If you were born in the late 60’s or if you are a millennial does not matter, The Karate Kid franchise knows no age limit. Never heard before? Well… As a wise old man said once: “Yes” or “No” are both OK, “Guess so” you will get squished (just like grape).
All The Karate Kid movies or series tell about how some kids are approaching to the karate world. Approaching to a martial art is a very unique experience, that could have a million reasons behind, but it involves always two important figures: a student and a teacher. The Karate Kid is exactly what is showing off: the relationship between a Karateka (a karate student) and his Sensei (a karate teacher).
Most of the people that start a path in a martial art school or gym is because they want to improve physically themselves. But sooner or later, who really understand what is doing, it will discover that the boring and hard training sessions have a mentally and a spiritual component as well.
Discipline, respect, patience and focus are a few aspects hidden in the training of martial arts and taught by “The good sensei” as ultimate goals. And as Miyagi Sensei says: “No such thing as bad student, only bad teacher. Teacher say, student do”.
So for the ones who want to remember and for those who want to have an overview of the Karate Kid multi-media franchise, here it is a brief resume:
The Karate Kid
In 1984, Daniel LaRusso and his mother move from New Jersey to Los Angeles (California). The kid has some bully problem at school. The gang that annoy Daniel consists of karate students from the “Cobra Kai” dojo, a famous karate gym established by John Kreese, an ex Special Forces Vietnam veteran, that teaches a vicious form of karate. One night, Daniel reacts against Johnny Lawrence (leader of the bully and best Cobra Kai student), the gang pursue LaRusso and beats him savagely as result. The boy was saved by Mr. Miyagi, the Japanese doorman of Daniel’s apartment, who using karate moves, knocked all the bully down.
The day after, Daniel beg Mr. Miyagi to teach him karate, because the bully will do not stop. The old man, first reluctant, decides in vain to speak with the Cobra Kai teacher in order to solve the conflict. So Mr. Miyagi proposes that Daniel enter the All-Valley Karate Championships, where he can compete with Cobra Kai students on equal terms, stopping to bully him until the tournament.
The Cobra Kai master accepted, and Mr. Miyagi start to train his karate to the kid. The teacher/student relationship with the time become more a father/son connection, and the karate training more similar to life lessons. And this was the result:
The Karate Kid II
The Karate Kid II sets immediately after the All-Valley Tournament, where a furious John Kreese attacks Johnny Lawrence for his defeat against Daniel. Miyagi Sensei decides to intervene, confronting Kreese and immobilizing him.
6 month later Daniel and Miyagi Sensei will fly to Okinawa island to visit Miyagi’s sick father. Once there the Karate pair will have to defeat Sato and his nephew, a corrupted and powerful friend of Miyagi.
The Karate Kid III
In the last chapter of The Karate Kid trilogy, Daniel will be confronted once again with Cobra Kai. This time Kreese will be helped to his comrade and founder of Cobra Kai, Terry Silver. The evil plan of Terry is to break the relationship between Daniel and his Sensei, convincing the kid to defend the All-Valley Karate Champ Title. In the meanwhile, the same Terry will hire Mike Barnes, a dangerous karate “badboy” who will challenge Daniel in the All-Valley Karate Tournament.
The Next Karate Kid
There is another chapter of The Karate Kid franchise, but due maybe to the absence of Ralph Macchio (the actor who played Daniel), The Karate Kid IV was the least successful of the franchise movies. Pat Morita returns to his role of karate mentor Mr. Miyagi, and this time his new student will be a girl called Julie Pierce. In the movie, Miyagi sensei will teach the high school teenager how to deal with her anger, due to her parents death. Thanks to the karate lessons, Julie will balance her life and defeat a shady school fraternity (the Alpha Elite).
The Kung Fu Kid
The last and more recent movie of The Karate Kid was realised in 2010 and do not involve any of the previous casts. It is a completely unrelated story and actually there is any karate representation. The plot instead is pretty similar to the first Karate Kid, provides for a young boy: moving house, have problems with bully, starts learning martial arts by an old wise master and participates to a tournament. The story surprisingly is very original, because it takes place in Beijing, featuring wushu instead of karate. If you look at the actor who plays Master Li (the Chinese version of Miyagi Sensei) then, you will be convinced to really give it a try. I am talking about Jackie Chan!
Wax on, Wax off…
In conclusion, we are all testimonials of The Karate Kid success, and how it continues to renovates itself with new elements every decades. But… ehi! Do not forget that there are not only movies about the franchise! A TV series called Cobra Kai, starring Ralph Macchio and William Zabka in their respective roles of Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence, is on the way for the third season right now, so…
Better learn balance. Balance is key. Balance good, karate good. Everything good. Balance bad, better pack up, go home. Understand?
Miyagi Sensei