kandit1 This movie didn't know what it wanted to be. The whole plot simply doesn't make sense. Like with the first sequel, main characters disappear without explanation and new ones are added. Also like the sequel, they play horrible ball to start with despite being such a good team. Can talent be switched on and off like offense in a wrestling match? The whole story of the team going to Japan just doesn't make sense. The side plot of Kelly pursuing a relationship is also thrown in without any thought. By the end, you don't care who wins or even if they play at all. In fact, baseball is not even the focus of the movie and the child actors play very minor roles.Just a terrible movie that never should have been made.

nikeno71 THE BAD NEWS BEARS GO TO JAPAN was decent because you still have a majority of the cast still there. They still have foul mouths and can play the game, but Tanner was sorely missed and a few of the other boys. Ogilvie is really missed as well. The brain has to be in the movie. He's the baseball whiz. Amanda would've been good in 2 and 3 but Tatum wouldn't have done them. And the late great Walter Matthau would've been good in all of them too. That would've made the story much better. Originality. Same cast would've made this film really, really good. But I can say this, Kelly Leak and Ahmad Abdul Rahim were the only ones really representing in this one. Being the only tough guys left from the last two. Ahmad's little brother Mustapha made a cool introduction as the little guy. And Kelly and the girl subplot was kind of weird. All in all, more baseball and less wrestling would've been better. But you gotta love the Bears.

stevenfallonnyc OK, so in the "one line summary" I use the words "horrifically" and "unbelievably" to describe how bad this film is. That's only because coming up with words strong enough to describe how incredibly and unfathomably (there's two more) bad this film is, is actually very difficult.Why did I even view this? I did like the first one, and the second kinda sucked. So in the video store one night a few years back, looking for something new to view, I rented this because I had never seen it, and it was 70's Japan so I thought maybe there would be some cool Godzilla references, because I am a huge Godzilla fan.This film was so awful, it shocked even me. As the film ended, I got very angry. Angry at myself, angry at those who made it, angry at everything. I took action. I wrote a fierce letter to the director demanding he send me my $2.00 rental fee back. (I know, "whoo boy you told him!"). Hey, I wanted my money back! Of course I never heard from him. Maybe he was dead. Maybe he heard it all many times before!Anyhows, yes this film is a joke and a half. And the Godzilla references? Nothing direct, just a "tv commercial" for a baseball bat featuring a kid who uses the bat to knock down a monster trampling over cheesy miniature buildings. It had absolutely nothing to do with anything and was obviously stuck in there just to show the monster trashing some cardboard little buildings. Oddly enough, it was the best part of this film.

jrs-8 It had to happen. After the success of "The Bad News Bears" and "Breaking Training" the film execs at Paramount knew they had a goldmine on their hands and couldn't leave well enough alone. They started on the right track by enlisting Bill Lancaster to write the script. He also authored the original. Sadly that is where the similarities end."The Bad News Bears Go To Japan" is one of the worst films of the 70's. It's so bad the many of the kids from the first two don't even appear in this one. The ones that do are given little to do save for team leader Kelly Leak who gets to romance a young japanese girl. The love story is laughably bad.The coach this time around is Tony Curtis playing a con man looking for his next score. Curtis looks as if he is in a trance as he sleepwalks thru the film.And the worst part? There is very little baseball in a movie about little leaguers!!! We get more scenes of sumo wrestling. The one baseball game we DO get is badly directed and comes so late in the film you may have either fallen asleep or turned it off.And why send the kids all the way to Japan? A bit far fetched don't you think? Apparently the first film was a smash hit in Japan, playing in one theater for over a year. That says it all. The filmmakers knew that no matter how badly it bombed here (and it did) that they would have a hit in Japan (and it was). Too bad they didn't care that the product they were presenting was no better than a student film on a tiny budget. No. Take that back. A student film on a tiny budget would have to be ten times better than this pathetic "comedy."