Writer: Mark Lee (Screenplay) Robert Mark Kamen (Characters)
Starring: Pat Morita, Hilary Swank, Michael Ironside, Constance Towers, Chris Conrad
Plot: Mr. Miyagi is back and he takes a new pupil under his wing; a troubled adolescent girl.
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: For the Franchise Fans
Story: The Next Karate Kid starts as Mr Miyagi (Morita) is being involved in tribute to his fallen brothers in war, where he spends time with widow Louisa (Towers) of one of his best friends at war. Louisa is trying to raise her granddaughter Julie (Swank) after the death of her parents, but this is becoming difficult as Julie is becoming a rebellious teenager.
Mr Miyagi offers to take Julie under his wing hoping to offer her the discipline in life that she requires. The principal Col Dugan (Ironside) runs a strict regime on the students and soon clashes with Miyagi. Miyagi offers to teach Julie the art of karate to help her express the main she is feeling about her lost parents.
Thoughts on The Next Karate Kid
Characters – Mr Miyagi is remembering a lost friend from war, one of the first people he taught karate, now he takes his granddaughter under his wing to help her learn to express her pain from losing her parents, he uses karate passing on the discipline he had learnt through his life. Julie is the rebellious teenager that is filled with anger because of the death of her parents. Under Mr Miyagi she starts to learn karate to give her discipline in life. Colonel Dugan controls the students in the high school, he is strict pushing the students too far too often.
Performance – Pat Morita is good giving us the same performance we have seen last time out, he doesn’t over play any part of his performance though. Hillary Swank is one of the big plus points in this movie, we know how far she went after this film and it shows us just what potential she had. Michael Ironside is always good as a villain because he is always that twisted when he plays these roles.
Story – The story follows Mr Miyagi passing on his discipline to accept life a is comes and being prepared to defend yourself and stand up for yourself. While it is strange not having Daniel involved and we do fall into the idea that a young girl would be more interested in make-up, dancing and dresses, does feel degrading to what the film is meant to be teaching. Otherwise this does follow the same trends as the others which will keep the fans happy.
Action/Family/Sports – We don’t get much fighting in this film, sadly most of the high school fights are between boys not the one learning karate, it does feel like a family film again as it does have moments of humor too.
Settings – The film does have new setting which changes the tone of the training too, it doesn’t have the streets smart feel to the setting being used.
Scene of the Movie – Learnt the kick.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – It is too girly.
Tagline – It’s ancient wisdom against teenage spunk. 1,000 years of karate tradition is about to get a kick in the pants.
Final Thoughts – This is one of the films that you will only enjoy if you have enjoyed the previous three, it sends the same message but cuts down on the karate.
Overall: one of the all the fans to enjoy.
Rating