Karate Kid: Legends - West Meets East

So, it's really been over forty years since Ralph Maccio learned the ways of Miyagi-Do karate. While I never saw the first one in theaters (I was only four or so), I did see the other ones. I watched the original ALL the time, because I freakin' LOVED The Karate Kid. Let's dive into the history before the quick review...

The first one is classic. From learning karate through household chores, to Miyagi beating the snot out of Daniel's bullies. The sequels were good in their own rights. You got to see where Mr. Miyagi came from and more of his backstory. The third was in a lot of ways a rehash of the first. Daniel's forced into the tournament, dips his toes into the darkside of Cobra Kai karate, before finding his center again with Miyagi training him to take on Barnes.

The Next Karate Kid wasn't so great, despite having future Oscar winner Hilary Swank. Miyagi takes her to a monastary to train and ease the teen angst. It had its moments (Pat Morita catching an arrow bare handed for one). It just lacked some of the magic and chemistry of Daniel/Miyagi.

For years the franchise was thought to be dead. The Sal Valcano's favorite Smith...

via ScreenRant

Jayden became the new karate kid, although it was more Kung Fu. It repeated all the same beats of the original: Fish out of water story, bullied kid, likes a girl, trained by a man who lost his family to win a tournament from a bully. Again, it had its moments, but wasn't quite there.

YouTube RED started a new series that would move to Netflix to continue the legacy of the original Karate Kid...Cobra Kai!

The series lasted six seasons of misunderstandings and epic fights and flashing back to the movies...sadly without a Swank cameo. That would have been nice. The growth of all the characters, especially Zabka's Johnny Lawrence, helped to bring back the love for the franchise. After the popularity of the series...a movie was greenlit.

Legends while imperfect, was highly enjoyable. Now that the history is out of the way, lets talk the movie.

We begin in Hong Kong where our Kid, Li Fong, trains at a Kung-Fu dojo, but doesn't fight (more on that later). It's run by Chan's character Han from the remake. His mom shows up, played brilliantly by the always incredible Ming-Na Wen. They're moving to NYC!! Once again, hits some of the beats of the original, but in new ways.

The movie is a little unbalanced. When he gets to New York, he meets a nice family that run a small pizzaria. Joshua Jackson owns it and his daughter is Li's love interest. The first third or more of the movie is the KID training Jackson for a boxing match so he can raise money to pay of some gangsters...needless to say it does not go well in the end. Bad guys gonna bad guy you know?

Li's brother died after a tournament when the loser and his friends ganged up on Li and his brother and stabbed him. The guilt of not being able to help his brother then and the way Jackson got hurt sends him into a bit of a spiral.

Chan's Han comes for a visit and begins training him for a five boroughs karate tournament to help him through it, to find his balance again. Though, he will need help. Enter Daniel-san!

Variety.com

The two, though different styles, were born from Mr. Miyagi's family. It's how they know each other. Daniel is pulled into helping train Li and both Chan and Maccio have great comedic and sensei chemistry.

Once the Karate Kid aspect of the movie started, the pacing flowed so much better. You were rooting for the young boy to beat the tar out of the main rival, Connor Day. He's such a badass that even men twice his size are afraid of him.

It follows the formula of the other movies, so you know what you're getting into. Legends is a great addition to the franchise. I highly reccomend it to anyone whether your a fan of the films or not. It's a good time, great for all ages.

4/5

In preperation for the new Superman movie, on top of my weekly reviews (that tend to pop up late), I'll be reviewing ALL the Superman live-action movies from Christopher Reeve to now giving my HONEST thoughts on them.