Review for The Karate Kid

The Karate Kid is one of the films that defined the eighties. It got kids saying 'wax on, wax off', kicking their younger brothers and wondering whether they too can beat up the bullies in the school and get the girl. The film is a wondrous piece of filmmaking, following the story of Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) a young kid from New Jersey who has moved to California with his mom. As a working class kid, he finds it hard to fit in and of course falls in love with the hot upperclass girl Ali (Elizabeth Shue) which incurs the wrath of Johnny (William Zabka), her ex boyfriend, who along with his karate-expert friends beat the living tar out of Daniel.

Daniel tries to learn Karate, but as the only school has Johnny and his friends involved, led by psycho master Kreese he turns to the unlikely Mr Miyagi (Pat Morita) who train him. His training methods involve him washing and waxing his cars, painting the fences and so on. However, what he perceives as just Miyagi using him as a slave, he soon discovers to be lessons in defence and is an amazing sight when you see him put it to use. After a beating by Johnny and the gang, Miyagi offers Kreese a deal 'Leave boy alone until the tournament'. This leads to Daniel to possibly one of the greatest sports montages and endings since Rocky (which isn't surprising as it is directed by the same guy).

A making of documentary is split into two parts, which is a little odd and really could have just been put together and split with a few chapters. However, it is a great documentary that goes into every aspect of the creation of the film, from the writing, to the casting to the production. Beyond the Form is a look at the martial arts training conducted by Pat E. Johnson. This is interesting to see how he went about training the actors in different ways, such as training Marty Kove so that when he first met the others he was already a black belt and how he trained Pat Morita and Ralph Macchio together and the bullies together so that they would bond. Life of Bonsai is an odd documentary on bonsai, which is nice, though a little pointless. East Meets West is a look at how Bill Conti composed the score to the film and could almost be used as a tutorial for budding composers.

Blu Pop is almost like those 'pop up videos' that MTV do. Throughout the film, there are points where facts and trivia will come up about the scene as well as comments from the cast too. This is a nice idea, but would have benefited from just being a text commentary bolstered by the excellent feature commentary.

The Karate Kid is a wonderful film and those who think it is dated need to take a step back and go watch Rocky and then try using that excuse again. The film is timeless and despite the references and cheesy music, it is a perfect look at character development and most importantly story. In 2010 we will see if Jackie Chan can capture lightning in the bottle with the new remake of The Karate Kid, but for now this is best around, nothing's going to ever bring it down!