3 Ninjas Kick Back is a 1994 American martial arts film that also happens to include a good dose of baseball. It is a kids’ movie, a sequel to the film 3 Ninjas, which my younger brother and I watched repeatedly when we were kids. Sequentially, 3 Ninjas Kick Back is the third series in the franchise, the second movie being 3 Ninjas Knuckle Up.
These movies revolve around three brothers: Rocky, Colt, and Tum-Tum. Like the other two movies in the series, 3 Ninjas Kick Back starts at the cabin of the boys’ grandfather, Mori, who is also their ninja instructor. Mori plans a trip for the four of them to Japan, in order to take the boys to a martial arts tournament of which he was the champion fifty years ago. He explains that he hopes to return a dagger awarded to him at the tournament when he defeated a boy named Koga, so that it may be presented to the new winner. Additionally, Mori sees the trip as the logical next step to the boys’ ninja training, as they will be exposed to an even greater level of martial arts expertise.
Before they can embark on the trip, however, the boys are to play in a championship baseball game. The game goes terribly wrong, however, when Rocky seems too focused on a cute girl to pitch properly, Tum-Tum constantly leaves the field to get snacks, and Colt’s temper causes a fight to break out with the opposing team. Appalled by the bench-clearing brawl, the umpire calls off the game until the following week. Not wanting to miss out on the chance to win the championship, the boys vote to stay and play baseball rather than go to Japan.
Meanwhile, the boy whom Mori defeated in his youth, Koga, is determined to steal the dagger from his old nemesis. The dagger, we learn, is one of the keys, along with a samurai sword, to opening a cave of gold — at least, according to legend. In Japan, Mori gets rear ended by a trio of thugs sent by Koga, and the thugs take off with Mori’s bag while Mori ends up in the hospital. From the hospital bed, Mori calls his grandsons to let them know what is going on, only to have the boys inform him that he accidentally took Tum-Tum’s bag to Japan by mistake, and the boys actually have Mori’s bag and the dagger.
Deciding that their grandfather is more important than baseball, the boys head to Japan. There they meet a girl, Miya, whose ninja abilities far surpass theirs. Miya also happens to enjoy baseball, though she struggles with catching the ball. The boys offer to train Miya to become a better baseball player if she agrees to train them to become better ninjas.
During their trip, Koga attempts to trap the boys to take the dagger, and Mori is kidnapped in the hospital. After facing off against a number of bad guys, the boys, Miya, Mori, and Koga all end up at the location of the cave of gold. Now in possession of both the dagger and the sword, Koga is able to open the entrance to the cave, and Mori is astonished to learn that the legend is true. When Koga pulls a gun on the group, Colt throws a ninja ball (a small ball bearing) into the muzzle of the gun, causing it to backfire and start a cave-in. The group flees the cave, and Koga, now realizing the price of his greed, apologizes and leaves the group unharmed. Rocky realizes that since Japan is a day ahead of America, they can still make it home by the championship game.
At the game, we learn that Miyo has accompanied the boys on their trip back to the States and has joined their baseball team. Rocky, Colt, and Tum-Tum find themselves more capable to staying focused on the game, employing their newly-learned ninja skills on their way to victory.
As mentioned, I’ve been a 3 Ninjas fan ever since the movies first came out while I was a kid. As an adult, I realize now just how silly, cheesy, and ridiculous these movies are, but I still enjoy them. They make for good, comedic family films, and in this installment, I love the depiction on how skills in martial arts can translate in a beneficial way to baseball, and vice versa.