Karate Kid: Legends. Cast: Jackie Chan, Ben Wang, Ralph Macchio, Joshua Jackson, Sadie Stanley, Ming-Na Wen, Aramis Knight, Wyatt Oleff. Director: Jonathan Entwistle. 94 minutes. Rated PG.
This was a fun movie for all the family. Most especially it will appeal to those youngsters who like king-fu, karate or both and their parents who want a happy hit of nostalgia.
Li (Wang) moves to New York with his doctor mother (Wen) for a new start. He is still reeling from the death of his older brother who was stabbed in a fight. He blames himself because he froze when the attack took place. He is favoured by Mr Han (Chan) at his Beijing school and is not keen to start school again in a foreign country. However, on his first day he goes wandering and runs into a girl called Mia (Stanley) who works at her father’s pizza shop. Cue the possible teenage romance. Mia’s father, Victor (Jackson), a former boxer, owes money to some criminal heavyweights and is worrying about paying it back. Li decides that he will train him for a bout where Victor hopes to win enough to pay them off. Meanwhile, Li has also caught the attention of Mia’s ex-boyfriend bad boy Connor (Knight) who is the local karate hero. Mr Han calls on his old student Danny (Macchio) to help train Li to challenge Conor for the Five Boroughs belt and the prizemoney of $50,000. You’ll know who wins in the end.
I really liked the crisp location shots, mainly Montreal with some NYC Chinatown, and the generally upbeat feel of the movie. The training scene with Mr Han and Danny was amusing. The plot was unoriginal but the characters were real. Even for one who knows next to nothing about the martial arts, I was impressed with the moves and the philosophy of two branches one tree as the kung fu and karate skills are used together. There were lots of life lessons dropped into the dialogue, for example, ‘When life knocks you down – get up!’
I rather liked the daggy friend Alex (Oleff) and his bad singing – some light relief and laughter here. Conor was a good-looking baddie who managed to bow – just – when defeated. Li was rather sweet and only had an impact in the fight scenes.
I watched this film with a large group of families and there was a generally positive response to it, some mild cheering and the odd laugh. Popcorn, really. Another in the franchise, enjoyable enough when watching it, but only worth one viewing.