Review of The Karate Kid (1984) by Paul L — 24 Feb 2011

The Karate Kid is actually a perfectly good feel good film, that I think is a good lesson in patience, understanding, and faith in one's friends. The relationship that develops between Daniel LaRusso (played by Ralph Macchio) and Mr. Miyagi (played by Pat Morita, naturally) is one that, like Daniel's training, takes time to cultivate. The training itself is actually inspirational, as Mr. Miyagi does not just teach Dan how to beat up targets, but instead teaches him how to wash cars, paint fences, and all sorts of otherwise menial tasks that makes it seem like he's essentially using Daniel for labor instead of training him. Only when he pushes the training further does it become obvious that the hand movements that he developed as muscle memory could be utilized in actual combat. Much the same goes for teaching Daniel balance; having him perched on a boat, fighting against the waves, and all sorts of other various tasks.

One solid good point in this film's favor: Lack of training montage. That actually surprised me when I rewatched this, as I was certain this was one of the births of the whole training montage; but his training was a long and arduous task that took up the majority of the film. That I liked, since it wasn't a "get to beat people up quick" type tale... if it was, the whole point of the film would be lost, as well.

The other compliment is the humor, and the character of Mr. Miyagi. There's a lot of memorable lines by Mr. Miyagi, who epitomizes the kind of instructor that I, personally, respect the most -- one that is humble yet skillful, without focusing on fancy badges, and is never dishonest about what he knows and what he doesn't know, while keeping a strong sense of humor and a sense of personality. Further, while being a competent karate artist (which, let's face it, would have otherwise stood to be his one defining characteristic in a film like this), he also shows a great deal of humanity in remembering his wife, drinking himself into a stupor in her memory, and practically crying himself to sleep in front of Daniel. At no point did Mr. Miyagi come off as a 2-dimensional character, and moments like that only helped solidify himself as real person.

The only real complaint to have about this movie is how the bad guys are... really bad. I mean, unbelievably so. And Mr. Miyagi's one answer is to essentially fend off attackers with fists and kicks and teach Daniel to fight instead of, well, call the police? But then again, if he acted as the average adult should have, this would have been a substantially duller film.

Well, okay, there is ONE other complaint I have, one thing in particular that annoys me, and is actually the most inspirational part of the film: The ending fight scene. It's not necessarily that I don't think that the message was a bad one. Even when injured, go in and keep fighting! Except... well... that IS a bad message to send. A fighting coach has to know when to pull a boxer out of the ring before he sends himself to the hospital or gets himself killed, and in this case, there seemed to be no one on hand... in a karate tournament... looking after student's safety. Not only did Daniel have his knee joint attacked (which was an injury that seemed to vary from "hop around" to "Support my full weight for a kick for just a second!"), but... I mean... you hear his own friends cheering him on to keep fighting EVEN THOUGH THE BAD GUYS KEPT TARGETING THAT SAME LEG. After a certain point, you just have to ask "how the hell did this tournament survive?" I mean, if you think about it, poor Daniel's probably going to have knee problems for the foreseeable future, especially as aggravated as it was supporting his weight and being brutally worked at by his opponents!Regardless of this, it was an enjoyable film, and by far one of the better "teach someone to fight" movies.