For many people my age the underdog sports tale, the Karate Kid, is a seminal movie. A lot of people grew up with it always being one of their favorite movies. Now, thirty years later is it still a good movie? Has nostalgia clouding our view of the movie?
Well, it’s a little bit of both.
The Set-Up
Daniel LaRussa (Ralph Macchio) moves with his mom (Randee Heller) from New Jersey to California before the end of summer. He’s bummed about moving away from his friends and having to start over for the last few years of high school.
One of his first nights in California he goes to a beach party and meets Ali (Elisabeth Shue). They hit it off instantly. But later that night, Ali’s ex-boyfriend Johnny (William Zabka) shows up and pushes Ali around. Daniel sticks up for Ali and ends of fighting Johnny. Johnny easily beats up Daniel.
School starts and Daniel is unable to make any friends other than Ali. Johnny and his karate buddies continue to pick on and beat up Daniel. Until, one night when Daniel is being beat up again, Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita) comes to his rescue and defeats Johnny and his friends.
Mr. Miyagi is the maintenance man in the apartment complex where Daniel and his mother live. Daniel asks Mr. Miyagi to train him in karate so he can stand up to the bullies. Mr. Miyagi doesn’t want Daniel to seek revenge, but agrees to try to make peace with Johnny and his karate teacher. Daniel and Mr. Miyagi go down to Johnny’s dojo, Cobra Kai. Johnny’s sensei, the tough Kreese (Martin Kove) agree that Johnny and his friends will leave Daniel alone. But, Daniel will have to face the Cobra Kai in the local karate tournament. So, Mr. Miyagi ends up needing to teach Daniel karate after all.
The rest of the movie concentrates on Daniel’s training with Mr. Miyagi. The major subplot is his relationship with Ali. I won’t give away the ending, but it’s not too hard to guess.
Why It’s Great
It’s a great underdog story. Daniel is bullied, he’s poor, he’s an outsider. He’s an easy character to root for. The mentor-mentee relationship between Mr. Miyagi and Daniel is one of the better ones in kids’ movies. It has complexity. Elisabeth Shue and Ralph Macchio have good chemistry in the romantic relationship. Their relationship is also the right pitch for kids to follow. Ali seems like a cool girlfriend, but the relationship never gets too mushy and it never gets sexual.
The Cobra Kai bad guys are the perfect 80s bad guys. They’re very easy to hate.
The direction is perfect for this sort of sports movie. The soundtrack is one of the best of the 80s. The director John G. Avildsen, and the composer Bill Conti, also worked on the Rocky series. There are a number of 80s pop hits that also fit the movie’s tone perfectly.
It’s not a flawless movie. There are a number of plot-holes that are noticeable now that I’m an adult. Also, while the main characters are well defined, some of the minor characters have inconsistent personalities.
I would recommend this movie to just about anyone. Even if you didn’t see it when you were younger it still holds up as a great underdog movie. If kids watch it I think they’ll grow up loving it. I watched it with my four year old son and he really enjoyed it.
So watch it, and you’ll be screaming “Get Him a body-bag!” too.