History Film / ThreeNinjas

* WeaksauceWeakness: Subverted. A mouthful of jellybeans would normally be a pretty stupid secret weapon, but Grandpa stuffs them down the BigBad's throat with the intention of choking him long enough for Grandpa to gain the upper hand.

-->--''3 Ninjas Kick Back''

* HollywoodGenetics: Subverted. While it is clear they are trying to justify [[MightyWhitey white-washing]], and things are stretched when it comes to the Douglas brothers, It is possible for the children of someone of Asian descent and education to not appear entirely Asian themselves. The more an ethnic group reproduces outside of its own, the more the common genetic traits of that ethnic group are diluted. The grandfather married a white woman, making the boys' mother half-Asian, and the mother married a white man, making the boys only a quarter Asian. With so little Asian blood left, they are more likely to resemble their Caucasian father; the only ethnic trait dominant enough to survive is the characteristic tilt to the eyes (which they do not have). Famous people who are quarter Asian include Dean Cain, ChadMichaelMurray, Mark Paul Gosselar, and Rob Schneider, none of whom look remotely Asian. That said, their mother is played by an actress who is [[FakeMixedRace clearly not half-Asian.]] Maybe she is adopted...? It's also possible that Mori is only half-Japanese, or had one Caucasian grandparent on each side of his family.

* RecruitTheMuggles: In 'Knuckle Up'', while the main focus of the reservation fight scene is on the main characters, there are a few brief shots of the previously cowed tribal members fighting back as well.

The ''3 Ninjas'' series is about three young brothers who are trained to be ninja-like by their grandfather. The original ''3 Ninjas'' is an 1992 martial arts comedy, directed by Jon Turteltaub. It features Mori Tanaka (Creator/VictorWong), a Japanese grandfather who teaches his American grandsons martial arts. Three of the four films were produced by Shin Sang-ok (as Simon S. Sheen), most known for directing ''Film/{{Pulgasari}}''. Yes, it's that guy!

%%%* BadBoss: All of the Big Bads, though Snyder is by far the worst.

* BadassMentor: Grandpa doesn't just train the three brothers, he has his own fight scenes.

--> '''Marcus''': [beat, nods] Dude!

--> '''Colt''': Where are all the weapons?! The slingshots, the knifethrowers?!

* FamilialFoe: The BigBad of the first movie is a sworn enemy of both the eponymous brothers’ paternal grandfather (his former mentor, who hates him for turning evil) and father (a federal agent investigating him for arms smuggling). He sets out to kidnap the boys to get leverage against their father and grandfather, and ends up pretty frustrated with the boys due to how competent they are at fighting his men.

* DarkerAndEdgier: ''Knuckle Up''. The film was given a PG-13 rating and includes scenes such as Rocky going up against a KnifeNut.

* KnifeNut: Rocky goes up against a knife-wielding mook early on in ''Knuckle Up''. After winning the fight, he comments that it's bad to play with knives.

** In ''Knuckle Up.'' Jo's dad starts out as a DistressedDude, but he's the one who discovered the evidence of Jack Harding's illegal waste dumping in the first place. He also withstands four days of torture, and he and a friend manage to fight off and escape several mercenaries who attack them in the final act.

** In ''Mega Mountain'', there are two Aesops. First, that if a ninja's head swells up with pride, they lose focus and cannot see despite having eyes, so humility is an important virtue (as well as the ability to sense your environment using your ears rather than your eyes). Second, growing up may mean seeing your idols in a more negative light (Rocky and Colt think they've "outgrown" their grandpa's ninja training and need to move on to "bigger things", and Tum Tum (plus a young boy at the park) sees that Dave Dragon isn't as perfect a fighter as he is on TV), but they may still have admirable qualities for you to learn from.

* BigBad: The primary villains in the movies are as follows: Snyder in the first movie, Koga in ''Kick Back'', Harding in ''Knuckle Up'', and Medusa in ''High Noon at Mega Mountain''.

* BrutalHonesty: When Medusa's thugs take Dave and a bunch of park visitors prisoner, a young boy asks Dave if he is really a hero or merely a stage actor. Dave, not wanting to shatter the boy's fandom, can only say that his Closed Fists are not very effective against firearms.
* BumblingHenchmanDuo: In "Knuckle Up", the cowboy-hat wearing head henchmen always has the same two goons backing him up. Three Stooges-like hijinks occur.

** "We Should Run!" "We Should Hide!" "We Should Kick Their Butts!"

%%%* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Harding in ''Knuckle Up.''

* DancePartyEnding: Subverted. About halfway through "Knuckle Up", the heroes have rescued the Love Interest's dad and break out in a flawlessly choreographed ninja/break-dance performance, but are interrupted by the villains arriving to begin the second act.

