Sidekicks (1992)

I know I'm in trouble when the movie's ad poster tells me everything I need to know about the movie. I look at the poster, I see a blonde kid alongside Chuck Norris with a Yin-Yang symbol over their heads and I already know this much: (1) The kid is picked on (2) he dreams of a beautiful girl who barely recognizes him (3) there is a bully who makes his life miserable (3) Chuck will face down a nemesis who is just his size; (4) The presence of Chinese actor Mako in the film means that we have a Mr. Miagi clone in the midst (5) The movie won't end with everybody sitting down to tea and discussing their feelings.A description of the movie would be an exercise in futility since you know already how it turns out but since my high school composition teacher told me to always write as if no one has ever seen the movie here goes. Jonathan Brandis plays Barry, a scrawny kid, the target of a bully and a sadistic gym coach. Also in his life is pretty Ms. Chen his teacher who feels sorry for him and introduces him to her Uncle Mr. Miagi – oh oh I mean Mr. Lee. Also on hand is a vicious karate master (Joe Piscapo) who seems to have leaped out of a comic book because he seethes his hateful villainy with his very breath (I tried to imagine a satire in which he is asleep and snoring and seething his joyful villainy while clenching his fists).Barry has chronic respiratory problems which prevent him from a lot of activities so he invents a fantasy world for himself in which he fights alongside Chuck Norris to kick the bad guys into submission and win the girl. So, it's not surprising also that when Chuck shows up at a charity karate match and faces down the evil karate master. The presence of Chuck Norris in the film as a helpful, wise nice guy reminded me of those PSA in the 70s in which a shadow looms over a bunch of troubled kids and they all look up and gasp 'Wow, Chuck Norris!' If any of this sounds like a 'Karate Kid' wannabe to you then you aren't the prime candidate for this movie because I think the filmmakers are depending on an audience who has never heard of that particular film (sorry guys, there aren't many).

I'm not sure what kind of a movie this is. Is it a Chuck Norris movie, or a comedy that has Chuck Norris in it.Chuck Norris is in it and doing his usual actions, but it's not part of the real story. It's part of some kid's day dreaming. The life surrounding the kid is written as a comedyThe quality of the movie is not bad. It has good production, and not bad of acting. The kid's character is not strong enough to be the focus of the story, and Chuck's potential is hampered by having the kid as the center piece. Same goes for other actors.It's a good movie for teenagers, but not for Chuck Norris or martial arts movie fans.

Nothing like a kid day dreaming. It's what we all did. Every single one of us. When I was young I would stare out the window and dream about everything under the sun. If this were my true story I would have it be anyone but Chuck Norris. The guy had his day but not anymore. Can the guy even kick high anymore? I'll give him one thing though. Even though he's played a tough guy for all those years at least we wasn't too cool to be in this kid flick. I remember when we was in an old Bruce Lee film. After that he did nothing but cool guy tough guy roles where he had a bunch of fight scenes in every movie so he could show of his skills. The movie its self wasn't too bad.

This was the first Chuck Norris movie I ever saw and it hooked me to his career. This light hearted movie is perfect for people of all ages and can be seen again and again. It really stresses the important values of martial arts training and the stereotypes surrounding them when comparing Lee's (Mako) and Stone's techniques. This is a great family movie and one that I have recommended to family and friends for over a decade. The cast for this movie could not have been chosen better if Aaron and Chuck had tried. In many ways the actors are able to pull the viewers back in time to when they were in high school and remember what it was like. You can relate to these characters which only makes this film better. Again I would recommend this movie to anyone five and up.