Synopsis
Each year, three brothers Samuel, Jeffrey and Michael Douglas visits their Japanese grandfather, Mori Shintaro whom the boys affectionately refer to as Grandpa, for the summer. Mori is a highly skilled in the fields of Martial arts and Ninjutsu, and for years he has trained the boys in his techniques. After an organized crime ring proves to be too much for the FBI, it's time for the 3 brother NINJAS! To use their martial arts skills, they team up to battle the crime ring and outwit some very persistent kidnappers!
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Cast
- Victor WongGrandpa Mori Tanaka
- Michael TreanorSamuel 'Rocky' Douglas Jr.
- Max Elliott SladeJeffrey 'Colt' Douglas
- Chad PowerMichael 'Tum Tum' Douglas
- Rand KingsleyHugo Snyder
- Alan McRaeSamuel Douglas Sr., FBI
- Margarita FrancoJessica Douglas
- Kate SargeantEmily
- Joel SwetowBrown
- Professor Toru TanakaRushmore
Recommendations
- 63
Boston Globe
3 Ninjas is a skilled balancing act, a throwback to Disney's old live-action family films, starring and targeted to pre-teens. [07 Aug 1992, p.30] - 63
Chicago Sun-Times
Despite the obvious rip-offs of other films, the cartoony, slapstick humor does generate enough charm to pull chuckles from a young audience. But too much of the action - the sword-fighting and basketball stunt scenes, especially - looks distractingly fake. [08 Aug 1992, p.26] - 60
Los Angeles Times
A lively, good-looking kiddie action comedy best left to those under 10. Although their attention may wander, parents can be grateful that there's some substance as well as fun in this Disney release, for martial arts is presented as a matter of defense rather than aggression, emphasizing that it is a matter of mind and spirit as well as body and requiring resourcefulness and discipline. - 50
Miami Herald
The fight sequences are well handled, the three leads are pleasant (and quite good, it seems, at the martial arts) and the violence is bloodless and amusing, with all kinds of cartoon sound effects thrown in to soften the chop-socky violence. If the audience at a sold-out Saturday afternoon showing I attended is any indication, 3 Ninjas delivers the promised action-packed, empty-headed goods. As long as your age is still in the single digits, that is. [10 Aug 1992, p.C6] - 50
San Francisco Chronicle
3 Ninjas is shoddy, violent and numbingly pointless, an action comedy in which three brothers spend their summer practicing martial arts under their grandfather's tutelage. [07 Aug 1992, p.C4] - 40
Empire
Brazenly exploitative stuff, stirring in anything which has done the business in kids' movies previously, this, of course, should have its target audience laughing like drains. - 40
The New York Times
The film can't seem to make up its mind whether it wants to be a comedy, a fantasy or an adventure film. Mr. Kingsley's villain gnashes his teeth and snorts, I love being the bad guy. Those who displease him are threatened with the tearing out of a heart or liver. The character ends up being neither scary nor funny, while the boys are so busy demonstrating their superhuman skills that no personalities emerge. - 30
Austin Chronicle
3 Ninjas is basically harmless, but it's not entertaining enough to fully engage adults or the under-12 set -- especially once the popcorn and sodas have been polished-off.
