The Karate Kid (1984)

The first 20 or 30 minutes feel so campy, but by the time Daniel (Ralph Macchio) and Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita) become the primary focus, the quality of the story improves. It's still a big ask to think that Daniel can learn enough to even come close to winning a tournament against black belts. He did all that in 2 months? We see his training, but was he still going to school at all? And what happened to his mom for the middle 90 minutes of the film? She simply disappears, and Mr. Miyagi seems to have quit his maintenance job, too.

In terms of the Cobra Kai school, the trainer is an over-the-top villain, and for the majority of the film, none of the kids training with him like Daniel or act like they would feel any empathy for him. Well, Bobby (Ron Thomas) doesn't want to take things too far, but Johnny (William Zabka) and the others do...

And there's the class issue -- the Hill vs. Reseda. Class is the real thing, and I wondered where Daniel was getting the money even to take Ali (Elisabeth Shue) out for their date. Do I think the entire Country Club would laugh at Daniel for getting spaghetti all over his clothes? No. But do I think a rich girl would befriend the new kid if he wasn't in her social class. Also no.

The ending is fine, but sort of abrupt in terms of who is freezes the picture on. Should the last image of the movie belong to Daniel, Mr. Miyagi, or Ali? Should it focus on just one of them, a combination of them, or all of them?

Yes, the purpose of the tournament was for Daniel to earn the respect of the bullies, and that does happen, but is he out of the woods? The Cobra Kai trainer didn't change his tune. Will all of his students stop training with him? Will Johnny no longer be jealous that Ali prefers Daniel to him?

Somehow, they've made six Karate Kid movies now. Is that possible. Morbid curiosity will make me watch them, but clearly this is the one that matters. It's not a perfect movie, but I do enjoy it.

Rating: 4/5 stars

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