Karate Kid Collection, The

Rating: PG

Distributor: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Release Date: February 1, 2005
Review posted: March 4, 2005

Reviewed by Christopher T. Bryan

SYNOPSIS

This collection, issued for the twentieth anniversary of the original Karate Kid film, features all three of The Karate Kid movies featuring Daniel (Ralph Macchio) and Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita).  Also included is The Next Karate Kid featuring Pat Morita and Julie (Hilary Swank).

CRITIQUE

I loved The Karate Kid growing up, so I was thrilled when I discovered that a collection was being issued.  The Karate Kid had been available on DVD before, however it was shockingly bare of any special features.  The Karate Kid II was available on DVD in the same form as now while this collection marks the first time that The Karate Kid part III and The Next Karate Kid have been available on DVD.

The Karate Kid is the story of a Jersey teenager who moves to the sunny beaches of California, to find out that it’s not as easy to fit in as he had hoped.  He meets the woman of his dreams, at least until she dumps him for a football player in The Karate Kid II, but also meets her ex-boyfriend Johnny (William Zabka) who, besides being the jealous type, happens to be a black belt in karate.  Johnny and his other Cobra Kai friends take to using Daniel for target practice until handyman/martial arts master Mr. Miyagi strikes up a deal that he will train Daniel in karate so that he can face off against Johnny in the All Valley karate tournament.

The storyline seems cliché now, but The Karate Kid is the film that started the cliché.  The film is fantastically acted by Morita, who earned an Academy Award nomination for the role, Macchio, Elisabeth Shue as Ali with an I, Zabka, and Martin Kove as John Kreese.  It teaches valuable lessons about karate, citing that it comes from the heart and mind, not from strength.  This is also where the film seems to come from - the heart.  Writer Robert Mark Kamen has a history with the martial arts and that is conveyed through this idyllic world that he created.  Director John G. Avildsen lovingly frames the characters in beautiful scenery, and pulls the heart out of the script.

This is a film that still offers a unique look at the martial arts and coming of age, today it has also taken on a role as a sort of time capsule, affording the viewer a glimpse into the eighties.

Film Rating: 10 out of 10

The Karate Kid II is a worthy sequel.  Miyagi must travel to his home town in Okinawa to attend to his dying father.  Daniel tags along in order to learn some culture and to offer support to his mentor.  Miyagi’s arrival in Okinawa re-ignites a long simmering feud between himself and his childhood best friend.  When Miyagi refuses to fight Sato (Danny Kamekona) one of his students, Chozen (Yuji Okumoto) decides to harass, aka beat-up, Daniel in order to salvage his master’s honor.

This film takes everything from The Karate Kid and kicks it up a notch.  It delves into the character’s background.  Rather than making them one dimensional, it respects the audience in allowing us to watch characters that we have grown to love flourish.  The audience learns much more about Miyagi, and we get to watch Daniel continue to grow in his martial arts.  The stakes are higher here.  Chozen and his gang make the Cobra Kai look like a bunch of sissies.  High School angst is not driving these characters, honor is.  Right before the final scene, Miyagi tells Daniel “this not tournament, this for real”.  Miyagi’s words hit home when Daniel’s crane kick, so effective in The Karate Kid is flicked away by Chozen.  It is often argued as to whether or not a sequel can ever be better than the original.  The argument holds no place here, what The Karate Kid II does is complement the original.  Rather than trying to better it, it builds on it.  The Karate Kid II is not merely taking the characters and putting them into the same situation as the original; it takes them on a journey.  With the editing, and the way that The Karate Kid II begins with the shower scene following the All Valley tournament, an argument could be made that The Karate Kid and The Karate Kid II are really just one excellent movie split in two, similar to Tarantino’s Kill Bill: Volumes 1 and 2.

