3 Ninjas (1992)

3/5

3 Ninjas is a movie I loved as a kid. I would watch and rewatch it--much like I would Austin Powers--and reenact scenes with my brother. Watching it again, I was amazed to realize how many sequences and jokes I remembered. (The boingy sound effects add so much replay value, especially with alcohol.) The plot follows three young kids (Treanor, Slade, Power) who are trained by their grandfather (Wong) in ninja martial arts. Their father (McRae) is an FBI agent who is trying to catch a nuclear weapons transporter (Kingsley). The bad guy has three surfer doofuses try to kidnap them, but they fight back like a cooler version of Home Alone. This is a movie with plot holes, shallow characters, and ridiculous improbabilities. But it's a fun, silly movie that's worth a quick 90 minutes if you used to watch it and wanted to reminisce on your childhood.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103596/

Léolo (1992)

4/5

Léolo is an immensely entertaining, instantly lovable, genre-defying, darkly comic coming-of-age drama of sorts. Think Cinema Paradiso meets American Beauty. It is just as unforgettable, but with a few more flaws. Léolo is the story of the titular character and his method of coping with his imposing family life via creative writing and dreaming (the most memorable of course being his conception by a Sicilian tomato). It is difficult to determine why exactly I love this movie so much; suffice it to say that it connected to me. I realized how universal it was--feeling out of place in your family, discovering sexuality, and learning life lessons--while being completely unique and charming. It manages to be so real while being composed almost entirely of a boy's imagination.

Yet, there are flaws. A number of events near the end seem to be tacked on, to have little purpose, or to confuse unnecessarily. They took this movie down from a 4.9 (and potentially 5) to a 4. Technically, there were cinematic flourishes, but also less than impressive shots and editing (too many fade to blacks, in my opinion). The music was beautiful--worldly, oppositional, yet organic--that served as a perfect companion to the piece. The movie as a whole seems almost an oxymoron, of sorts, or at least an internal battle. Ebert got it right in his Great Movies review: "How can [Lauzon] create these characters, so grotesque, and make them human, and have sympathy for them? How can Leolo be so weird and inward, so angry and subversive, and yet somehow so noble? How can this story hurtle itself in every direction, and yet find a destination?" Not progressing chronologically, but thematically, the plot really consumes you. And because of its complexity, the movie is sure to remain in the memories of all who see it. I absolutely recommend this movie.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104782/

The Last of the Mohicans (1992)

3/5

The Last of the Mohicans feels more like a Mel Gibson movie than a Michael Mann movie. The plot follows the French and Indian War as an action movie, a romance, and a historical period piece. But it doesn't quite live up to expectations as a Michael Mann action movie because he spends too much time on the other genres, and he's much much better as an action director. It took bits and pieces from varying genres and threw them together with no regard to its target audience. In addition, there were a number of subplots that were never followed up on (e.g., the colonials defending their homeland). Because there were so many, you leave not really knowing the point of most of the movie. I felt like it could have been a 30-minute movie and I still would have gotten the same overarching message. The action was too tame; it felt like a PG-13 movie and not an R movie. Where was the Michael Mann I know and love? Also, the dialogue he fills his movies with is usually slick and cool. There wasn't much of that in this movie, and it felt like he sacrificed that for generating a mood of time and place. Which is a shame, because I love his dialogue.

And yet there are a great number of positives. It was extremely well-shot and well-edited. That is what kept reminding me that it is not a Mel Gibson movie--it looked too good. They really took advantage of their locations and sets, and shot setups and framings were absolutely phenomenal. The music, while overbearing sometimes, was overall very effective at kick-starting the action and getting your blood pumping. While there were a number of subplots, they actually fit together quite nicely. The relationship that blossomed between the two minor siblings was unexpected and unique, fleshing out the story. Also, I didn't realize it would go so in depth into the "bad guy's" background and reasons for seeming so inhuman. It was a surprising and quite welcome asset to the movie that made it a richer action movie than I expected. And there are bits and pieces that are just stand-out. One line of dialogue I can't stop thinking about because of its subtler meanings and the fierceness with which Daniel Day-Lewis delivers the line: "They're not strangers, and they stay where they lay." Overall, a pretty good movie, but it left me feeling just a bit unsatisfied.

IMDb link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0104691/

Aladdin (1992)

4/5

Aladdin is a Disney classic, well-loved by all. Watching it again brought me back to when I first saw it as a child. I could remember all the times I laughed, sang along, and got scared. It's a remarkable whirlwind of an experience. Robin Williams is incredible as Genie, as is Gilbert Gottfried as Iago. The rest of the acting, enh. Acceptable. I was surprised to see the use of CGI in the movie, forgetting it had been there. It was actually quite seamlessly interwoven with the drawn animation for its time and to the untrained eye (but not so much for me now). The music is just plain unforgettable. The plot is a bit simple and contrived; there's not much there except to propel the characters to do the next thing on the Disney to do list. The jokes were very kid-oriented, with a couple lines thrown in there for the adults. I think there is a shift though in modern animation, with movies like The Incredibles and Shrek having a much greater percentage of adult jokes than previously. But there are also almost no songs to sing along to anymore, which saddens me. Perhaps it is for this reason that Aladdin is one of those treasures you always remember. They just don't make 'em like they used to.

IMDb link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0103639/