Line #7 YMMV/ThreeNinjas


1	* AccidentalAesop:
2	** "Kids, if you get into trouble with an armed assailant, don't bother calling the police. You can dispatch him on your own."
3	** Considering they were successfully kidnapped and put Emily in danger, another one could be "Support your kids so they don't [[WellDoneSonGuy feel like they have to prove themselves]] by getting into dangerous situations".
4	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Sam has notable distaste for martial arts in itself, but was this really the reason he wanted his sons to stop seeing their grandfather, or was he concerned about Mori's connections to Snyder, whom Sam is trying to capture.
5	* AndYouThoughtItWouldFail: Despite being picked up by Creator/{{Disney}}, there was not much hope for the success of the movie and at best producers were hoping for a good VHS sales and rental market run, but it turned out to be a theatrical hit and became popular in 90s kids culture.
6	* AntiClimaxBoss: In the third movie the brothers beat their way past [[TheDragon JJ]] and several other goons with practically no difficulty in the film's final fight scene outside the courthouse, which probably lasts less than a minute. These are goons they have already beaten up several times over the last couple days (demonstrating both the boys' superior skills and leaving those thugs sore all over and not at their best) and the suspense is less about the fight than getting into the courthouse in time to let the witness on the stands know his kidnapped daughter is safe and he can tell the truth. It is further justified due to being the only movie in the series were none of their opponents are trained martial artists, with the possible exception of a random biker (a short guy in a bandanna) who matches Colt move for move briefly in the middle of the ghost town fight. They're just thugs with fists, baseball bats, rifle buts and the like (although there are a ''lot'' of those thugs).
7	* CriticalBacklash: There are those who don't find the sequels (or at least not all of them) as bad as they are said to be.
8	* EndingFatigue: ''3 Ninjas Kick Back''. Instead of ending after the main plot wraps up, the film goes on another while to resolve the baseball subplot from the beginning.
9	* FirstInstallmentWins: The first film is usually considered to be the best compared to its subsequent sequels.
10	* HarsherInHindsight: In the original film, when the titular ninjas were returning home from their summer break with their grandfather, they joked about murdering their teacher, though they never made any indication that they would actually do it. Long after the release of this movie, there have been several high-profile school shootings, Columbine being the most famous. No, this movie was not the impetus for the killings.
11	* HilariousInHindsight:
12	** This is a film series about Ninjas, the fourth film had a ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' expy, and one of the villains (specifically the DragonInChief) was named Lothar. Is this where Disney got the idea for ''Series/PowerRangersNinjaStorm?'' It's even more funnier when you consider that Colt's actor in the fourth film, Michael O'Laskey II, played a young version of Rocky [=DeSantos=] in the second and third seasons of ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers''.
13	** In ''3 Ninjas Kick Back'', Colt defeats [[BigBad Koga]] by throwing a ball into his gun, causing it to explode. In ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry2DiddysKongQuest'', you defeat [[FinalBoss Kaptain K. Rool]] by throwing cannonballs into his gun.
14	* HollywoodPudgy: Michael from the first movie is meant to be the Token-Fat Kid typically found in family films like this, always seen stuffing his face with junk-food and is even given the nickname "Tum-Tum" by his grandfather. With that said, he is no more fat than his brothers. In fact, he's the ''smallest'' one.
15	* MemeticMutation: "Rocky loves Emily, Rocky loves Emily..."
16	* NeverLiveItDown: The third movie is often viewed as having good fight scenes and somewhat interesting characters (for the genre, anyway) but a lot of criticism or ridicule comes from how a long break in filming caused the actors playing the boys to grow taller between scenes (although it's easy to overlook considering the almost non-stop action scenes in the second half of the movie).
17	* {{Sequelitis}}: Three sequels, and each one did worse than the last at the box office and in critical reception. The last one, ''High Noon at Mega Mountain'', [[FranchiseKiller tanked the franchise completely]].
18	* SignatureScene:
19	** The HomeAloneAntics in the first movie.
20	** In the second movie, escaping to the hang gliders.
21	** The fight with the biker gang in the ghost town and the pizza parlor fight from the third movie.
22	* TemptingFate: In the first movie one of the kidnappers said that the boys were probably nice kids. Several butt-kickings later, however...
23	-->'''Fester:''' [Still out of breath from his earlier garroting] I say we kill those little boogers!\
24	'''Hammer:''' But, like, I thought we wanted them alive?\
25	'''Fester:''' I want ''us'' alive, dude!
26	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: The crazy ninja in face paint in the first film. The guy is an AxeCrazy ScreamingWarrior, and unlike his goofier ninja brethren, is [[WouldHurtAChild legitimately threatening towards the kids]]. Yet the boys quickly dispatch him with a blast of steam and pulling his pants down, without even a temporary fight.
27	* ValuesDissonance: In the first movie, Rocky calls his brothers "retarded" when they keep [[ShesNotMyGirlfriend saying he loves Emily]]. While it was still an insult in TheNineties, the word hadn't yet gained its modern-day reputation as an offensive slur against the mentally handicapped.

Context YMMV / ThreeNinjas