Surf Ninjas - Critical Reaction

Critical Reaction

Janet Maslin of The New York Times called most of Surf Ninjas "only mindlessly watchable" and called the film "another of Hollywood's efforts to prove that the American mall mentality is at home in any corner of the globe". Maslin also found the film to lack in actual surfing content. Lynn Voedisch of the Chicago Sun-Times described Surf Ninjas as "a marriage of pop icons that simply was fated to be", citing children's love for ninjas, especially the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and for the surf culture. Voedisch considered Rob Schneider's presence as comic relief unfunny, believing that Leslie Nielsen should have received more screen time as the dictator. Calvin Wilson of the The Kansas City Star called the film "a disgrace... even by Hollywood standards", seeing it as a mess of child lead roles, unfunny cameo roles by Schneider and Nielsen, martial arts action, and lame jokes. Wilson considered the story "stale and uninspired" that involved "people we don't care about doing things we can't believe".

Stephen Hunter of The Baltimore Sun thought the film's lead Ernie Reyes, Jr. was too old and too muscular to be received believably as a 15-year-old. Hunter otherwise found the Reyes to impress with their fighting skills, though the film's martial arts sequences were "bloodless and absurd". Hunter also criticized the director for depriving the film of personality, with its lack of danger, seriousness, or spontaneity. Richard Harrington of The Washington Post found the film to be "a harmless summer's entertainment" for young people who enjoyed the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles films and 3 Ninjas. Harrington enjoyed Reyes, Jr. as the protagonist but found Nielsen to be disappointing. Paul Sherman of the Boston Herald thought that Surf Ninjas was "little more than a succession of dudespeak, surfing, skateboarding, video games, generic rock soundtrack and strained knucklehead humor". Sherman admired the story arc in which the protagonists learn to accept their destinies, but he thought that "the manufactured thrills along the way get obnoxious". Sherman thought that the film would only appeal to children under 12 years old, though the film's locations in Thailand in the second half added an exotic atmosphere.

Desmond Ryan of The Philadelphia Inquirer thought that Leslie Nielsen was deceptively portrayed in a major role similar to that of Lieutenant Frank Drebin from the The Naked Gun films, instead having merely "a running and unfunny gag about his malfunctioning answering machine and generally wasted otherwise". Ryan also found the film's dialogue to be "painful" and considered Surf Ninjas to be "beyond airheaded". Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle considered the story of Surf Ninjas to be "harmless and painfully dull". LaSalle thought that the pacing of the film was too long with only "two smirks over the course of 90 minutes". Sean Piccoli of The Washington Times thought that the film's "dull stretch" was buoyed by the presence of Rob Schneider. Piccoli compared the martial arts choreography in the film to the "cartoon fantasies that little boys re-enact on neighbors' lawns: The good guys, alone and outnumbered by the charging horde, air-punch their way to glory."

Ron Weiskind of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette perceived Reyes, Jr. as "a likable presence on screen" and Schneider to be occasionally humorous in his series of gaffes. Weiskind thought that even with the abundance of martial arts in the film, the scenes were generally too lifeless. Joe Holleman of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch thought that Surf Ninjas pushed "the right buttons to guarantee adolescent enjoyment". Holleman acknowledged that the film was "not exactly a milestone in cinematic achievement", but he applauded the acrobatic choreography and the delivery of Schneider's throwaway lines in "the movie's funniest moments". Sean P. Means of The Salt Lake Tribune described the film as a Toys "R" Us version of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, with "the cartoonish martial-arts sequences their entire existence to the villains' stupidity". Means thought that the film was ultimately "as silly as it is forgettable".