-->(Cut to-) ''Grandpa knocking out a mook as he climbs onto the ship to rescue the boys.''

* {{Greed}}: This is the primary motivator of the BigBad in the second film, the third, and the fourth; in ''Knuckle Up'', Jack Harding is trying to cover up evidence that his business is polluting the land, which if revealed would get his business shut down. In ''Kick Back'', Koga is trying to find a hidden chamber of gold, and as a youth was willing to try to steal a dagger from Mori because that dagger would lead him to the gold. In ''Mega Mountain'', Medusa is trying to take over an amusement park just for ransom money.

* TheHyena: Ishikawa, TheDragon in ''Kick Back,'' is prone to mean-spirited, braying laughs.
* ImprovisedWeapon: "Everything around us can be our friend. Be friendly to our environment. That is the ninja way." About a minute later, Rocky takes out a mook with a ''telephone''.

* InsistentTerminology: The brothers argue back and forth during the original film's opening narration about the use of "My brothers and me" vs "My brothers and ''I''." And don't forget that Fester and his goons aren't robbers, they're ''kidnappers''.
* InsultToRocks: Tum-Tum insults TheDragon for stealing his donut in ''Kick Back.''

* KnifeNut: Rocky goes up against a knife-wielding mook early on in ''Knuckle Up.'' After winning the fight, he comments that it's bad to play with knives.
* LampshadedDoubleEntendre: In ''Kick Back'', Miyo is skilled in ninjitsu but wants to learn how to be better at baseball. Her speech pattern has her jumble the words "bat" and "butt". She wants to [[DoubleEntendre "kick bat"]] and "Swing my butt!"

* LetsGetDangerous: In all films except "Mega Mountain", the grandpa gets a moment where he cuts loose after being kindly and calm for most of the film.

* NotSoHarmlessVillain: Medusa from ''Mega Mountain''. She doesn't seem too threatening an antagonist at first, as her plan only involves taking over the Mega Mountain amusement park to extort ransom money from its owner, Harry Jacobson, but then Medusa reveals that if Jacobson doesn't cough up the money by 3:00, Medusa will sabotage the rides and ''kill people!'' And so many would die that Medusa jokes the park would be renamed ''Murder'' Mountain. Later, she attempts to run over Rocky and Jennifer by remote-controlling a roller coaster, and near the end, Medusa first threatens to make Amanda work as her slave, and then attempts to ''kill Amanda with a bomb.'' Given that ''Mega Mountain'' is the campiest film in the franchise, Medusa turns out to be a much nastier villain than she first seems to be.

* ParentsInDistress: Jo's father is in trouble at the beginning of ''Knuckle Up.'' Unusually for this trope, this is solved halfway through the movie, as the three ninjas and Jo are able to rescue Jo's father very quickly. Unfortunately, Jack Harding then resorts to having Jo herself kidnapped instead.

* PunnyName: The kids' dad's FBI partner, Jerry, is listed in the credits as "FBI Agent Kurl." So he's Jerry Kurl.

* TotallyRadical: "Cake" which could be "Piece of Cake." In fact, in ''Knuckle Up'', the DVD subtitles actually write it as "Piece of cake" at one point.

** In ''Kick Back,'' Ishikawa is last seen after being knocked unconscious in a tunnel system which later collapses.

** In the climax of ''High Noon at Mega Mountain,'' the heroes blow up the ship Medusa and several of her henchmen are on. Medusa is arrested after she swims ashore, but there's no sign of the four bumbling henchmen who jumped overboard with her, making it unclear whether they escape, drown offscreen, or are arrested floundering near the wreck. Additionally, there are at least two RedShirt {{Mook}}s on the ship who ''aren't'' seen jumping off, and it's unclear if they die in the explosion or manage to abandon ship offscreen.

* WithGreatPowerComesGreatResponsibility: A major plot point in ''Knuckle Up''. Mori berates the boys for not only using their ninja training to show off, but also for causing property damage to a pizza parlour, even if it ''was'' to help a girl who was being harassed.

** In ''Knuckle Up,'' Jo spends a lot of time as a DamselInDistress. Still, she injures some goons with blunted arrows while helping rescue her dad and knocks out a biker during the fight at the ghost town.

* ActionGirl:
** Miyo practices martial arts just like the three brothers.
** In the first movie, Emily isn't a trained fighter like Miyo, but she does kick the man holding her hostage in the shin and then punch him in the face, then casually says, "No sweat."
** In ''Knuckle Up,'' Jo spends a lot of time as a DamselInDistress. Still, she injures some goons with blunted arrows while helping rescue her dad and knocks out a biker during the fight at the ghost town.
* AdultFear: Having your children kidnapped or threatened by a criminal is indeed scary.