If you liked "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" and "Wayne's World," you would like "Surf Ninjas." It didn't get very good reviews, because the reviewers were expecting logic. No, this movie is as zany as the other aforementioned buddy movies, and just as unpredictable.
Two Asian-American brothers, Johnny and Adam along with their crazy sidekick Iggy are living a good life surfing and studying as little as possible in a California coastal town. They are drawn into an adventure when suddenly ninjas start appearing and try to assisinate the two brothers.
Through a series of events the brothers learn they are princes back in their long-lost homeland and must make a journey to help liberate their country from an evil dictator played by Leslie Nielsen.
Their adventures along the way are a riot, especially with the big-talking Iggy who always seems to be waxing his board rather than actually surfing. There are a few scenes along the way when the brothers must defeat groups of Ninjas who mysteriously appear at the worst times. Tone-Loc also joins them as the Police detective assigned to the case. Johnny is very surprised to meet his "intended," Princess Ro-May played by the lovely Kelly Hu, who also makes the journey.
The photography of their beautiful but mysterious homeland was actually worth seeing on the big screen, with the ocean, the mountains, the jungles, and even an ancient temple. I believe it was filmed in Thailand. To invade the evil empire, the small band led by Johnny surfs into the beach.
If you want a logical movie, Maybe "Titanic" would do. But for an absolutely crazy buddy movie, "Surf Ninjas" will get you laughing.
Surf Ninjas
1993
Action / Adventure / Comedy / Family / Sport
Plot summary
Brothers Johnny, an adolescent surf talent, and Adam, a preadolescent video-game addict, grow up care-free in California as adopted sons of Marines veteran Mac, inseparable friends of wacky local lout Iggy. Colonel Chi's military reign of terror culminates in their tiny birth-land, island state Patu San, off the Viet Nam coast. Former royal guards officer Zatch comes to summon the brothers to return and restore the pacific monarchy, because they are the sons of the murdered king, whom Mac took in exile for safety. They are joined on the adventurous journey by a bored Californian police detective whose attention was drawn by the ninja team that failed, thanks to Zatch, to murder the brothers in Mac's home.
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A Funny Buddy Movie!
a little low for Leslie Nielsen, but good just as straight-forward entertainment
OK, so "Surf Ninjas" is one of those movies that they crank out every once in a while about cool kids clobbering dumb adults. If this one was meant to be completely silly, then they succeeded in every respect, so it's funny if we accept it as such. I will say that it's weird to see Leslie Nielsen as a maniacal tyrant, but even he does some neat stuff. As for the surfing factor, who doesn't love to see some of that on screen (even if, like me, you've never surfed in your life)? There's no shortage of straight-forward entertainment here.
So, it's truly the sort of movie that you watch for pure self-indulgence. Don't approach as you would a Fellini or Kubrick movie.
Chicks got a veil, dudes gotta bail....
Brothers Johnny, and Adam, grow up care-free in California as adopted sons of Marine veteran Mac, and friends of Iggy. Colonel Chi's military reign of terror culminates in their tiny birth-land, island state Patu San, off the Viet Nam coast.
Former royal guards officer Zatch summon the brothers to return and restore the pacific monarchy, because they are the sons of the murdered king, whom Mac took in exile for safety.
They are joined on the adventurous journey by a Californian police detective whose attention was drawn by the ninja team that failed, thanks to Zatch, to murder the brothers in Mac's home.....
I can really honestly understand why some people would think that this is a great film, it was made twenty years ago, and if I saw this when I were fifteen, I'd probably say the same thing.
I didn't, I'm thirty five and saw this last week, but it was because I had to see it, because the poster was fantastic in 1993.
Bottom line is, the film isn't very good, the leads are pretty bright and breezy and Schineider looks odd, but it rolls along at a steady pace without bothering anybody or any brain.
As for Nielsen, he really didn't need to be in this, probably just in it to attract the Naked Gun audience.
If you saw it back in the day, I envy you a little, because I missed it and so did the inner child in me.