Review of The Karate Kid (1984) by Another V — 16 Jan 2017

The original Karate Kid is an old classic from the 1980s. My kids watched this after watching the newer version and liked this one as well. Although this movie is from decades ago, it's still good educational material for teens about what is and is not an acceptable way for a male to behave toward a female, as well as a look at classic bullying and finding a way to defend against that and stand up to that.

It's also a story of a man and boy bonding, mentor teaching mentee and their heartwarming friendship. With a teenage romance thrown in.

One area where the original Karate Kid is different from the newer one is that Daniel's teen love interest Ali is struggling to shrug off her abusive and overbearing ex-boyfriend Johnny. Johnny doesn't want the relationship to be over. She said "no" and Johnny wouldn't take no for an answer. Daniel's interference with Johnny's bullying of Ali makes him the target of Johnny and all his bullying friends. The question is, if you can't win a karate tournament, how else can you make it stop? Because not everyone has a Mr. Miyagi to teach them self defense, turn them into a black belt, and mentor them to karate victory. The only option here is winning, but in real life another path might be necessary.

Without extra help and support from Daniel (or someone), would Ali have eventually given in to Johnny to make the harrassment stop, only to have it get far worse in the future?