NINJA ACADEMY (1989)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *uncanny*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *psychological*

When is a movie with a big fight at the end not a combative movie? When it's NINJA ACADEMY.

That's a little coy, of course. My formulation of the combative mode depends on the idea that a work is only combative when one or more of the central characters participate in significant combat. Here, the big end fight is between the villain and one of the support-characters, as was also the case with 1962's THE THREE STOOGES MEET HERCULES.

That categorization aside, NINJA clearly copied the main schtick of POLICE ACADEMY: "misfits make good in demanding roles despite all their eccentricities." The big difference is that the goofy cops in POLICE ACADEMY have to prove that they can keep order in society, while the goofy students of NINJA are just trying to master ninja skills to gain some psychological security. They do end up defending their school against a rival ninja school, located just next door (like MEATBALLS), but that's a secondary consideration.

So the usual collection of weirdos-- a wise guy (the romantic lead), a mime, a nerd, a survivalist nut, a couple of hotties, and a British James Bond type who needs re-training. They get hard training from the sensei China (Gerald Okamura) and slightly milder treatment from his cute adoptive daughter Gayle. Okamura is nearly the only actor who has a long list of support-credits and so may be recognizable to some viewers, but most of the others didn't do much beyond this film.

That said, the performers do put a fair amount of energy into the nonsense, and the result is that it's a fun film if one keeps one's expectations low. The principals don't wear ninja costumes that often-- in fact, most of what they do looks like standard military training-- but almost all their enemies appear in full masked regalia. The spy-guy uses a couple of uncanny devices to help him get through the demanding courses, and the closest thing to a subplot is the wise guy trying to romance Gayle. The film winds up to a fairly impressive fight-scene between support-character Chiba and the leader of the mean ninjas. A silly little film, but maybe diverting if you're in the right mood.