This film essentially begins with a boy by the name of "Barry Gabrewski" (Jonathan Brandis) being bullied at school due to his weak physical condition caused in large part by severe asthma. As a result, he often lives in a fantasy world of daydreams in which he becomes a hero of sorts who relies upon martial arts and assists his friend "Chuck Norris" (Chuck Norris) defeat the bad guys while rescuing a beautiful damsel in distress--who always just happens to be his teacher "Noreen Chan" (Julia Nickson). Recognizing his lack of attention in class, Ms. Chan sets up an appointment with Barry's father "Jerry Gabrewski" (Beau Bridges) where it is revealed that Barry lost his mother 10 years earlier and as a result Jerry has had to raise him on his own--and this is somewhat complicated due to his extremely busy work schedule. It's during this conversation that Noreen comes up with the idea of introducing Barry to her uncle "Mr. Lee" (Mako) who just happens to be arriving soon to work as a cook at her family's local Chinese restaurant. To that effect, immediately upon meeting each other, Mr. Lee not only becomes Barry's mentor, but also his best friend as well. Yet in spite of his improving physical health, the problem with his being bullied at school still remains--and Barry will soon need to either face his fears or be forever traumatized from that point on. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that film was basically just a weak clone of the Karate Kid films produced a few years earlier. Admittedly, it does have a bit more humor here and there but, even so, there was nothing here that really stood out or managed to make much of an impression upon me, one way or the other. Now, that's not to say that this was a bad movie necessarily--it's just that it didn't offer anything really new and, for that reason, I have rated it accordingly. Slightly below average.
