Summaries
The Karate Kid (1984) - Daniel and his mother move from New Jersey to California. She has
a wonderful new job, but Daniel quickly discovers that a dark haired Italian
boy with a Jersey accent doesn't fit into the blond surfer crowd. Daniel
manages to talk his way out of some fights, but he is finally cornered by
several who belong to the same karate school. As Daniel is passing out from the
beating he sees Miyagi, the elderly gardener leaps into the fray and save him
by outfighting half a dozen teenagers. Miyagi and Daniel soon find out the real
motivator behind the boys' violent attitude in the form of their karate
teacher. Miyagi promises to teach Daniel karate and arranges a fight at the
all-valley tournament some months off. When his training begins, Daniel doesn't
understand what he is being shown. Miyagi seems more interested in having
Daniel paint fences and wax cars than teaching him Karate.
—John Vogel
After leaving his hometown in New Jersey, the gangly teenager,
Daniel LaRusso, arrives in sunny Los Angeles with his single mother, Lucille.
Like a fish out of water, the shy newcomer will be up against the difficulty of
fitting in--and on top of that--he will soon find himself being targeted in
school by Johnny Lawrence's gang of local karate-practising bullies. Under
those circumstances and constantly picked on, Daniel will turn to the
building's inscrutable caretaker and unexpected master martial arts mentor, Mr
Miyagi, who will agree to teach Daniel karate for the upcoming tournament.
Eventually, taken under Miyagi's wing, the apt pupil will learn a compassionate
and more delicate form of karate; however, is the inexperienced Daniel a match
for brutal Johnny and Cobra Kai Dojo's lethal karate?
—Nick Riganas
Daniel LaRusso has just moved from New Jersey to Reseda, CA (a
neighborhood in Los Angeles) and is finding it hard to acclimatise to life in
the new city. He is promised a swimming pool and a beautiful house, but when
they get there, it's anything but nice. He meets a beautiful blond girl, but encounters
a gang of bullies who make his life a living hell. This further dampens
Daniel's spirit as he just wants to go home. He is continually bullied and is
afraid to show his face around the high school. He then meets mentor/handyman
Mr. Miyagi who takes the naive Daniel under his wing and shows him that Karate
and life aren't all about power and strength. It's something deep within you're
soul that makes you what you are. Daniel is the underdog and faces the biggest
challenge of his life. WIN and he can rejoice forever knowing he beat the
bullies. LOSE? They'll never let him forget it!!
—James Phillips (edited by Anonymous)
Daniel is new in town, and is getting picked on by the local
bullies, who all are adept in karate. Determined to stick up for himself,
Daniel begins to teach himself karate, only to discover that the caretaker at
his apartment seems to be a grand master in karate. Agreeing to teach Daniel,
Mr. Miyagi shows Daniel that there is more to karate than violence, and perhaps
the best way to solve the problem he has with the bullies is in the All Valley
Karate Championship.
—Murray Chapman
Meet Daniel Larusso, a mild-mannered New Jersey teenager who has
to move from his native state to Los Angeles, California when his mother was
offered a job there. He thought that he was going to have a nice house with a
pool, then he finds out that his new home is a crummy apartment. He tries to
fit into the Californian crowd, what he finds is a nice girl from his new high
school, and punks (of a karate school named the Cobra Kai) who want to make his
life miserable. Then, a Japanese handyman named Keusuke Miyagi comes to aid
Daniel. He asked Miyagi to teach him karate, which he does (in a roundabout
way). Daniel and Miyagi then developed a great relationship and he wanted to
teach the karate fighting punks a lesson, so he signs up for a karate
tournament. Daniel is determined to win.
—John Wiggins
Director: John G. Avildsen
Writer: Robert Mark Kamen
Stars: Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita, Elisabeth Shue
Genres: Action | Drama | Family | Sport
Certification
Argentina:Atp Australia:PG Brazil:Livre
Canada:PG (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario)
Canada:G (Quebec) Denmark:11 Finland:K-11 France:Tous
publics Greece:K-8 Iceland:L India:U Ireland:PG
Ireland:12 (special edition) Italy:T Japan:G Mexico:A
Netherlands:6 Norway:9 (2019, TV rating) Norway:12 (1985, cinema
rating) Peru:Apt Portugal:M/12 Singapore:PG South
Korea:12 Spain:T Sweden:11 United Kingdom:15 United
Kingdom:12A (2020, theatrical re-release) United Kingdom:12 (audio
commentary) United Kingdom:PG (1984, theatrical release, cut)
United States:PG (certificate #27432) West Germany:12
Movie Review
My love of "The Karate
Kid" is limited to the fact that this movie, if it had been in the hands
of a more fluorescent director, could have turned out a lot differently from
the movie we all know and love from 1984.
