The Karate Kid franchise began in 1984 with the movie straightforwardly titled, The Karate Kid. It starred Ralph Macchio as the titular character, Daniel LaRusso, and Pat Morita as his mentor and father figure, Mr. Miyagi. It was a simple underdog story but achieved significant financial success and became a classic of the 80s over time.
The movie's critical and financial success led to three sequels (and a cartoon spin-off) over the next decade, a reboot in 2010, and a follow-up YouTube Red turned Netflix TV series. There were several ups and downs throughout the franchise but plenty worth remembering.
7 The Karate Kid (1984) Excelled Due To The Actors' Performances
The Karate Kid (1984) follows Daniel LaRusso incurring the wrath of a pack of bullies led by Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) and eventually, their Cobra Kai karate sensei, John Kreese (Martin Kove), after maintenance man and hidden martial artist Mr. Miyagi saves Daniel from a beat down. Thus, the parties decide to settle their feud by competing in a local high school karate tournament.
The younger cast brings simple but effective likable performances. Kove is enjoyably theatrical as Kreese, while Morita brings a previously unseen range of emotions to his role, with a passionate student-teacher relationship between him and Daniel. The fight choreography and training montages remain timeless. While the film isn't without its cheesiness, it's befitting of the period.
6 The Karate Kid Part II Continued The Story And Upped The Ante
The Karate Kid Part II has Daniel and Miyagi travel to the latter's village in Okinawa to visit his dying father and make amends with his old friend Sato Toguchi (Danny Kamekona) and former lover Yukie (Nobu McCarthy). While there, Daniel falls in love with Yukie's niece Kumiko (Tamlyn Tomita) while developing a rivalry with Sato's nephew, Chozen (Yuji Okumoto).
The opening felt out of place with the remainder of the film, and Daniel's bitter off-screen break-up with the first movie's girlfriend, Ali Mills, was somewhat weak. The film also treats Daniel's story as a b-plot. However, the new settings and characters are entertaining, and Miyagi's character receives further depth. The film furthermore ups the stakes with a death battle.
5 The Karate Kid Part III Was A Shoddy Retread Of The Original
The Karate Kid Part III showed Kreese destitute and broke after losing all his students due to strangling Johnny at the beginning of the previous film. He considers giving up, but his long-time war friend Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith) takes it upon himself to help Kreese get revenge by manipulating Daniel for the next tournament.
The film repeats too many of the first movie's beats, such as the setting and characterizations, without the charm or stakes. In addition, most of the characters notoriously make poor decisions. Its only upside was Griffith's performance as Terry Silver, which proved to be enjoyably hammy in an otherwise uninteresting film. The follow-up series years later would even take the occasional swing at the movie's foolishness.
4 Most Fans Forgot About The Karate Kid Cartoon
.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=750&dpr=1.5)
In 1989, NBC came out with a Karate Kid cartoon loosely based on the previous movies. It followed Daniel and Mr. Miyagi attempting to recover a small stolen Okinawan shrine with supernatural powers. Each episode has them come close to retrieving it, only to lose it again.
Despite some decent animation, a catchy theme song, and Morita reprising his role as Miyagi, its lack of association with virtually anything to do with the movies kept it from attracting a fanbase on the same level. Moreover, NBC changed the show's syndication, leading to its cancelation after a mere 13 episodes. While the show in no way represents the worst of the franchise, the choices regarding its creation are somewhat bizarre.
3 The Next Karate Kid Backfired In Attempting A New Story
The Next Karate Kid decided to take a different route from the previous three movies by not having Ralph Macchio return as Daniel nor anything to do with them aside from having Miyagi. Instead, it followed Miyagi helping the bitter teen granddaughter, Julie Pierce (Hilary Swank), of his commanding officer during World War 2.
Despite the best efforts of the two leads, several problems within the film bogged it down. First, most of the dialogue lacks substance. Then, the villains are too cartoony without the theatrics that made previous antagonists such as Kreese and Silver enjoyable. On top of that, the karate elements and several other scenes serve little to no purpose, nor are there any stakes until the swiftly-handled and underwhelming climax.
2 The Karate Kid (2010) Had Potential
The year 2010 saw a remake of The Karate Kid (1984). It followed Dre Parker (Jaden Smith) and his mother moving from Detroit to Beijing and facing the wrath of the town bully Cheng (Zhenwei Wang). He meets a maintenance man named Mr. Han (Jackie Chan), who helps teach him kung fu to fight back against Cheng and his cronies in a tournament.
The most significant problem is that the movie teaches kung fu despite its title. Chan makes for an engaging mentor and even successfully nails some dramatic moments. Wang gives a solid bully performance, and the action is well-choreographed. However, Smith's performance left something to be desired, and the original had more fun and memorability with every aspect.
1 Cobra Kai Cemented Itself As A Solid Continuity Of The Original Movies And Its Characters
2018 saw a sequel TV series to the original Karate Kid movies titled Cobra Kai. It followed the down-on-his-luck has-been Johnny Lawrence reopening the Cobra Kai dojo to make ends meet and relive his glory days. His decision comes to the chagrin of a now-successful Daniel, leading to the return of old feuds and alliances and the formation of new ones.
Zabka's performance and the story of Johnny's redemption lie at the series' heart, leading to the show's best comedy and sincerity. The show brought the best out of the original characters, and introduced new ones, many of whom grew just as significant and engaging as the original ones. Furthermore, it worked with the films' shortcomings rather than ignoring them.