80s Movie Review - The Karate Kid

Director: John G. Avildsen
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 127 minutes
Year: 1984
Starring: Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita, Elisabeth Shue, William Zabka

Description: Daniel (Ralph Macchio) and his mother move to California for a new job. He struggles to fit in, as a group of karate students starts to bully him for dating a rich girl (Elisabeth Shue) from their clique. It’s up to the Japanese landlord, Miyaji (Pat Morita), to teach him karate.

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2020 MOVIE CHALLENGE.
WEEK 8: A MOVIE FROM THE YEAR YOU WERE BORN

Review: Daniel Larusso moves from the East coast of America to a small town on the West coast. His mother got a job here and Daniel isn’t really happy about the move. He tries to make the best of it and connects with the local teens. Daniel meets Ali, a beautiful young woman who seems to be interested in Daniel as well. But her former boyfriend Johnny isn’t happy about this at all. He is one of the best students at the local karate school and uses his skills to bully Daniel. Daniel wants to learn karate too and gets help from the Japanese handyman Miyagi, who teaches he everything that he needs to know about the sport.
“The Karate Kid” was released in 1984 and was a big hit at the time. And for many people today it is a classic that brings back good memories. It has a catchy and entertaining story, characters you sympathize with, a dose of drama and romance, rounded off with some humor and action. The story is somewhat simple, but it eventually has more layers. And themes this movie focuses on are still very topical to date.
One of the strongest elements of the film is Pat Morita and his character Miyagi. He earned an Oscar-nomination for this role and he will forever be linked to this character. The character has been further elaborated well, certainly on closer examination. Ralph Macchio is good as Daniel too, but when he is in a scene with Morita, it’s clearly Morita that steals the show.
The film is not timeless, because the bad guy is stereotypical for any 80s film.
“Karate Kid” is a great movie that touches topics like bullying, friendship, honor and believing in yourself. Topics that still matter today.

Rating: 4 / 5