The Karate Kid, Part III

The Karate Kid, Part III

Year: 1989

Starring: Ralph Macchio, Noriyuki "Pat" Morita

Directed By: John G. Avildsen

Run Time: 112 Minutes

Rating: PG

     For the third installment of the series, the director takes it back to the original story line.  The movie begins much in the same way as the others, a montage of the events leading up to this movie.  However, this one kind of skips the second movie and focuses more on the first movie, and the downfall of the Cobra Kai dojo.  This movie completely skips the second movie plot all together and gets back to more of a reemergence of the Karate Kid main plot.

     First and for most, apparently in California, there are people that are so into Karate, that Daniel winning the tournament a year earlier meant the Cobra Kai went out of business.  So the plot is to bring down Daniel in the tournament, by bringing in a Karate champion, who is pretty much a big tool in this movie.  Daniel also gets introduced to a teacher who at first appears to be his friend, but the audience knows that he is evil.  Trying to teach him that Karate is about injury the opponent, while Miyagi insists that it is for defense only, and that defending his title at the tournament is not the true meaning of Karate.  And just as there is in every Karate kid movie, Miyagi comes to save the day, and then agrees to train Daniel.  Anyway, the ending is pretty predictable.

     I will give this movie 3 out of 5 Crane Kicks, because it at least got back onto the original story line, and the build up to the tournament was better.  The underlying messages in this movie?  Don't go to college, open up a store with your Karate teacher selling Bonsai trees, and center your life around karate.  I think if anyone in China or Japan saw these movies in the 80's, they had to be saying "America just destroyed martial arts."  It was more entertaining then Part II, but really, thank goodness for Jet Li, Jackie Chan and any martial arts actor who made the art of martial arts cool again.

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The Karate Kid

The Karate Kid

Year: 1984

Starring: Ralph Macchio, Noriyuki "Pat" Morita

Directed By: John G. Avildsen

Run Time: 126 Minutes

Rating: PG

     A classic movie, that anyone who is ever lived has seen.  If you tell me that you have not seen this movie, either you are a liar, or just flat out crazy.  If you don't know who Miyagi is, then you need a lesson!  For most boys, this movie in our youth led us to the belief that Karate would be the answer to problems.  However, after watching this movie recently, I learned a few things from it that aren't necessarily a great message to pass onto children.  More on that later.

     This is a story about a boy who moves to California and is a New Jersey native in a new world, and is subject to be bullied.  The new place where he lives, the maintenance man, is the famous Mr. Miyagi, played by Pat Morita.  Interesting fact about him is that he started as a comedian, and has no Japanese accent.  So when you watch it, you are watching a Japanese-American faking a Japanese accent.  Regardless, you will not even know he is faking it, and he plays the famous teacher to Daniel-san (Ralph Macchio).  Throughout the first part of the movie, Daniel is getting into fights, in which case I believe he jumped the gun to throw his fists.  The fight before Miyagi steps in, he really caused the Cobra Kai clan to come after him.  Miyagi tells Daniel-san in the movie that Karate is not for beating people up, but rather for defense.  He then agrees to train Daniel, in order to earn respect.  They become friends, and Miyagi plays a surrogate father to Daniel-san which produces three sequels. (Five if you count the one with Hilary Swank and the remake).

     I liked this movie, however, it is funny to watch an 80's movie in 2010.  I thought the movie didn't quite flow well and the story could have used some work.  The overall message here is that learning karate and fighting your opponent in competition is okay, as long as you earn their respect.  Not the best message in the world, but could be worse.  They could have done a lot more with the story to make the whole "impossible feat" more honorable at the end.  It is still a classic, and who wouldn't wish for a Miyagi in their own life to teach them martial arts?  I know I would.

     I give this movie 3 out of 5 crane kicks.  It is still a classic and I advise everyone to see it, but based on the story and the underlying theme, it isn't that great.  When I review the remake, you will see why I rate the movie lower.

TMBro

PS: The director also directed Rocky.  But he also did Rocky V... so since Rocky, his directing has been, well, a bit rocky.