**_A brother & sister face the challenges of a new life and school south of Miami_** After a tragedy, military siblings (Shannon Presby and Lori Loughlin) are forced to stay with their eccentric uncle & aunt in southern Florida, where they offend the local toughs at their school. Eric Stoltz plays a guy who’s interested in the sister while James Spader is on hand as the lead antagonist. "The New Kids" (1985) is cut from the same cloth as “The Karate Kid” from the year prior, just without the sports angle. It has similarities to “Tuff Turf,” which was released one week earlier and also features Spader, albeit as the protagonist. This one lacks the musical and comedic elements of “Turf” and is comparable to “Dangerously Close,” which came out the next year. Stoltz would go on to star in “Some Kind of Wonderful” a couple of years later. Loughlin is smart and winsome, but it’s blonde Paige Price who stands out on the feminine front as Karen. If you like any of the 80's teen movies mentioned and their contemporaries, “The New Kids” is worth checking out, although it’s not great like "The Karate Kid,” not to mention "Dangerously Close" and "Some Kind of Wonderful" are superior. One issue is that it’s overlong by about 15-20 minutes. Speaking of which… The film runs 1 hour, 50 minutes, and was shot in Miami-Dade County, Florida, including Homestead and Perrine, which are in extreme southeastern Florida. GRADE: B-
