Karate Kid Legends review

KARATE KID: LEGENDS: 

KARATE KID JOINS THE LEGACY SEQUEL CLUB WITH PASSABLE RESULTS! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: ** ½ out of 4

COLUMBIA PICTURES

Jackie Chan, Ralph Macchio, and Ben Wang in Karate Kid: Legends

 

            In the tradition of Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Spider-Man: No Way Home, Sony gives The Karate Kid the legacy sequel treatment in Karate Kid: Legends, the latest installment of the Karate Kid film series dating back to 1984 and the first movie released in nearly 15 years. The Karate Kid franchise isn’t really something I discuss in great detail, but I’ve enjoyed some of the films with the original still being the absolute best. 

            It’s quite impressive that the Karate Kid series went far beyond that original movie from 1984 as it spawned three direct sequels, the incredibly popular Netflix series Cobra Kai, and a 2010 spin-off/remake movie starring Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan set in China and revolved around Kung Fu. Which brings us to this new film directed by Jonathan Entwistle in his directorial debut and teams up original Karate Kid champion, Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio-The Outsiders, My Cousin Vinny, Ugly Betty; reprising his role from the original three movies) with Kung Fu shifu, Mr. Han (Jackie Chan-Drunken Master, Jackie Chan’s First Strike, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem; reprising his role from the 2010 film) to coach a new kid for the fight of his life. 

            The movie looked promising when I saw the trailers though it wasn’t really a film I was super excited for aside from seeing Macchio and Chan interact with each other. It just seemed like the same old Karate Kid formula from all the other movies which I’m perfectly fine with if it’s done well, not really expecting any game-changing stuff out of The Karate Kid. 

            Well, after seeing it I can say that there are a lot of things I like about this movie… and unfortunately, some things that bring it down. Karate Kid: Legends is significantly better than The Karate Kid: Part III and especially The Next Karate Kid, but it feels very chopped together specifically with the editing and pacing and lacks a lot of the emotional weight of earlier films. 

             The film follows Li Fong (Ben Wang-Mean Girls (2024), The Long Walk), a young Chinese boy moving from Beijing to New York with his mom (Ming-Na Wen-Mulan, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Mandalorian). He has a hard time fitting in until he meets a girl named Mia Lipani (Sadie Stanley-Kim Possible (2019), The Sleepover, Somewhere in Queens) who befriends him. 

            But when Mia’s ex-boyfriend and karate prodigy, Conor Day (Aramis Knight-Runt, Ms. Marvel, Into the Badlands) becomes jealous of Li and attacks him, his Kung Fu shifu and great-uncle, Mr. Han (Chan) and Miyagi-Do karate sensei, Daniel LaRusso (Macchio) arrive to New York to train Li for the ultimate karate competition. 

            The film also stars Joshua Jackson (Mighty Ducks trilogy, Dawson’s Creek, Fringe) as Mia’s father and former boxer Victor Lipani, Wyatt Oleff (Guardians of the Galaxy 1 and 2, It: Chapters 1 and 2, I Am Not Okay with This) as Li’s tutor and friend Alan, Shaunette Renée Wilson (Black Panther, Billions, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny) as Ms. Morgan, and Tim Rozon (Instant Star, Schitt’s Creek, Wynonna Earp) as O’Shea. 

            Overall, Karate Kid: Legends is objectively better than most Karate Kid sequels and the cast’s chemistry is genuinely strong but compared to the 1984 movie and even the 2010 Karate Kid, it doesn’t offer much to make it stand out. It’s not a terrible movie, but it’s a sequel that’s just going through the motions and quite literally hits the same beats people recognize from the other Karate Kid films. 

            I wouldn’t mind the recycled plot elements if the movie itself wasn’t so choppily edited and fast paced. The film is just over 90 minutes making it the shortest Karate Kid movie and by the time it got to the final match between Wang’s Li and Knight’s Conor, I was flabbergasted that we were already here and once the credits started I felt more indifferent than ecstatic which should not be the case for a film like this. 

            Aside from a few scenes where Conor’s being a douche to Li, the film doesn’t really build up their rivalry all that well because the first half of this 94-minute Karate Kid movie focuses on Li training Joshua Jackson’s character to fight so he can get out of a loan shark situation, I don’t care about this! It felt like an unfocused detour that yes, adds some emotional drama to a couple characters, but we came here to see the Karate Kid fight the kids that bullied him. 

            However, once Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio enter the picture, it gets better and what the entire movie should have been, the OG Karate Kid and Jackie Chan training Ben Wang. All three of them have great chemistry and you just love seeing them work off each other and make a new Karate Kid out of Wang’s Li. 

            Honestly, the acting in general is strong and not just between the three leads, Wang and Sadie Stanley have a cute little romance that’s quite charming, Ming-Na Wen is a standout as Li’s mom who encourages her son not to fight, and even some of the side characters have some moments to shine. 

            The fight sequences are well-choreographed and should be exhilarating conceptually, but the film decides to put in a bunch of flashy effects like it’s a film adaptation of Street Fighter even right down to having Chun-Li from the 1994 movie herself in it and that ruins the intensity in my opinion. What made the original Karate Kid movie so gripping was that the fights felt real and legitimately intense which helped make Daniel’s inevitable victory all the more satisfying. 

            Here, it just seemed like Ben Wang kicked Aramis Knight’s ass with a VR video game with those Scott Pilgrim-like visual sound effects. It didn’t match the Karate Kid-style for me and took me out of the film sadly. 

            Karate Kid: Legends is a mixed bag as there are aspects of it that are done well, but through choppy editing, unfocused storytelling, and an overly fast pace, it can’t quite go for the gold like the 1984 classic. It’s less of a movie that will make you stand up and cheer and more like a movie you say “Good enough” at the end and it fades from memory shortly after.