Yeah, that's true. And the original was somewhat of a cultural phenomenon. Now a days, I'd like to think we're more culturally aware, and our options of all these different martial arts have blossomed. I doubt the new series will have quite the same impact anymore.
I don't think the problem is so much doing the new series, as it is making it a comedy. How is this story a comedy? I think the issue of someone rising up against bullies would resonate today just as much as it did then. Who doesn't like a good underdog story? Karate Kid was a story about someone that overcame terrible odds. It also was a father/son story. It succeeded on a lot of levels. It absolutely could work today, but not if the main character is 10 years old, which was the problem with the remake. Plus, the remake so closely followed the original script that it brought very little to the table.
Really? Rooting for Cobra Kai?
I don't know about anyone who liked the CK guys, they were all jerks. About the only small redeeming quality was at the end of the tournament when one of the guys was ordered by Kreese to go for the injured leg and he protests and does it unwillingly (and immediately apologizes once he incapacitates Daniel).
The beginning of Karate Kid 2 expands a bit on this when his students "rise" up against Kreese showing that they learned something and are not willing to follow Reese anymore before he grabs one and beats up on the others.
Rooting for the Cobra Kai is fun. They were fun villains, and Daniel was kind of annoying.
I love interpreting the story from their point of view. They were not horrible people.
Johnny was flawed, but not a bad kid. Yes, there are those guys in high school that have it all and are jerks about it. But Johnny rolled into that movie realizing he made mistakes and wanted to turn things around. He didn't want to be the bad kid anymore.
All he wanted to do was talk to Ally in the beginning. Just talk. Was he wrong to grab the radio and break it? Yes. But he was frustrated and then Daniel stuck his nose in Johnny's business, at a point where Johnny was clearly upset. Ever get rejected by a girl? It kind of sucks. Imagine that happening in front of all your friends, and then all of hers right after, and then some kid tries to butt in and play hero.
You're not going to shake his hand and say "nice to meet you."
Now if you watch, after that initial confrontation over the radio, it was Daniel that got physical. Up until that point, the most you had was a shove with no one hurt. Daniel charged at Johnny, and Johnny used the minimal amount of force needed to stop Daniel from hurting him.
Johnny was done with the fight. He reminded Ally that all he wanted to do was talk, and the confrontation could have been avoided. He walked over to Daniel to ask him if he was done. Johnny was clearly the superior fighter, but he showed Daniel mercy. Daniel took a cheap shot. It was only then that Johnny put him down for good.
Pretty much every confrontation was initiated by Daniel from then on.
Even 2 months later, at Halloween, Daniel was the one attacked Johnny and caused that beating he got.
As Myagi would later say, "no such thing as bad student, just bad teacher." If you want to go after Kreese, there is an argument. But Kreese's idea was that you do what you have to do to stop someone from hurting you.
Daniel actually helped teach Johnny that Kreese was right. Again, on the beach, when Johnny showed Daniel mercy, Daniel punched him in the face.
You could argue that had Daniel not been at the beach, things would have gone very differently that year for him.
Incidentally, when Bobby apologized to Daniel, it's unclear if the apology was real or not. It may have been an acting job.
Also, that scene at the opening of Karate Kid 2 was actually meant to be the final scene of the first movie.
But you do bring up a point--Kreese's behavior at the tournament turned the kids off on him. They were not irredeemable. They were not bad kids.
