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Karate Kid (1984) Sequel Series coming in 2018

I hope Daniel-san has learned some new karate moves since that tournament because the crane kick still looks lame.

Also, I hope there are no more tournaments where the past champion automatically earns a bye all the way to the finals. That was lame too, Karate Kid 3, I believe.

Kirk Prime said:
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
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You are right. The story was not a comedy, though it did have plenty of comic moments. It was an excellent story of an underdog -- a kid who overcame bullies and being from the wrong side of the tracks, so to speak.

The Karate Kid is a very good movie. The story is actually kind of inspirational.

The sequels sort of trivialized the original movie/story.
 
bigdaddy said:
Which was only because they new they wouldn't win Best Drama at award shows. No one in the real world would ever consider it a comedy.
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Sure, but I'm using that as an example of how absurd these genre shifts can be at times. The most absurd of these I've felt was the Starsky & Hutch movie.
 
velour said:
Also, I hope there are no more tournaments where the past champion automatically earns a bye all the way to the finals. That was lame too, Karate Kid 3, I believe.
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It was necessary for the plot of the movie. Daniel didn't want to defend the title. Myagi didn't want him to defend the title. He was forced into it. So if he had to defend the title against his will, an automatic bye would prevent him from taking a dive in round one.

velour said:
You are right. The story was not a comedy, though it did have plenty of comic moments. It was an excellent story of an underdog -- a kid who overcame bullies and being from the wrong side of the tracks, so to speak.
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No argument. The story had a LOT of comedic moments, not unlike real life. A drama doesn't mean no laughter or joking. But a comedy focuses on that. The goal is to make you laugh. Karate Kid's goal was to make you enjoy a story.


velour said:
The Karate Kid is a very good movie. The story is actually kind of inspirational.

The sequels sort of trivialized the original movie/story.
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For me, I enjoyed the sequels. No, they didn't perfectly capture the first movie again, but they weren't bad for me. Well, the Hillary Swank one was pretty bad. But I love quoting all three movies for no reason.

I still say that watching the movies from the villain's point of view, especially the sequels, makes them better.

Terry Silver was such an over the top villain that I root for him. Mike Barnes had so many great one liners and John Kreese is a legend.

I will say this--in the first movie, Myagi says that if done right, there is no way to counter the crane kick. Of course, Chozen blocks it easily, so in THAT case, yeah, the sequel undermined the original.
 
Tosk said:
Seven years ago, and quickly forgotten. :)
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Uh, actually pretty good, and a bit better than the original in that Mr. Han (Chan) teachers Dre (Jaden Smith) to do more than just fight-he teachers him discipline and a sense of order by making him hang up and takedown his jacket a few times, which sounds like something a lot more profound than what Miayagi taught Daniel (IMHO.)
 
Shaka Zulu said:
Uh, actually pretty good, and a bit better than the original in that Mr. Han (Chan) teachers Dre (Jaden Smith) to do more than just fight
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Yeah, that was one of the things the newer movie actually did better. The point of the training in response to the bullying rather than a for a competition added more weight to it. Although technically both are correct, I think the new context works better in the grander scheme of things. On the other hand, I don't think it's quite as memorable.
 
Owain Taggart said:
Yeah, that was one of the things the newer movie actually did better. The point of the training in response to the bullying rather than a for a competition added more weight to it. Although technically both are correct, I think the new context works better in the grander scheme of things. On the other hand, I don't think it's quite as memorable.
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Agreed on all points... I think the movie was actually much better than the original in many ways, but for some reason, the original still stands out as more memorable and really kind of a classic for "my" generation..
 
Which begs the question, if someone had watched neither before and had to choose which one they found more memorable, which one would they choose? The original and its sequel had their moments in pop-culture and are deeply ingrained in that time period, something the reboot really didn't have. While I think the reboot had a better thought out concept for why training was needed, I think the originals had better characters that endure which is partly why I think the reboot kind of disappeared after the buzz was gone.
 
I think that's a pretty good assessment... I think it's largely in part to the actors, especially Pat Morita.. His portrayal of Miyagi, as corny as he was sometimes, was extremely moving... Daniel-san is memorable because he was this geeky, gangly kid who had no business laying out the Kobra-Kai guys, crane kick or not... But whenever someone calls me Daniel-san (my name is Dan), the original movie is WHY...

The remake, in all of its glory and story-telling just didn't have iconic moments.. (wax-on, wax-off/catching flies with chopsticks, etc) Or characters.. As moving and well acted as Jackie Chan's character was.. It was still Jackie Chan.. Which is why sometimes it's hard to see well known actors do roles like this.. Pat Morita was mostly know for being an occasional recurring character on MASH and for playing Arnold on the first few seasons of Happy Days... Jackie Chan is an icon, all unto himself...
 
Owain Taggart said:
The point of the training in response to the bullying rather than a for a competition added more weight to it.
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How was it different? In the original, Miyagi trains Daniel for the competition only to avoid further bullying. (They make a deal with Kreese so that none of his students will mess with Daniel until the tournament.) I don't recall, why did Jayden enter the tournament?
 
The difference was in how they chose to focus it. In the original, it may have been to avoid bullying, but it wasn't its sole purpose, where in the reboot it was and therefore the story was framed differently. It makes sense seeing as bullying has become more of a hot issue in recent years.
 
To be honest. I don't even remember a tournament from the reboot. All I remember is that the bullying was more of a focus this time around.
 
The first film wasn't so much about bullying as it was self-confidence and self respect. "Getting knocked down and pulling yourself back up." Noted in the beach scene or when he gets knocked down the hill on his bike, he literally goes down and doesn't get back up.

And of course the chores weren't so much about the cute "wax on, wax off = blocking" as it was to show a person that self respect/confidence/independence are gained by doing hard work.

The film is oozing in 80s individualism.
 
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That's a fair assessment. And like I mentioned before, both movies frame their stories differently. I think one could say that the original movie was a bit more poetic in that respect.
 
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