‘Karate Kid: Legends’ Review

As film franchises go, ‘The Karate Kid’ has had one of the odder, more winding histories. The first film is a beloved and iconic piece of 1980s culture, earning critical praise and commercial success. As an unexpected hit, Hollywood couldn’t leave it alone and pushed out two sequels featuring Ralph Macchio in the titular role, then ‘The Next Karate Kid’ with a young Hilary Swank taking over as student to the legendary Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita). Each sequel was worse than the one before it, losing the charm and originality of the original. In 2010, a remake featuring Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan was released to moderate success, but it wasn’t until the surprise acclaim of ‘Cobra Kai’, beginning as a YouTube web series before finding a home on Netflix, that the series was once again critically and commercially embraced.

Capitalizing on the success of ‘Cobra Kai’, ‘Karate Kid: Legends’ brings together characters from both branches of the ‘Karate Kid’ universe, with Ralph Macchio and Jackie Chan sharing the screen as mentors in karate and kung fu for their young student, Li Fong (Ben Wang). The resulting film is entertaining, even if the story and its character beats are unoriginal echoes of the original film.

The film opens with a scene from ‘The Karate Kid Part II’, as if to hit you over the head that this is a legacy sequel revisiting characters you should already be fond of. Mr. Miyagi shows a young Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) family photos and explains that the Miyagi family has roots both in China and Japan – two branches, one tree.

After this trip down memory lane, the main plot kicks off with Li Fong, a teenager in Beijing, practicing kung fu at his great uncle Mr. Han’s (Jackie Chan) studio. Li’s mother (Ming-Na Wen) storms into the studio and lets her son know that they will be moving to New York and that he is forbidden from fighting under any circumstances. In New York, Li tries to avoid the attraction of martial arts, which is made difficult when he befriends Mia (Sadie Stanley), whose troublesome ex-boyfriend (Aramis Knight) is the reigning karate champion in the citywide Five Boroughs Tournament.

All of the staples of a Karate Kid film are established quickly. There is a tournament, through which our hero can confront his nemesis in karate and love. There is a special karate move that Li can’t quite get right. Kung fu is extolled not just as a form of combat, but as a path for self improvement, a philosophy that helps establish an identity and gives the strength to respond to all the hardships in life.

If ‘Karate Kid: Legends’ stuck solely to the basic formula, the film would be a nice entertainment, if not a particularly interesting one. But a sizable portion of the movie is devoted to a subplot involving Mia’s retired boxer father (Joshua Jackson), who owes money to a local loanshark and signs up for a prizefight to pay his debts and support his pizzeria. Joshua Jackson gives a charming performance, probably the best in the film, delivering a believable everyman who is easy to root for. And this subplot cleverly subverts the standard mentor/mentee relationship, as it is the teenager Li who serves as sensei to the middle aged Victor, training him in the techniques of kung fu, insisting that Victor treat everyday tasks as opportunities for training. But the subplot goes on too long and takes away from Li’s hero’s journey, making the movie ultimately feel much longer than it is.

There are attempts to modernize the franchise aesthetic throughout, leaning into comic-book-like graphic sequences, including overlaying ‘+1’, ‘+2’ in fight scenes when a punch or kick connects, as if these fighters are characters in a video game with a finite health bar. Rather than help this film feel new and fresh, these flourishes all come off childish and pandering.

While the marketing leans heavily on Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio, the film rests primarily on Ben Wang as Li Fong. For the most part, Wang handles the role well and in one particular fight scene, he is practically Jackie Chan-esque, finding comedy within the action, unafraid to fall down, show genuine pain, fear and confusion. The entire cast delivers earnest performances, making a world populated with martial arts obsessives seem believable, even as the material lacks originality or surprise.

Ultimately, ‘Karate Kid: Legends’ is not dissimilar to all of the generic summery pop songs that flood its soundtrack: light and fun but generic enough to be totally forgotten in no time at all.

Karate Kid: Legends
Rated PG-13 for martial arts violence and some language.
Running Time: 1 hour and 34 minutes

Director Jonathan Entwistle
Writers Rob Lieber
Stars Jackie Chan, Ralph Macchio, Ben Wang, Joshua Jackson, Sadie Stanley, Ming-Na Wen
Rating PG-13
Running Time 94 Minutes
Genres Action, Drama, Family