Customer Reviews

The Bad News Bears Go to Japan [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Don't look on the bottom of your shoe, its this movie. If you liked the first 2 in this series, lets just pretend that it ended there. This garbage I think was supposed to be a vehicle for a Tony Curtis comeback or something. There's like 3 original Bears left and it's the 3rd string players, if you know what I mean. Not only that but they don't say much in this movie. Its all an aged Tony Curtis. If you haven't seen a BNB, go for either of their other two. BNB is a great real movie, and BNB in Breaking Training is not as solid a story but I liked better as a 10 year old because it has a great attitude.

Oh CRUD! Is this a baseball movie or a Japan documentary? If this was supposed to be a baseball movie of little league kids, they should have put a little more baseball in it. I like the humor however. But without Tanner and Lupus, the humor is dry. It's just plain garbage! I wish that they would get the TV series out on video too!! It beats the crud out of this one!!

With this third entry in the heretofore entertaining series, THE BAD NEWS BEARS franchise really struck out. While the first had the blessing of Walter Matthau and Tatum O'Neal and the freshness of the little hellions trying to be champs, and the second at least had the Bears finally winning, this third entry is so bad that there's nary a chuckle in sight---and the ball players play very little baseball. One has to wonder why Tony Curtis signed on for this one. The writer also made the mistake of focusing too much on Curtis' role as the sleazy promoter/hustler and let the kids merely form a background ploy for Curtis' illwritten character. The boys make the mistake again of not having a coach; they play ball awful; and by now their once humorous hijinx are merely annoying. Trying to mature Jackie Earle Haley to an amorous love interest for a young Geisha girl also misses the mark. In all three movies, we've watched this near juvenile delinquent smoke, drive illegally, drink beer and act basically obnoxious...fortunately, he's not in this one too much, but his mere presence only serves as a reminder to the real fault of this franchise: bratty kids can only be funny for a short time and then they are merely brats. Fortunately, this third entry pretty much ended the series, even though a short-lived tv show followed and this year's remake with Billy Bob Thortnon. Let's hope the latest remake doesn't inspire any more insipid sequels.

There is an entity all child actors fear. A malignent, evil force that will hunt them down, destroy them, leave them desolate. It is (gasp of gasps!) PUBERTY!!!

Yes, puberty! That irreverible right of passage that will turn their voices squeaky, their general appearance awkward looking - in short, it destroys them! The smart movie producers realize this, they do not try passing, say, a sixteen year old off as a ten year old, it just does not work.

Unfortunately, though, some try. The end result is usually disastrous, silly looking, mediocre at best. With this in mind, I give you a classic casualty of puberty - The Bad News Bears Go To Japan.

The movie is based on a true story. During the seventies, the little league players from Japan were so good the United States little league decided to pull out of the competition. Based on this, you have the Bears, determined to play anyways, who go to Japan. There are the usual hijinks, promoters want to make money at their expense, and so on. It is meant to be funny, and has some amusing moments, but it just doesn't work out - the kids are too old! The cutness is gone, the whole thing is stale, the movie degenerate into a farce.

There was some talk of still another Bears movie being made, in which they go to Cuba. Fortunately, common sense (and the desire not to make what would have been a Bad News Turkey) prevailed, and the Bad News Bears were laid to rest.

"The Bad News Bears Go to Japan." After all, where else could they go after playing in the Astrodome? Unfortunately, a movie series that started with a movie that really didn't need a sequel, much less two, ends down by a run, two men on and a two-out pop-up in the bottom of the 9th. Or 10th... or 15th... Another one of these movies and we're gonna have to get the commissioner's office involved.

Tony Curtis strains mightily to get laughs out of some paper-thin material, and Jackie Earle Haley is way too old to be playing in this league. The film involves his character in a cross-cultural romance, and pits the Bears against the Japanese national team, but the novelty has worn off.

You're just going to be left wondering, "Why did they bother to make this movie? Free trip to Japan?" If you're interested in how our national pasttime is played in the OTHER country where it's the national pasttime, check out the passable "Mr. Baseball" instead. At least Tom Selleck has some believable moves.

this has got to be one of the worst movies i have ever seen. the first and second were great this one sucks.this one was soooo boring. my god they should of stopped after the second one.the second one was awsome.

This movie rounds out the three Bears movies and helped pave the way to the short lived tv series of the same name. While there is very little baseball in this film (the filmmakers get to caught up with the idea of being in Japan and forget who the film is about) and Tony Curtis is not Walter Matthau (but who is?) the film still has its moments and isn't without the smallest of pleasures. A perfect film for kids around 7 years old who like baseball. All others need not bother.

The original "Bad News Bears" was great. "BNB Breaking Training" was okay. But "BNB Go To Japan" was enough to justify the attack on Pearl Harbor!

Was not impressed, in fact threw the dvd in the trash.

...All the Bad News Bears movies are good. I have all 3 on DVD at home and I watch them all the time and never get sick of it. This third one is good also. It does show the team from the first two of the Bad News Bears through the whole movie. They don't play till the end though. I think my favorite one is the second one where they play at the Astrodome that's my favorite one. It's still a classic and fun to watch.