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 - Love this movieThis is one of my favorite movies ever. I saw this movie in the theater when I was ten and twenty years later I still love it. Great 80's music too. Rating:  - What Dubyac99 SaidLooking for a family movie to add to the DVD collection, I recalled The Karate Kid. The young boy, the mentor, wax-on/wax-off and some Karate for excitement. Turns out our memory of this movie is 30 minutes of Pat Morita scenes. Everything the above reviewer "Dubyac99 MC White" said is correct. Dated and disappointing. Also, the video is grainy and the sound is just okay. Rating:  - A bit datedI just saw this yesterday for the first time in about 15 years. I was not terribly impressed. I like the idea, and the storyline. But after years it seems dated and unimpressive. I was particulary thrown off by the fighting. I thought it seemed fake. I did not get captured up into the excitement of it. I know the first time I saw it was in the theater. I don't think we even had a VCR when this came out. I really liked Elizabeth Shue, and it reminded me how many movies she plays the nice girl next door. Or the girlfriend. She really does well in this roll, as she does in many other movies. I had forgotten about the "friend" that our "kid" meets when he moves into the new apartment building. He was so friendly to him helping him bring his bike upstairs. But where is he at school? This made no sense to me. I think the director should have had a few scenes where his new friends were with him at school. Suddenly, the kid is alone. Yet he has all this charisma and charm to be next to his new girl. And costantly at the irk of his new found nemesis. Okay, so he's from the wrong side of the tracks, and this girl lives in a mansion? Why do they even go to the same highschool? Its not a private school, its a public school. And students go to public schools in their neighborhood. If he's from Reseda (spelling) and she's from the hills, than why are they even on the same planet? None of this made sense to me. But ignoring this, I thought the final fight scene would be great. And everything would be well again. But it had totally lost its lustre in my eyes. No more excitement, just stupididty. I didn't like this movie too much on DVD. Kind of corny. I meant to give it 3 stars. Rating: - Classic !!! Daniel SON!!!! WAX on!!Here is one the classic movies, IMO Jaws, Rocky, Godfather, Scarface, Level I know people don't like to read long reviews online. So I will make it short and sweet. Daniel "karate kid" Moves to A new town. He knows nobody and goes to a new school, and gets bullied. He meets his mentor "mr M" He Teaches him lessons in life to be successful. He taught him karate through all the struggles. Only self Defense he taught daniel. The Movie Is great story line Bottom line. It has leadership, Love, Family,and Humor. Jubril [...] Teenage Business Phenom Rating: - Believe in the Bonsai. Miyagi says so.I hate most movies from the 80s. Most of that is because I hate people that go on about how great movies were when they saw them back then, and still talk about how great they are without ever watching them recently. The base their thoughts on pure nostalgia, thinking movies like The Last Unicorn and others are still perfect. The Karate Kid is one of few exceptions I can make, as it still holds up 22 years later. The story of an underdog going up against all odds isn't anything new, but given how pitiful the underdog here is, and how great his teacher is, I can dig it. Being a martial artist myself, I'm not saying that with bias like "anything that has martial arts is good" or anything, but this is one of the better movies out there that doesn't completely exploit martial arts as some flashy heavily choreographed joke. It's just too bad that the movie suffered from having some of the most memorable dialogue like "wax on, wax off", which people still quote today, thinking it's funny. Either way, The Karate Kid is a movie that I can watch over and over, and not get sick of. And that's more than I can say for The Goonies. If you've been living under a rock for the past decade or two, The Karate Kid is the story of a complete chump- Daniel LaRusso and his mother moving to California, a big change from where they used to live. Daniel is the pure definition of the 90 pound weakling that gets sand kicked in his face often. In fact, his first run-in with other teenagers is at a beach where he promptly gets his ass handed to him by a group of karate students: the Cobra Kais, led by Johnny. He picks on Daniel not only for being a weakling (sticking his elbow out to defend himself against Johnny isn't the best defense there Daniel), but because he hit on his ex-girlfriend, Ali. At school, things aren't any better. Daniel gets picked on there as well, and gets kicked off the soccer field for fighting. He's also confused by the Japanese maintenance worker, Mr. Miyagi, at his apartment complex, who seems wise, but also goofy at the same time. Miyagi helps out Daniel by fixing his bike after it's trashed by the Cobra Kais, and even makes him a costume for the Halloween dance. After nearly getting killed outside of the party, Miyagi saves Daniel from the Kais, pulling a Yoda and takes them all out. Who knew the seemingly harmless maintenance guy had it in 'em? He decides to teach Daniel karate, but through his own way- having Daniel wax his [stunningly beautiful] classic cars, and painting his fence. Daniel gets frustrated, thinking this is all pointless, but it proves useful as shown by when Miyagi throws punches while telling Daniel to do the work motions. The light bulb goes off, and Daniel realizes everything. The rest of the story has Daniel sticking up for himself, trying to win the girl, trying to not get killed, and entering in a big karate tournament to face Johnny and end this pointless rivalry. Again, this is a movie I can watch over and