3 Ninjas

'Last summer, me and my brothers...'

'My brothers and I!'

'Whatever. We spent the summer the way we always do, at our Grandpa's cabin'

'Yeah when most kids are at some stupid camp me and my brothers...'

'My brothers and I'

'Whatever!'

'We spent the summer learning old fashioned, really cool ninja stuff from our Japanese Grandfather'

These are some of the words that open the film 3 Ninjas
about 3 young brothers who become ninjas after being trained by their Grandpa, Mori Tanaka, played by the late, great Victor Wong.

After passing their training, the boys are given ninja names to replace their original names. These are as follows:

Samuel: Rocky

Jeffrey: Colt

Michael: Tum Tum

Rocky because Samuel is strong, Colt because he is wild like a horse and Tum Tum because, well, he likes to eat a lot like me. Not that I go around calling myself Tum Tum mind you!  

There are 4 films in total with numerous actors playing the ninjas. Michael Treanor, Max Elliott Slade and Chad Power play the ninja kids in this first outing where the villain is a man called Snyder who is a former student of Mori's and has fallen into the world of terrorism as he is looking to buy warheads. The 3 Ninjas dad, Sam Douglas, leads an FBI operation against him but ultimately Snyder escapes. Of course if he didn't we wouldn't have a movie right?

Later Snyder attacks Mori but the brothers defeat his ninjas and wind up on his bad list. This is because Snyder has known their father for years and threatens their lives if Sam doesn't back off. Then he decides to hatch a plot to kidnap Rocky, Colt and Tum Tum.

Tensions are high between Sam and Mori as Sam doesn't believe in teaching the kids ninja due to the violence involved but later changes his mind when he sees how handy it turns out to be. He doesn't approve of their names either.

Grandpa Mori

What follows is quite amusing, the kids have some pretty cool one liners and I love the banter between Colt and Tum Tum. Also there is some good action when Marcus, Fester and Hammer (a nephew and friends of Snyder's partner, Brown) attempt to the nab the kids. However they aren't the brightest and it falls down to someone else to try and finish the job.

During the film Colt and Tum Tum make fun of Rocky because of his crush on Emily which starts a phrase that would follow into at least two of the next 3 movies:

'Rocky loves Emily, Rocky loves Emily'

Some of you will likely remember that.

The film is good and quite funny but it's not my favourite of the series. You'll find out which one that is when I write about it. I have watched it many times.

Speaking of the other films, Max Slade was the only original actor to play his character in the first 3 films. By the 4th he was too old and in my opinion he was the best actor and character of the lot. Saying that, in the first 3 films they were all great actors.

This series is one of my all time favourites and I'm hoping they will bring the collection out on Blu Ray. The film isn't rated too highly but did earn 3 Ninjas a cult following...or should that be a Colt following?

Which one would you be?