Ian (Flash Review)Rewatched after 20+ years. This is a no nonsense root for the underdog movie. Mr. Miyagi is subtly smooth as he helps a bullied kid, Daniel, learn self-defense. Daniel catches the eye of a humble rich girl and bad blood is formed from the other envious rich boys. Mr. Miyagi begins to teach Daniel karate in highly unorthodox methods. So much so Daniel almost quits until Mr. Miyagi reveals how much he has actually learned. Of course the rich kids are really good at karate so it's a no-brainer they'll be a showdown at the karate tournament so the audience can cheer for the underdog and the obstacles he must overcome. Will he win and teach the bad boys about morals at the same time? The several memorable scenes still hold up today. In between are standard 80s movie lackluster cinematography. Fun to relive Daniel's journey.

shakercoola The Karate Kid is predictable but it's warm, sincere, and a charming film. Its strength for the large part lies in the chemistry between Ralph Macchio and the Academy Award nominated Pat Morita. 'Mr Miyagi' underscores the film with authority because of his deep philosophical knowledge of life and his calm and sense of humour in the face of cruelty.

tankace More than thirty years later the original Karate Kid still holds up pretty well and inspires people to defend themselves from bullies, trust unorthodox tactics and respect someone of different race origin and ideas. The story follows our senior-high school students , Daniel-san (sorry I couldn't resist) as he is bullied and then he meet an older karate teacher Mr. Miyagi who agrees to train him in both karate and in life lessons at the same time. Their friendship evolves over the duration of the film and it feels natural as due to their experiences they have both suffered loses of loved ones and they found what was missing from their lives in each other.As for the fight scenes they are fine and nicely capture by the camera but nothing else and compared with modern-day martial arts films or even the martial arts film of Hong-Kong through the years they are quit lacking. However is the story and emotional investment to the characters that really stick you in the fighting. Also the training montages are expertly made and the music is iconic beyond any doubt. Over all a general assessment of the film would be "Dated, but still enjoyable and in the end iconic " and to say the truth they shouldn't have been a series of films what-so-ever.

John Brooks This is the major caricature of a film that is constantly being referenced in contexts of the old wise Asian martial artist master and the apprentice, values of wisdom, patience, self-control etc... and it's not too badly done actually. It's less boring than it could've been, and the film makers made a real effort to give it a bit of flavor as opposed what it could've been more generically.A young duo of the natural Ralph Macchio, and the beautiful and utterly feminine teenage Elisabeth Shue totally at ease behind the camera creates at least an endearing lovebird combo to follow, but for Pat Morita who does really well also this must've been the most embarrassing role in his entire career.A bit on the side, it should be mentioned there's definitely something going on with the physical types in this film: the bad guy jocks and their sensei are all blond and rich, the pretty girl is a blonde and rich and the main character is this Jersey Italian-type modest guy, his mom even emphasizes his girlfriend "is a blonde" like it's a great thing in itself. Just a sidenote, but it's a prevalent thing in the film and it's funny to note it.Yeah sure it's a bit of fun, and not boring for 2hrs +. 6/10.