Recently, I've read some people posting questions on mainstream social media about suitable children's movies and this got me to think about all the movies I've seen as a child. Some weren't even suited for kids - can't remember having regulations whatsoever in my country regarding what's being aired at what time - and yet I've come out of it unscathed. Not that I know of any harm 😅.
But that's not what I'll be discussing today. Reading all of those posts on social media, got me thinking about most of the movies I've seen in my time as a child, especially those that depicted violence. Who here has seen and remembers the movie franchise 3 Ninjas from the 1990's? That franchise and Karate Kid came to mind and though they depicted fighting scenes, in my opinion those were kid friendly movies.
In 3 Ninjas three brothers - aged 12 till 8 (in the first movie) - are being taught Ninjutsu by their grandfather, who feel the need and responsibility in helping others by using their skills, even though they're still kids. The fighting and stunt scenes - against bullies and sometimes even grown ups - are mostly over the top and ridiculous when I think back and yet I enjoyed watching the movie(s). That's because of the storytelling circling the bursting scenes, about what (pre-)teens are going through and how they navigate growing up and eventually having other interests.
The only fault I have is that the cast, apart from the actor playing the grandfather (Victor Wong), occasionally had been replaced. I get that multiple factors play at hand, like actors looking older than the character they used to portray or because of conflicting schedules. But the first three movies followed each other consecutively (1992 - 1994), so the boys wouldn't have changed that fast I would think.
Another drawback, was that it was confusing to see other faces for characters that were already established. I'm not saying that the replacement(s) didn't do a good job, but it took a while for me to get used to the new faces of recognizable personas. Now, I'm also wondering how the current generation of kids would perceive this franchise, if they ever get to watch it.
