The Karate Kid is born.
Honestly this film should have been a one off, as you can tell from my other reviews of the franchise the rest of the Daniel run are not good and get steadily worse.
This film works well as not only does it have all the standard beats of a sports movie, but it also has a lot of emotional depth for Mr Miyagi and makes him a rounded character, they could have relied on racist stereotypes and cliches but they didn’t for the most part.
I thought the bullying storyline was very played out even for the time period it came out, but I did like the evolution of the fight your bully and stand up for yourself storyline turning it into this grand sporting event. Doing this allowed the film to feel a little like the later Rocky films but on a smaller scale as its aimed at kids.
Daniel works as a blank slate that you can project yourself onto as a kid, rather than how he gets in the later films.
Overall, a solid teen sports movie with its heart in the right place.
3/5
Pros.
It is a good sports film
It has a good soundtrack
It is fun
Cons.
Some elements are generic
Its predictable
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