3 Ninjas is a 1992 American martial arts comedy film directed by Jon Turteltaub, starring Victor Wong, Michael Treanor, Max Elliott Slade, and Chad Power. It was the only 3 Ninjas film produced and released by Touchstone Pictures. The film is about three young brothers who learn martial arts from their grandfather.
Plot
Each year, Samuel Jr.(Michael Treanor), Jeffrey (Max Elliott Slade) and Michael Douglas (Chad Power) visit their Japanese grandfather, Mori Tanaka (whom the boys affectionately refer to as Grandpa), for the summer. Mori is highly skilled in the fields of Martial arts and Ninjutsu, and for years he has trained the boys in his techniques. He is played in all movies by Victor Wong.
This year, Mori presents the boys with new "ninja names":
- Samuel Jr. becomes "Rocky", because he is "strong, solid and cool as granite rock", a reference to not only his physical strength and toughness, but his ability to remain strong and cool under pressure (green).
- Jeffrey becomes "Colt", because he is "fast and free, a spirit of a young wild horse". This name becomes one he lives up to, as he is more challenging and rebellious than his older brother (blue).
- Michael becomes "Tum Tum" because his "energy begins and ends with his tummy". Like his brothers, he lives up to his name, eating during most of the film, and finds himself torn between his brothers opposing views (yellow).
When Tum-Tum inquires if their father will be home the next day, Mori reacts with speculation that he has a very troublesome job and does not know. Meanwhile, Sam Douglas (Alan McRae) leads an FBI task force to a warehouse for an undercover meeting with one Hugo Snyder (Rand Kingsley) under the guise of purchasing warheads from him. When he is pinned, Snyder manages to escape by dropping a group of hidden ninja, who lay in wait in the rafters. When he returns to his hideout, he explains his relationship with Sam to his assistant Mr. Brown (Joel Swetow) and bodyguard Rushmore (Toru Tanaka) is a little more personal, having known Douglas for years since his former mentor and master Mori Tanaka trained him. Though Douglas hates martial arts, he married Mori's daughter Jessica (Margarita Franco). Being that Sam is a hitch in Snyder's side, he plans to play Mori a visit.
On their last day at the cabin, as the four discuss the importance of family in the bond of Mind, Body, Spirit and Heart, Snyder arrives in a limo and "tests" his old master by sending his ninjas after him. Defying their grandfather's orders to stay in the house, the boys draw off a few of the ninjas and fight them. After they are victorious, Snyder and Mori talk. Snyder threatens Mori with his life and the life of his family if he does not cooperate and get Douglas off his back. Mori refuses, but is irritated when Snyder wins in a subtle show of strength before leaving. Turning back to the boys, Mori teaches them their final lesson for the summer; using a dummy, he teaches them pressure points to disable an enemy that can be much larger than they are. The eyes light up when they strike correctly. While Rocky and Colt debate that Snyder seemed like "an old friend" of grandpa's where Tum-Tum notes that he "didn't look very friendly" to him. When the boys return home, they arrive on time to meet their father, talking to his partner Kurl. He is less than enthusiastic when they try to show him what they learned during their summer trip, and even more irritated when they tell him their new Ninja names. Sam has to leave abruptly, and the boys greet their mother. Emily (Kate Sargeant) approaches Rocky, telling him that she likes his new name, stating that it's "cute" which grosses Tum-Tum out. Meanwhile, to further his own aims, Snyder arranges a kidnapping of the boys, however since they are all under FBI surveillance, Brown cannot volunteer to grab them, instead he hires his surfer nephew Fester (Patrick Labyorteaux) and his idiot best friends, Hammer (D.J. Harder) and Marcus (Race Nelson) who interrupt their convenience store robbery to take the job. However, they cannot gain entry when Sam arrives home and invites several agents into the house as well.
That night, Colt and Tum-Tum taunt Rocky by chanting "Rocky loves Emily" over and over while Rocky makes plans for her to ride with them to the first day of school the following day. The next morning, amidst the hastle, they manage to depart on bicycles to school. Enroute, the trio spot them and attempt to give chase but they get a fender bender with a police cruiser. Emily becomes separated while the boys are jumping their bikes through a construction site and has her bike stolen by a group of large bullies. She becomes mad at Rocky for "showing off" and leaves to walk the rest of the way to school. At recess, Colt encounters the same bullies and in a show of face, he and Rocky challenge the large lead bullies to a game of 2 on 2 basketball, giving the bullies a 9 point lead, they prompt to show off to the school and beat them in the game, winning back Emily's bike. Meanwhile, a frustrated Snyder tells Fester and his buddies to get the children before midnight, prompting Brown to assist as backup if needed.
As Jessica is leaving a babysitter behind before going to pick up Sam from work, Colt discovers a photograph of Snyder, being the case Sam is working on he and Rocky suspect that somehow Mori has teamed up with his old friend and both are bad guys. Fester, Marcus and Hammer manage to subdue the babysitter with a pizza, locking her in a closet, and as they feast before their felony, Colt informs Rocky and Tum-Tum who assert that if they can take care of the "robbers" themselves then their ninja training would be seen as worth the time to Sam. Setting up an array of booby traps, such as pepper bombs, a tie used as a noose, and a soda cup filled with a laxative, they manage to weaken the intruders. However the criminals discover a communications device used for Emily and Rocky to talk to one another and trick Emily into coming over, and she is taken hostage. Confronting Colt and Rocky, Marcus and Hammer, who had drunk from the laced soda suddenly had to depart to use the bathrooms, leaving their guns and hostage in Fester's hands. When Fester inquires where Tum-Tum is, Tum-Tum attacks from a mounted boar above the door and Emily punches the surfer out. When they free the babysitter, Brown and Rushmore appear, and Rushmore's sheer size is too much to fight, the trio end up getting captured.
Sam and Jessica learn from a note Emily was instructed to give them that Snyder is responsible for the mess, and Mori offers to sneak in and rescue them. After doubts from Sam, Jessica manages to convince him that Mori is their only hope. Mori slips into Snyder's hideout, while the boys trick their guard with a "phone check" using the receiver to knock him out and escape. After several confrontations through the ship they are being held in, they come across Rushmore in the middle of a training floor. Mori appears overhead, to the relief of the boys who were beginning to doubt their loyalty to him, and he instructs them to use their dummy training from the beginning of the film to "light this fat boy up!" and they manage to knock Rushmore out. Mori reunites with the boys, as Snyder confronts Mori. Prompting that if Mori defeats Snyder in a fight, he would let the family go free. During the fight, Snyder gains the upperhand by using a pepper bomb on Mori, blinding him temporarily. Mori returns the favor by shoving a handful of Tum-Tum's jellybeans down the gloating Snyder's throat, causing him to choke. Refusing to accept defeat, Snyder grabs a gun from one of his subordinates and in turn is shot in the arm by Sam, who had appeared on deck of the ship in an FBI raid. As the group is bandaged up from their encounters, and the bad guys are led away to jail, Sam apologizes to Mori and tells Kurl to fill out the reports himself because he had a whole family of heroes he needed to take out for pizza. Mori quietly detests "I hate pizza" before joining them.
Characters
List of characters from the 3 Ninjas movies
Sequels
References
External links
