Warriors of Virtue

This movie was actually very good for what it was trying to do, which is give a summary (very simply) of the VERY esoteric chinese philosophy of Taoism. Those who know nothing of Taoism will definitely find that this movie does not make much sense in some places.

All of the characters are embodiments of the virtues and faults presented in the Taoist Philosophy. Yes, this makes for quite the challenge to present it in childrens movie no less.

The movie is fun if you dont take it to seriously. It would seem that some of the people posting here thought they were there to see Gone With the Wind or some other Epic or adult piece. Take it as lighthearted and as a possible education on a foreign way of thought, if you are into that new things. (Then again you could just read books on Taoism to get a somewhat clearer view)

3 out of 5 for production, 4 out 5 for accomplishment

Warriors of Virtue is a rather strange movie, but I find it a great bore. While the idea of martial art marsupials seems goofy and stupid, but at least it would be entertaining. This movie, however, seems to have a consistency of dragging dialogues, confusing setups, and poor delivery. It takes forever for the action to start up, and when it does, the cinematography is unnecessary and often hard to make out. The very idea of the movie may sound silly, it had promise to at least be ridiculously entertaining, but the slow route it takes and the basic "nothingness" it envelopes kind of makes it not so much a good movie. However, the one thing that always brought me back to this film was the villain. The acting in the villain's case is just so over-the-top and enjoyably hilarious that he makes the film worth watching. Give him props because he was starred in other movies like "Titus."

This film is one of those forgotten 90s rip-offs from the Ninja Turtle fall out. It's easy to forget how insane the turtle craze was but it is also easy to forget that the original TMNT movie was actually pretty decent. Most of it's sequels and copies were not.

Which brings us to this little gem...

It's a film so bad it's good. The fight scenes are sloe-mo with wind-blown leaves for no reason other than effect. The warriors of virtue are kangaroos with martial art skills, they personify the virtues eg patience....and it's fight to the death between good and evil. All told it's a great movie for kids that the adults can enjoy while pretending to be too old for it.

After I saw this film I had mixed feelings about it. The film has a good production design and some very well done fight scenes. On the other hand it has a lousy script. As soon as anybody opens his his mouth you start to cry and beg him/her to shut it immediately because it is really annoying to hear the same old cliches over and over again. It seems that the entire budget was invested in fight scenes etc. and the pitiful rest into the story and/or the actors. I give this film 5 out of 10.

I agree whole heartedly with Gene Siskel that this was just a cheap and mediocre hybrid of Power Rangers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and a failed attempt to ride on the coattails of both franchises.

Ryan Jeffers (Mario Yedidia) is a young, disabled boy named who, after being goaded by school bullies, winds up falling into a whirlpool that transports him to a fantasy world called Tao. There he meets the Warriors of Virtue led by Master Chung (Chao-Li Chi). Together, they must defeat the evil overlord Komodo (Angus Macfadyen) before he can conquer Tao, and then move on to Earth itself.

The story moved at a sluggish pace. Ryan is largely useless and spends more time complaining and asking questions than actually helping the heroes or impacting the plot. In fact, the titular warriors aren't very complex and don't get much chance to shine, thanks to Ryan being in the spotlight most of the time. Speaking of which, the warrior costumes were cheesy and ugly with poor lip syncing and obviously fake prosthetic tails.

The stunts and martial arts moves were fairly impressive, but this was mitigated by choppy editing and excessive blurring in most of the fight scenes.

Admittingly, there was some nice scenery, such as the interior and exterior of Komodo's fortress and the lush, forested lifestream where the free people live. Plus, there were some pretty funny and over the top moments, such as when Ming used his flashy martial arts moves to prepare and deliver orders at the restaurant he works. Finally, Angus Macfadyen's hammy performance was better than the rest, and is by far the most enjoyable part of the movie.

Still, any kid who grew up in the 90s (such as myself) would have turned this down for TMNT or Power Rangers any day of the week.