Review of The Karate Kid (1984) by Jake C — 08 Jun 2018

Somehow I had never seen this before, and while many of those "classic 80s" flicks that cater to young-white-males-the sort fawned over by the RPO crowd-are in truth just complete trash (Iron Eagle, I'm looking at you!), there's a sweetness and maturity here that has yet to diminish even 30+ years after release.

Sure, it's totally formulaic, and no doubt it's cartoonish on every level, but the movie has enough heart and enough goofy humor to make you look past its shortcomings, seeing them instead as its quirky strengths.