

The Karate Kid (1984)
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Listed by
John Wilson
Updated
November 04, 2024
Movie Overview | The Karate Kid (1984)
Daniel (Ralph Macchio) moves to Southern California with his mother, Lucille (Randee Heller), but quickly finds himself the target of a group of bullies who study karate at the Cobra Kai dojo. Fortunately, Daniel befriends Mr. Miyagi (Noriyuki "Pat" Morita), an unassuming repairman who just happens to be a martial arts master himself. Miyagi takes Daniel under his wing, training him in a more compassionate form of karate and preparing him to compete against the brutal Cobra Kai.
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User reviews
Not Your Typical Karate Movie
(Updated: January 04, 2025)
Overall rating
4.2
Entertainment Factor
5.0
Story
5.0
Actors Performance
5.0
Cinematography
3.0
Sound Track
3.0
No, I did not want to see a movie about Karate. I just wasn't interested. After a little prodding, I agreed to join my sons and thought that I would just sleep through the movie as soon as the lights dimmed. Well, what a surprise! Immediately, I was drawn into the story about a teenage kid from New Jersey, Daniel, played by Ralph Macchio, who moves to California with his mother and has a rough time adjusting to his new life. He strangely become friends with the maintenance guy, an older Japanese man, Miyagi, played by Pat Morita. Daniel meets and begins dating a girl, Ali, played by Elisabeth Shue, who is wealthy, while Daniel is not, and her snooty parents object to where he lives. Ali's ex-boyfriend, a karate blackbelt, continues to beat Daniel up. An unusual, but sweet and heartfelt friendship, begins between Daniel and Miyagi and, in his strange and unorthodox ways, Miyagi trains Daniel by having him wax his cars and paint his fences and, in the end, Daniel wins the karate championship, under the watchful eye and training of Miyagi and he also wins the heart of his girl.. A big, pleasant surprise and, since the first time I saw this movie, have watched it several times to get a warm, cuddly feeling. Pat Morita made the movie!
The original karate kid is a great movie.
(Updated: January 04, 2025)
Overall rating
4.4
Entertainment Factor
5.0
Story
5.0
Actors Performance
5.0
Cinematography
3.0
Sound Track
4.0
“The Karate Kid” is an exciting, sweet-tempered, heart-warming story with one of the most interesting friendships. The friends come from different worlds. A kid named Daniel is a New Jersey teenager who moves with his mother to Los Angeles. An old guy named Miyagi is the Japanese janitor in their apartment building. When Daniel starts to date the former girlfriend of the toughest kid in the senior class, the kid starts pounding on Daniel’s head on a regular basis. Daniel tries to fight back, but this is a Southern California kid, and so of course he has a black belt in karate. Enter Mr. Miyagi, who seems to be a harmless old eccentric with a curious hobby: He tries to catch flies with chopsticks. It turns out that Miyagi is a karate master, a student not only of karate fighting but of the total philosophy of the martial arts. He agrees to take Daniel as his student.
And then begins the wonderful center section of “The Karate Kid,” as the old man and the kid from Jersey become friends. Miyagi’s system of karate instruction is offbeat, to say the least. He puts Daniel to work shining cars, painting fences, scrubbing the bottoms of pools. Daniel complains that he isn’t learning karate, he’s acting as free labor. But there is a system to Mr. Miyagi’s training.
The movie ends with a climactic fight scene; Daniel faces his enemies in a championship karate tournament. But the heart of this movie isn’t in the fight sequences, it’s in the relationships. And in addition to Daniel’s friendship with Miyagi, there’s also a sweet romantic liaison with Ali, who is your standard girl from the right side of town and has the usual snobbish parents.
Though a little violent in some early scenes, this is a great family movie with good lessons to be learned about finding balance in one's life and giving it your all!
And then begins the wonderful center section of “The Karate Kid,” as the old man and the kid from Jersey become friends. Miyagi’s system of karate instruction is offbeat, to say the least. He puts Daniel to work shining cars, painting fences, scrubbing the bottoms of pools. Daniel complains that he isn’t learning karate, he’s acting as free labor. But there is a system to Mr. Miyagi’s training.
The movie ends with a climactic fight scene; Daniel faces his enemies in a championship karate tournament. But the heart of this movie isn’t in the fight sequences, it’s in the relationships. And in addition to Daniel’s friendship with Miyagi, there’s also a sweet romantic liaison with Ali, who is your standard girl from the right side of town and has the usual snobbish parents.
Though a little violent in some early scenes, this is a great family movie with good lessons to be learned about finding balance in one's life and giving it your all!
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