(Credit IMDb) During a commemoration for Japanese soldiers fighting in the US Army during World War II Mr. Miyagi meets the widow of his commanding officer. He gets to know her granddaughter Julie, an angry teenager. She is full of pain about the death of her parents during an accident and has lots of problems with her grandmother and her fellow pupils. So Mr. Miyagi decides to teach her Karate to bring her back on the right way
Ralph Machio's (Excuse the spelling) career had faltered at this point, aside from late hit with My Cousin Vinny, so he was no longer considered the bankable star he once was. A successful formula is repeated here, with this basically being a watered down remake of the first. Hillary Swank's star appeal had yet to be established here, but she certainly showed many flashes with her charismatic performance here. I enjoyed the relationship between Miyagi and Julie, it was genuine and a good attempt at reviving this series. What really hampered this movie was the generic storytelling of the villains. They had no depth to them, and they just felt like ordinary bad-guy foil for Julie and Miyagi to overcome. I liked some of the meditation scenes, I enjoyed Miyagi taking Julie see the monks, there was a lot more enjoyable stuff then 3.9 rating indicates. Training scenes could have been better developed, using a girl wasn't as effective as Daniel's, but hey, what can you do?
Performances. Pat Morita carries this film with his presence and style. He deserved a better film, but at least he wasn't in a horrible one. He has good chemistry with Swank, and I believed in them both. You can't go wrong with the patented Miyagi. Hilary Swank is charming, and pretty cute to boot. She showed a lot of snippets here of her amazing talent that was to become. Lot of similar, successful traits that Daniel (Machio) had to make the character successful in the first three. Michael Ironside is a great villain, but is going through the motions here, and he has no depth to him. Chris Conrad is rather cheesy, and wooden as the love interest.
Bottom line. Far from a successful film, but it definitely had a few moments that made me smile. Believe me; you can do a whole lot worse then The Next Karate Kid. 3.9? Come on, I've seen a lot worse with higher ratings. It's worth a look, but nothing more then that
5/10
Ralph Machio's (Excuse the spelling) career had faltered at this point, aside from late hit with My Cousin Vinny, so he was no longer considered the bankable star he once was. A successful formula is repeated here, with this basically being a watered down remake of the first. Hillary Swank's star appeal had yet to be established here, but she certainly showed many flashes with her charismatic performance here. I enjoyed the relationship between Miyagi and Julie, it was genuine and a good attempt at reviving this series. What really hampered this movie was the generic storytelling of the villains. They had no depth to them, and they just felt like ordinary bad-guy foil for Julie and Miyagi to overcome. I liked some of the meditation scenes, I enjoyed Miyagi taking Julie see the monks, there was a lot more enjoyable stuff then 3.9 rating indicates. Training scenes could have been better developed, using a girl wasn't as effective as Daniel's, but hey, what can you do?
Performances. Pat Morita carries this film with his presence and style. He deserved a better film, but at least he wasn't in a horrible one. He has good chemistry with Swank, and I believed in them both. You can't go wrong with the patented Miyagi. Hilary Swank is charming, and pretty cute to boot. She showed a lot of snippets here of her amazing talent that was to become. Lot of similar, successful traits that Daniel (Machio) had to make the character successful in the first three. Michael Ironside is a great villain, but is going through the motions here, and he has no depth to him. Chris Conrad is rather cheesy, and wooden as the love interest.
Bottom line. Far from a successful film, but it definitely had a few moments that made me smile. Believe me; you can do a whole lot worse then The Next Karate Kid. 3.9? Come on, I've seen a lot worse with higher ratings. It's worth a look, but nothing more then that
5/10