Warriors Of Virtue Review

Warriors Of Virtue
A young man, Ryan, suffering from a disability, wishes to join the other kids from his schools football team. During an initiation rite, Ryan is swept away through a whirlpool to the land of Tao.

by David Parkinson |
Published on
Release Date:

01 Jan 1997

Running Time:

102 minutes

Certificate:

PG

Original Title:

Warriors Of Virtue

Everyone thought Ninja Turtles were a stupid idea (they were, too), but that's beside the point. Nobody thought that the Teletubbies would catch on, yet they have and are making someone, somewhere a small fortune. So we shouldn't really be at all surprised if our younger brethren had taken the titular heroes of this kid flick, five kung fu fighting kangaroos, to their hearts.

To be brutal, the Warriors Of Virtue are little more than Power Rangers with pouches. Each one has its own virtue to defend and uses one of the planet's five elements to uphold it. (Yes, apparently there were already five (someone should have told Luc Besson.)

The land of Tao is on the verge of ruin, as its mad ruler Komodo (MacFadyen) is guzzling his way through its supplies of life-giving "zubrium". The Roos have the power to stop him, but they are divided and only Ryan (Yedida) (a crippled kid who has fallen into their world through a sewer) can bring them together by deciphering the Book Of Legend. Which, of course, he is able to do, despite being from another world.

It's all pretty standard fantasy stuff. But Hong Kong action director Yu adds some original touches, particularly the leaves that accompany the slow motion fight sequences. He also gets a suitably manic performance from MacFadyen, who struts around the Narnian sets like the lead singer of a heavy metal band.
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