'Magic Kid', or 'Ninja Dragons' as it was known back then, first came to my attention in 1993 when it was heavily previewed in a magazine called "Martial Arts Movies". At the time, I was around the same age as its main star so I certainly appreciated the idea of a young martial artist being given centre stage. When I finally got around to seeing the movie, I recall that it didn't exactly set my world on fire, but it did do enough to retain a slot in my ever-decreasing memory capacity. After recently discovering the DVD sitting in a bargain bin, I decided it might be fun to watch the film as an adult and see if it could re-ignite some of the magic in this big kid.

When Kevin Ryan (Roberts), a 13-year-old Black Belt, and his sister go to California to visit their Uncle Bob (Furst), they soon discover that he is a fast-talking, second-rate alcoholic movie agent, who owes big bucks to a mob boss. As several heavies come knocking on their door, Kevin makes good use of his fighting skills and they lead the bumbling bad guys on a high-speed chase throughout the city of Los Angeles. However, it isn't long before the hapless trio find themselves trapped in a corner, but just when everything seems lost, they are rescued by his idol, and holder of ten World Kickboxing titles (can you tell that part came from the box?), Don "The Dragon" Wilson, making all of Kevin's dreams come true.

Right now, if I could travel back in time and slap my childhood self for anything, I think it would be for choosing to watch 'Magic Kid'. Although I appreciate that in those days I could sit through pretty much anything, I find it hard to believe that this film could have even managed to maintain my attention, let alone stick in my memory to this day. Essentially, it really is nothing more than a very low budget cross between 'Home Alone' and 'The Karate Kid', but it has neither the charm nor the sense of the humour of either of the aforementioned outings. On top of this, the script is absolutely dire, with jokes that appear to have been plucked from Christmas Crackers and horribly stereotyped characters that would make even Walt Disney blush. Perhaps the funniest aspect of all though, is that 'Magic Kid' was clearly designed as an homage to the low budget action movie star and kickboxing world champion Don "The Dragon" Wilson. Now for anyone that has seen a Don Wilson movie, you will know just how bad his films can be and the idea of making a movie that idolises a crap on-screen fighter who made numerous bombs is somewhat ironic to say the least.

As for the acting in 'Magic Kid', it's fair to say that the majority of "talent" is distinctly lacking and most of the actors seem to spend the duration of the film reading from cue cards. Leading star Ted Jan Roberts is hardly what you would call a natural actor, and aside from being quite obnoxious, spends way too much time sporting a ridiculously unthreatening scowl and trying to emulate the Roger Moore eyebrow trick. Similarly, his on-screen sister played by Shonda Wimple is equally unappealing, as she is not only talent-less and annoying, but is nowhere near attractive enough to garner all the male attention that she receives. As for Steven Furst, we all know he was once a fairly well respected comedian who appeared in genuinely funny films such as 'Animal House' and 'The Dream Team'. How on earth he ended up spouting such poor material and kowtowing to a 13-year-old kid is a mystery that only his agent is capable of solving.

When it comes to the fight scenes found in 'Magic Kid', these are just as sloppy as the acting, and it's really no surprise to discover that they were choreographed by the man behind hits such as 'Bloodfist IV' and 'Ring Of Fire 2'. Much like those "classics", the editing is poor and there is really very little deviation from the standard one-two kicking combinations that were found in just about every Don Wilson movie. As for Roberts himself, he doesn't exactly have a huge repertoire of moves, and I really struggled to believe that this skinny kid was capable of doing so much damage to muscle-bound adults who were double his size. In fact, the only time the fights do become mildly entertaining is when Roberts is doubled (which seems to be way too often), but this is really only in a laughable way as the director desperately tries to disguise the doubling with poor camera angles or by inexplicably putting Roberts in an outfit that hides his face.

Although I appreciate that 'Magic Kid' is primarily a film for children, I highly doubt that even a child's mind could be oblivious to all the problems that arise. The film may hold a few nostalgic memories for people that saw it when they were a kid, but as a slice of entertainment that tries to introduce a new martial arts star, it really fails on just about every level.