over, and still get something out of it. The chemistry between Pat Morita and Ralph Macchio is better than most modern teacher/student roles. A lot of it has to do with Morita's presence and delivery. I can't imagine anyone else being Mr. Miyagi, even if it's the same guy from the diner in Happy Days. It's surprising to see how dark some scenes in The Karate Kid are too. The "NO MERCY" rule of the Cobra Kais carries over tot outside the dojo big time. When Johnny's attacking Daniel in an alley, one of the others tells him that Daniel's had enough and to lay off. Johnny insists that he has to finish the job, meaning that he's going to kill the poor kid. What for? For going for your ex-girlfriend? Sheesh. I can't imagine how this guy'd deal with getting turned down for prom, or his mom not making him a paper bag lunch when he wants one. Something that's under appreciated in The Karate Kid is the great cinematography. There are some well-shot scenes, notably the introduction to the tournament. One long shot scrolling as Daniel, Miyagi and Ali walk though, and zooming out to show how big the place is (even if it pales to real tournaments), is impressive for a movie that didn't have much of a budget. Sadly, some people won't see past Daniel's terribly short jean shorts and bad hair, not appreciating the message of being able to triumph over the seemingly impossible. Going from a defenseless weakling to someone who has no problem taking on someone twice his size. I don't think there's anyone who won't be smiling or cheering during the final minute of the movie. The picture and audio quality aren't the best here, but it's cleaned up compared to the original dvd release. There's still a lot of grain to be found in scenes, and some outdoor ones at night are a little too dark for their own good, but everything looks fine. The audio can be quiet at times, but the action sequences, especially the tournament, make great use of surround sound. Basically, unless some restoration master gets hired to clean this up for either Blu-Ray or HD DVD, this is as good as the movie's going to look and sound. Starting with an excellent commentary with the director, writer, and Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita, the extras on this disc are great. The commentary is nonstop fun with the gang, usually joking around over how everything looks, facial expressions, and dialogue. They're not quite making fun of their work as much as they are realizing how it looks now in this day and age. It's a blast listening to these guys- I was expecting a more serious take on it. Hearing one of them say "we should've put a light bulb going off right above Daniel's head" when he realizes that wax on/wax off = blocking had me laughing for several minutes. It's also good to hear Pat Morita, as he passed away not long ago. It's good that he got the chance to talk about the movie while he was still around. He's a good sport, admitting when it's him doing the action and when it's another person. Definitely listen to this. The Way of The Karate Kid is a two part in-depth look at the making of the movie, from casting to shooting. It's interesting to hear that they considered Toshiro Mifune for Mr. Miyagi. It would've made a completely different movie given how serious and full of pride he would've made the role. Also worth noting regarding casting- William Zabka, the actor who plays Johnny, threw the director in his chair during his casting session on accident, apologizing that it was Johnny, not him that did it. I'd say that gets you the role. He also says, "hey, if I didn't get the part, at least I threw the director". Everything in here is worth checking out. It's almost sickening to think about how the scene of Miyagi talking about losing his wife was almost taken out of the movie because "it just stops the movie, and we should be moving on". This is one of the few making-of featurettes that's really a making-of featurette. It's not just interviews with the actors kissing up- they're talking about how they made their roles what they are today, and what others helped them out with. Very cool. It could've used some behind the scenes footage though, and Elisabeth Shue making an appearance. Beyond the Form is a featurette going over the man who trained all the actors to get a somewhat good fighting sense. Having been in Shotokan for 8 years, I couldn't help but laugh when he'd say that he "trained them all to do traditional moves and powerful, proper fighting stances". He also goes on about the difference in the feeling of sets: the Cobra Kai dojo and Miyagi's home. With all due respect, the guy seems to be trying a little too hard in this interview. East Meets West is a short featurette focuses on the soundtrack. It's alright, but nothing you'll watch more than once. If anything, you'll get what the 3 main types of music are in movies. Finally, Life of Bonsai is a nice featurette (though kind of pointless) on just that- Bonsai trees. You can watch it with or without subtitles, but it's in English. Why not just have him speak his native Japanese instead of making him seem like he can't be understood in English? Anyway, this man, Ben Oki, is indeed a Bonsai master. His work is showcased as he talks about his history with Bonsai trees. Very impressive. Lastly, are the obligatory trailers. I have to ask though, why not include the original script portions of the deleted scenes? There were some scenes taken out, some of which made the tv version of the movie. There's not much more to say. While the picture and audio quality could've been better, and more extras could've been included, I'm satisfied with this rerelease. Though you're better off just getting the Karate Kid Collection, even if the 3 sequels don't have as much heart as the very first installment. [And just because I feel I have to- rest in peace Mr. Morita. You are missed.]
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