When Mr Miyagi finds out his father is dying he heads back to his childhood home in Okinawa, with Daniel along for the trip with his mentor. Myagi must face a former friend turned rival and Daniel falls in love and makes his own new rival.
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This second part in The Karate Kid series starts as the first one finished at the karate competition. As we see Daniel carrying his trophy out to the car and then Kreese breaking Johnny's second place trophy telling him he is nothing. As he chokes his student, Miyagi goes to his rescue and sorts out the situation in his very calm and collected manner.
Its always difficult to follow up a successful first film and not many sequels are as good. This is the case with this film as well, but its not really bad or anything. Just not on the same level as the first, still contains some nice and heartwarming moments though between Daniel and Miyagi.
Obviously Daniel was going to end up with another rival which was linked to Sato. The man who Miyagi used to be friends with until he fell in love with the woman Sato was promised to marry. This led to him leaving the village and having never returned until now when his father was dying. It certainly has some moments that really do tug at your heartstrings.
Even though the film was set in Okinawa they didn't actually film it in Japan, it was done in Oahu Hawaii which was chosen due to being a similar climate. Which I guess takes a little bit of the edge off when your hoping to see Japan.
Pat Morita really does continue in very good character development as Miyagi managing to add even more layers after the first film. Which is a joy to watch from start to finish. Ralph Macchio as Daniel continues in good form from the first film as well.
I just felt without the karate tournament it didn't have as much going for it as the first one, but as already mentioned some nice and lovely moments mixed together make it watchable and that you get to see two good characters all over again.