I, like most of you I’m sure, watched 3 Ninjas religiously as a kid. Growing up, the VHS tape was basically on repeat in our house for years. So much so that my brothers and I still have in-jokes where we quote it to this day.
Last night, I decided to watch it for the first time in years and it was just as stupid, cheesy and enjoyable as every other time. Out of curiosity I decided to look into the trivia on IMDb for the movie. Come to find out that the version I’ve always known is actually not the original version. Instead it’s a supposed watered down version that was trimmed by Disney to be more kid friendly. This meant cutting scenes, adding cartoon sound effects over fight scenes, and even changing certain events in the script. All of this was done only for the American distribution. Everywhere else outside the U.S. has seen the original movie.
Initially when I heard this, I was heartbroken. How could one of the defining movies of my childhood be some shameless kiddie imposter? I felt cheated out of the real experience. So I decided to find the original cut on YouTube and see for myself how different it was. And upon further inspection...the U.S. version still takes the cake.
The international version and the U.S. version, for all intents and purposes, are the same movie. But it comes down to the little things that make one superior to the other. For starters, almost every scene in the original has an extra line or two that gets cut out for the American version. And for the most part, it is totally justifiable. Many of them are just dead weight lines that serve no purpose. Like Tum-Tum, while locked in the jail cell of the battleship near the end, telling his brothers “Hey look! My scab came off.” Is this supposed to be funny? I don’t know and clearly the producers didn’t either because now it’s gone.
Along those same lines, pacing becomes a bit of an issue. I know, pacing in a movie about ninja kids. But it really does affect the international version. Many of the scenes overstay their welcome when we already understand what is supposed to be happening. We get it, just move to the next scene now please. For instance, back on the battleship again, the 3 boys actually run into their Grandpa in the hallway, but they don’t embrace him right away because they don’t trust him due to his connection to the main villain. To prove his worth, he throws a knife into a ninja behind them and kills the guy. Then later Grandpa comes back again to save them when their surrounded in the dojo by Ninjas with guns. They both have the same purpose and make things sort of redundant. In the U.S. version, Grandpa makes his big entrance when the boys have the guns on them and it makes for a much more satisfying moment.
Also, believe it or not, I like the cartoon sound effects. Yes they are goofy and silly, but that’s what the movie is supposed to be. It’s a family film about kids beating up bad guys. Disney clearly understood the more serious tone would not have landed with people, and the sound effects really saved that aspect. In that same vein, the music also helps the U.S. version. The international version has many scenes with no score at all and it makes for such a dull sequence. The editing and tonal adjustments from the studio really saved 3 Ninjas, as much as you can save a movie like that.
Lastly, I just want to note that the famous basketball scene is completely changed in the international version. Rocky and Colt actually lose the game and don’t get the girl’s back bike. Then, at the very end, we get a scene where Rocky whoops up the Boyz-N-Tha-Hood bully and gets it back, something that clearly was shot the same day as the basketball scene but is presented like its days after. Shame.
In conclusion, if you’re in the U.S. and grew up on 3 Ninjas, see for yourself and check out the original cut. It’s a perfectly harmless experience and is very interesting to see all the minor changes that were made for the American version. But for my money, the cut that I’ve known for years still stands above the other.
Submitted January 11, 2019 at 11:27AM by barlowrider http://bit.ly/2H3C79y