Directed by John G. Avildsen (who also did 1976's
"Rocky" - another underdog story) and written by Robert Mark Kamen
(who would later co-author 2001's "Kiss of the Dragon" with Luc
Besson, which starred Jet Li - another example of martial arts in American
cinema done right), "The Karate Kid" is by far the best (and frankly,
most realistic) incorporation of martial arts into a mainstream American film.
This movie came out the year before I was born, and only through
word-of-mouth over the time I was growing up, did I know that "The Karate
Kid" even existed. I got to view the film my freshman year in high school
as part of a class, but the instructor watered down the experience so much that
the movie lost its potency.
Now a few years later, I finally watch the movie without any
intrusion from the outside world and I find a truly marvelous picture that's
far better than its many stylized contemporaries, i.e. "The Matrix"
trilogy, which is the best example of that trend.
Ralph Macchio stars as Daniel LaRusso, a new kid to a picturesque
southern California community that looks a lot like something you'd see in a
magazine advertisement. Daniel makes the mistake of hitting on Ali (Elisabeth
Shue), who unknown to him, is the ex-girlfriend of Johnny Lawrence (William
Zabka), and Daniel takes a pretty brutal beating from the martial arts-trained
Johnny, that leaves him scarred but with his pride and dignity still in tact.
The number of violent clashes with Johnny and his brutal Cobra Kai
martial arts friends continue, until Daniel is saved by Mr. Miyagi (Pat
Morita), the karate-trained handyman of his apartment building. Daniel insists
on Mr. Miyagi teaching him karate, so that he can compete in an upcoming
martial arts tournament; this requires Daniel to undergo some pretty
unconventional training - "wax on, wax off; paint fence - side to
side" etc. And in return, Daniel learns that there's a lot more to karate
than just fighting and the "Old One" shows him that way.
"The Karate Kid" is a true gem of a film that's
shamefully underrated. I'm glad that on February 1st of this year, this movie
is finally getting the DVD treatment it deserves.
Macchio is convincing as Daniel, bringing a number of wide-ranging
emotions to his role that at first may seem quite perfunctory as opposed to
being dramatic. The real star of the show (at least in the minds of a number of
critics, and the Academy), is Morita as Mr. Miyagi. He brings grace (almost
rivaling Bruce Lee) to a role that could have been quite stereotypical, but is
still very moving and dramatic.
Of course, what's a movie about karate without the fights? I
should note that the action in this movie is very convincing, but is not
stylized in any fashion, shape or form. It is very down-to-earth and realistic,
and that may of course be a bit of a turn-off to some hardcore fanboys that may
watch this movie thinking it'll be something like "The Matrix" (1999)
or "Enter the Dragon" (1973).
The fighting here is in its own style and mode of action. A number
of the fights are quite brutal, especially in the ones where John Kreese's
(Martin Kove) Cobra Kai students are featured, as he frequently trains them the
brutal way of "no mercy," which Mr. Miyagi is quick to realize is not
the way of karate.
"The Karate Kid"
gets a perfect 10/10.
Details
Country: USA
Language: English | Japanese
Release Date: 31 August 1984 (UK)
Also Known As: The Karate Kid
Filming Locations: 5225 Lankershim Boulevard, North
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA
Box Office
Budget: $8,000,000 (estimated)
Opening Weekend USA: $5,031,753, 24 June 1984
Gross USA: $91,077,276
Cumulative Worldwide Gross: $91,119,319
Company Credits
Production Co: Columbia Pictures, Delphi II Productions,
Jerry Weintraub Productions
Technical Specs
Runtime: 126 min
Sound Mix: Dolby Stereo
Color: Color (Metrocolor)
Aspect Ratio: 1.85 : 1
 480p, 720p, 1080p, Download Full Movie in English, Japanese Movie Review){kind=link}