys while they are sleeping but failed because the brothers set up this film’s version of the “Home Alone” traps. The third is the final fight on the docked freighter, which is a one-on-one battle between Shintaro and Snyder.

All of these three fight sequences are subjected to cartoon sound effects and lots of comedic variations on how to fight people, to make them light-hearted, which Hicks described it “resembles a Tom and Jerry cartoon.”

Hicks said in his review, “For me, "3 Ninjas" had its amusing moments but was also tedious at times. For the kids who surrounded me it was terrific — they laughed, hooted and cheered the three young heroes, with whom they obviously identified.”

Here’s something that you will be asking yourself when watching this movie: How come Shintaro is Asian and no one else has at least one Asian trait? Also, he’s their mother’s father, and the mother, played by Margarita Franco, isn’t Asian. Hicks asked, “Was it really necessary to cast Mom and the kids as WASPs?”

This film contains bloodless violence (well it should since this is a kids movie), some disturbing moments like when a gun is put to a kid’s head, some soft bad manners, such as the expected low blow kicks and a scene where one of the kidnappers drinks laxative and gets diarrhea, which isn’t anywhere as funny as it was in “Dumb and Dumber.”

Overall, avoid this film. The director, Jon Turteltaub, luckily got out of directing the other sequels, but the rest of the people who worked on it didn’t. This film is the reason why you should never combine “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” and “Home Alone,” it doesn’t work. However, like I had mentioned, they didn’t stop here, so look out next week when I look at the first sequel in the franchise for “3 Ninjas Month.”