Warriors of Virtue Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.0

Warriors of Virtue Blu-ray Movie Review

"This is stupid! Let's make like Tom and cruise!"

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown January 8, 2025

A young boy enters a strange world where he is befriended by five anthropomorphic, kung-fu slingin' kangaroos (yep, you read that correctly), each of whom represent a different element and virtue: water/benevolence, fire/wisdom, metal/righteousness, wood/order, and earth/loyalty. Together they face an evil ruler for control of a mythical kingdom of fantasy and imagination. Soooo.... Flight of the Navigator, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and The NeverEnding Story wrapped in a scroll of Chinese mysticism. Warriors of Virtue isn't exactly original -- Angus Macfayden does his absolute best to out-Bowie Labyrinth's Jareth -- but it tries. Oh how it tries. The bits that go into its creation are too familiar, though, and the results are hamstrung, overwrought and chaotic to say the least. Hopping from one sliver of exposition-laden adventure to the next, it struggles to gain momentum and constantly, and I mean constantly, fights its own battle with Macfayden for control of the tone and story.

"We all have our cocoons, Ryan. It's the struggle to free ourselves that makes us who we truly are."

Directed by Ronny Yu in his English-language debut (often a sign of troubles ahead), Warriors of Virtue stars young Mario Yedidia as middle school student Ryan Jeffers, a bullied child with a disability that prevents him from running and playing sports like other children. Dared to cross a waterway to add his name to a wall of graffiti, Ryan tumbles into the water, only to awake in a strange place where he meets five mystical, anthropomorphic warriors -- Yun (performed by Jack Tate and voiced by Scott McNeil), warrior of water with the virtue of benevolence; Chi (J. Todd Adams, Doug Parker), warrior of fire with the virtue of wisdom; Lai (Don Lewis, Dale Wilson), warrior of wood with the virtue of order; Yee (Doug Jones, Doug Parker), warrior of metal with the virtue of righteousness; and Tsun (Adrienne Corcoran, Kathleen Barr), warrior of earth with the virtue of loyalty -- and realizes his leg works as he always wished it would. Did he really tumble into another realm? Is he suffering a severe concussion? Is he dead? The film doesn't seem interested in such things, rushing off to reveal the true threat in the kingdom: Kimodo (Macfayden), a batty, glam-rock warlord who's been betraying the warriors and their master, Chung (Chao-Li Chi), drinking from the Lifesprings of Tao to stay young forever.

Ryan meets a cast of characters in quick succession; some who seem good, like a dwarf named Mudlap (Michael J. Anderson) and a mysterious girl with questionable allegiances named Elysia (The Sandlot's Marley Shelton), some who are definitely not so good, like Kimodo's henchman General Grillo (Tom Towles), Mantose (Lee Arenberg), Dullard (Stuart Kingston) and Barbarocious (Joie Qu Ying). It seems he has something that has caught everyone's attention: a scroll (which he just so happened to bring with him from Earth) that Komodo covets and believes to be an ancient manuscript of great power. Cue Komodo lurking in his lair, copping Alan Rickman's Sherrif of Nottingham routine (to far less effect) and Ryan teaming up with his new kangaroo pals to stop tyranny from taking control of the realm. Can Ryan save the kingdom and return to his homeworld? Will he ever learn the value of virtue? Will he get to see his mother (Teryl Rothery) again and apologize for being a bad kid sometimes? Stakes are... high-ish, but Ryan is learning the power of the planet! Erm, love! No... virtue!

Beset by its odd mashup of better properties, Warriors of Virtue plays like a film spit out by ChatGPT, swapping turtles for kangaroos, Fantasia's magic for China's mysticism, and colorful glam villains for ludicrously colorful glam villains (I guess that one's more of an amp up than anything else). The chunky stew churned out of the machine doesn't go down easily either. It kind of gets stuck in your throat, tasting too bad to swallow but seeming too gummy to spit out. Fight scenes are tiresome but also choppy and erratic, with poor editing that makes it difficult to follow what the hell is going on. Performances are largely voice-driven, while the voice talents seem to be starring in a completely different movie than the on-screen actors. FX and animatronic costuming is wonky too, with wooden mouth movements, terrifying kangaroo eyes, and stiff martial arts movements interfering with the most basic of actions. And that's before all the mystical blasts and magic booms begin filling the screen.

At its heart is a sweet morality tale of a kid who learns to embrace virtue over selfishness and fear, but the film's philosophy is such a jumble that even that loses its focus fast. Apparently, Ryan needs to learn all of life's abstract lessons in one misadventure, lest he be trapped forever... in a magical kingdom where his disability has been eliminated and he has tons of potential friends. Ha. Ha ha. I mean, come on. Why would he ever want to stay there? The fact that he gets so homesick with so much to be had is another unintentionally funny point of contention in a film full of them, as if the original script had been rewritten on the day, scene by scene, as the filmmakers pieced together a nightmare for its editor. (Which I suspect is precisely what went down.) It's all well-intentioned, mind you. Younger kids may enjoy pieces of it, if the kangaroos don't send them running from the room. (Seriously, terrifying beasties. I wanted to avert my eyes every time they spoke or emoted. Shiver.) Ultimately, it's too run of the mill, another late '90s family film trying its damnedest to rekindle the flame of the '80s classics that inspired it.

Warriors of Virtue Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Warriors of Virtue features a strong 2.34:1 1080p/AVC-encoded video transfer that's as colorful as the film's Big Bad. Hues are bright, bold and often sumptuous, with vivid splashes of blue, purple and orange dominating the screen. Primaries have staying power and black levels are rich and inky, without stamping out delineation or leading to rampant crush. Contrast is dialed in vibrantly, with only a handful of washed-out FX shots spoiling the image's consistency. Overall detail is very good too, with (mostly) clean edge definition and suitably refined texturing. You can even spot individual hairs along the head and ears of the warrior kangaroos, at least when the lighting's right. Macfayden's elaborate costumes are especially striking in their complexity, although some of the darker, more monochromatic shots of the villain seem a touch soft. Moreover, banding and errant noise are nowhere to be found. FX anomalies are a frequent issue and faint compression artifacts can be spotted at times, but none of it gets too disappointing. All told, I doubt Warriors of Virtue could look a whole lot better than it does here.

Warriors of Virtue Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Despite all its kick-punch-it's-all-in-the-mind anthropomorphic action, Warriors of Virtue doesn't include a surround track; just a solid lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo mix. Dialogue is clear and intelligible, prioritization is on point, and dynamics are decent. Voicework doesn't always match up perfectly with the kangaroo warriors' mouths, but that's a product of the film and its sound design, not an issue with the mix. Music is serviceably stirring as well, meaning there isn't much here to really complain about.

Warriors of Virtue Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The only extra included on the Blu-ray release of Warriors of Virtue is the film's theatrical trailer.

Warriors of Virtue Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

"Five is One; Positive Kung. To take a life, you lose a part of yourself."

There are far better '90s family films than Warriors of Virtue, a light action romp that wears its heart on its sleeve but gets knocked in the head one too many times. (Probably by Macfayden's broader than broad performance.) Sandpiper Pictures' Blu-ray release is at least on more solid ground, with a strong video presentation and lossless audio mix. There aren't any substantive extras, unfortunately, not even a featurette about the creation of the kangaroo animatronics and costuming, but so it goes.