The Next Karate Kid

A surprise. I quite liked this one.

There may not be anything outstanding, or even massively good, about 'The Next Karate Kid', but I actually felt content with what I had just watched when the end credits came along. It turns into a sweet story, even after a fairly rocky start.

The villains are meh, a little iffy but fine... far better than those from 'The Karate Kid Part III', that's for sure. Pat Morita (Mr. Miyagi) is a little cliché-filled but still super endearing and likeable. A young Hilary Swank, in her first major film role, brings a solid performance as Julie. At first I wasn't convinced, but by the end I felt like I saw a positive journey with the character.

In my opinion, it's the best sequel to 1984's 'The Karate Kid'...

Despite the heavy reviews and the public's disinterest, it's not as bad a movie as they say, and it was able to end the franchise on a positive note.

After three very interesting films, the Karate Kid franchise had to continue, and a fourth film was made, this time with a young girl in place of the apprentice (Ralph Macchio was too old for the character, and he had no interest in calling more his image and career to the universe of martial arts films). It was a risky move, but necessary if they wanted the franchise to continue... but the public didn't buy in, despite the movie itself not being as bad as they say. In fact, I even consider it to be better than its immediate predecessor. With a weak box office result, largely as a resul...

Well, let's be honest, this one does clean up the problematic white patriarchy exhibited in the three other films, but it still stereotypes Asian people as....

....I fooled you didn't I? Yeah, I'm not at all one of those people.

Whatever, no one is going to read this anyway.

I do, however, feel the need to give this two stars on principle. I mean, I did remember that they made this film when Part III was (possibly) blocked from my memory to save myself the horror of it all... but that I don't think it deserves that.

When I was a kid, actually a Freshman in High School, I kind of had the attitude that no Ralph Macchio meant it wasn't a real Karate Kid film. I'd rather not see it made and I went out of my way not to watch it until...