MyRating: YYYYDirector: John G. Avildsen
Cast: Ralph Macchio, Noriyuki "Pat" Morita, Elisabeth Shue, Martin Kove, Randee Heller, William Zabka
MPAA: PG
US Gross: US$ 90.8 Million
This is one of the iconic movies of the 1980's. A winning and uplifting martial arts movie that captured both good critical acclaims and box office success upon its release in 1984, with memorable performances by both Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita.
I have hunted the DVD of this movie for so long, and just got and watched it recently, after I watched the new version of The Karate Kid (2010) in the theater. And after watching the original version, I just realized that the story of the new version was actually almost the same with the old one, with the differences in the actors, settings and the era of the story. The main story was the same, most of the plot details were also the same, even some of the dialogs were similar. Now I really understand why they should not name the new version with The Kung Fu Kid, because besides maintaining the old title will definitely give a higher success rate possibility in the box office, actually the story of the new version was just a copy and paste from the old one. And as I have said before, it was the wise thing that the producer of the new film maintained the title of The Karate Kid.
The story is about Daniel Larusso (Macchio), who moves from New Jersey to California with his mom, but finds himself being the target of a gang of bullies, when he falls in love with a beautiful blond girl, Ali Mills (Shue), his new school mate. Daniel is continually being bullied and beaten by the gang, who happens to learn karate from a karate school, until Mr. Miyagi (Morita), his building apartment's handyman, who is apparently also mastering karate, comes to help him and become his defender. When Miyagi and Daniel have to encounter with the gang's karate teacher, John Kreese (Kove), who teaches his students the wrong essense of karate with violence, Miyagi has to accept the challenge to let Daniel fights with John's students in a tournament. And to prepare Daniel, Miyagi teaches him karate, but with a strange approach, including telling the kid to wash cars, wipe floors and paint fences. But from that strange approach, Daniel learns the best of the karate. And both of them enter a relationship not only as a student and a teacher, but also as best friends who understands and supports each other.
Watching this movie brought back the vibe of 1980's. The music, the song, the dress, the hair. This is a feel good movie with a great inspiring underdog story. A movie with a very good performance from both Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita. The solid chemistry and friendship between Macchio and Morita will definitely touch and warm your heart. Morita even got nominated for Best Supporting Actor by both The Academy Awards and The Golden Globes. This movie was also fresh with the appearance of the beautiful Elisabeth Shue (we later know her in Leaving Las Vegas). Her sweet love relationship with Macchio in this movie makes us want to revisit our 'youth' time. Many memorable scenes, including Mr. Miyagi who tries to catch a fly with chopsticks, and Daniel with his 'crane' martial arts moves, when fighting with his main rival in the tournament.
Reviewing this old version after watching the new one first, is difficult without comparing both the movies. So, if I have to compare, then I will put both in a match (of 5 rounds) :
ROUND ONE : THE STORY
I like the new version. It's a good fun movie. But in overall, I like the old version more. It's something difficult to explain. Even though the old version is more than 25 year-old now, it is still very enjoyable to watch. The story and the performance was great. And I really got the feeling of this movie. So, I would like to give one point to the old version.
SCORE: (OLD VERSION, 1984) 1 : 0 (NEW VERSION, 2010)
ROUND TWO : THE MARTIAL ARTS
In terms of martial arts, the new version is definitely the winner, with more real (and more brutal) fighting scenes, as compare to the old version, which seemed to be a bit clumsy if we watch it with current standard. And we have Jackie Chan in the new movie, and Pat Morita was no Jackie Chan. In real life, Morita didn't even know karate.
SCORE: (OLD VERSION, 1984) 0 : 1 (NEW VERSION, 2010)
CUMMULATIVE SCORE: 1 : 1
ROUND THREE : THE KID
Ralph Macchio was good, but Jaden Smith was also good and funny as the 'new' kid. I think both of them gave different colors to their characters. And both of them performed well. The different in age and skin color also made them difficult to compare. I would say it's a tie.
SCORE: (OLD, Ralph Macchio) 1 : 1 (NEW, Jaden Smith)
CUMMULATIVE SCORE: 2 : 2
ROUND FOUR : THE TEACHER
Jackie Chan was good as Mr. Han, one of the best performances of his career, but I still like Pat Morita as Mr. Miyagi more. I think this is partly because Mr. Miyagi's character was so strong and so memorable, that this character was difficult to be replaced, even though with a new character with different name. I also enjoyed Mr. Miyagi more because of his fun but firm character, while Mr. Han was much more serious. I have to say Pat Morita is the winner.
SCORE: (OLD, Pat Morita) 1 : 0 (NEW, Jackie Chan)
CUMMULATIVE SCORE: 3 : 2
ROUND FIVE : THE CHEMISTRY
The chemistry between Chan & Smith was good, but again, I think the chemistry between Morita and Macchio was better. The chemistry of 'the teacher' and 'the student' in this old version was so great that it gave a powerful impact to the overall movie, and the relationship was developed much better than the new version. So to wrap the match, I have to give the final point to the old version.
SCORE: (OLD, Morita & Macchio) 1 : 0 (NEW, Chan & Smith)
CUMMULATIVE SCORE: 4 : 2
And, the old version is the official winner! Don't be discouraged if you like/want to see the new version, because it's a good movie too. I just happened to love the old version slightly more than the new one, but I like them both. And all the 'rounds and scores' writing above was just for fun. The old 'The Karate Kid' is a movie that you should watch and revisit. (MJ)