Film Rating: 9 out of 10

Unfortunately for the other Karate Kid movies, the fact that The Karate Kid II was such an excellent sequel just deepens the abyss that any further sequels can fall into.  And fall these two do.  Whereas The Karate Kid II built on The Karate Kid and developed the characters, The Karate Kid Part III tears them apart.  Here, Daniel and Miyagi return from Okinawa to find a letter asking Daniel to return to the All Valley tournament to defend his title.  Daniel wants to fight, but Miyagi tells him that he won’t train him because he is not defending his honor or his life.  After Daniel is forced to sign up for the tournament by “karate’s bad boy” Mike Barnes (Sean Kanan) he decides to train with a Cobra Kai sensei (Thomas Ian Griffith) who is really orchestrating everything in order to get revenge on Daniel and Miyagi for ruining Kreese.  The Cobra Kai style of fighting goes against everything that Daniel has been taught by Miyagi and leads to an eventual melt down for Daniel at which point Miyagi decides to train Daniel because now he is defending his honor.

The storyline for The Karate Kid Part III is far fetched.  The characters become caricatures and the magic of the first two films is wasted.  Rather than fleshed out characters, Miyagi is simply a wise old man, Daniel is a naïve teenager looking for guidance, and the Cobra Kai sensei is a cigar smoking radioactive waste dumping tycoon.  Daniel is too quick to turn his back on his teachings from Miyagi and the distance that grows between the two throughout the film alienates the audience.

Film Rating: 6 out of 10

The Next Karate Kid is less offensive than The Karate Kid Part III and this is almost entirely due to the fact that it is building on low expectations following the release of The Karate Kid Part III.  Rather than building on the magic of the two original films, The Next Karate Kid is more of a light hearted revisiting of the character of Miyagi.  This time Miyagi is in Boston where the daughter of an old friend is in need of guidance.  Miyagi decides to teach Julie (Hilary Swank) karate to curb her bad attitude.  Finally she must defend herself against the militant karate club that runs her high school.  The film would be a throw away if it were not for the future success of the now two time Oscar winner Hilary Swank.  No one would guess, based on her acting in The Next Karate Kid, that she would go on to win multiple Academy Awards.  After Million Dollar Baby it is interesting to go back and view Swank’s first foray into fighting on film.

Film Rating: 6 out of 10

THE VIDEO

All of the films are presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and are beautiful transfers.  These are excellent updates over the versions that the films were previously available in.

THE AUDIO

All of the films are presented in Dolby Digital and remastered in High Definition.  The Karate Kid has subtitles available in English, French, Spanish, Chinese and Thai.  The Karate Kid II, The Karate Kid Part III and The Next Karate Kid have subtitles available in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean and Thai.  The audio is excellent in this film.  Bill Conti’s score comes through beautifully especially in the original Karate Kid.

THE EXTRAS

Disc 1: The Karate Kid

Commentary with Director John Avildsen, Writer Robert Kamen and Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita: The commentary is interesting, but gets long winded towards the end.  The most interesting fact is that Macchio owns the yellow Ford from the films.  Best moment in the commentary:  when Macchio chides Morita for being a traitor and participating in The Next Karate Kid with “that Oscar winner”.

The Way of the Karate Kid: Multi-part Making-of Featurette: This is the best special feature of any of the DVDs.  It includes Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita, John Avildsen, Robert Mark Kamen, Martin Kove and William Zabka all commenting on their roles in The Karate Kid.  The most surprising part of this feature is Pat Morita who is very thin and with a voice much higher than that of Miyagi.  During one part of the feature Morita easily slides into the Miyagi voice, it is really a treat to see the actor become the character.

Beyond the Form: This featurette features the fight choreographer, Pat E. Johnson, who is actually the referee in the All Valley karate tournament scenes.  He describes his training method for the actors, none of whom had any karate experience.  He trained Macchio and Morita together.  He trained the Cobra Kai gang separately, and Martin Kove by himself.  This method was intended to affect the mind-set of the actors in the film.

East Meets West: A Composer’s Notebook: This feature shows Bill Conti, the composer of the music for all four films.  The music truly adds to each film and Conti’s explanation of his methods is interesting.

Life of Bonsai Featurette: This featurette focuses on the bonsai trees that hold significant symbolic status in the films.  An expert on the trees goes into detail on their history and methods of care taking.

Disc 2: The Karate Kid II

The Sequel Featurette: This feature is the same feature that was previously available on older versions of the DVD.  Basically it was shot during the filming of the second film and everyone involved describes why they are sticking around for the second.  This feature lost its importance with the development of the new features available on the new Karate Kid DVD.

Interactive DVD-ROM Game: I couldn’t access the game on my computer.

The third disc features both The Karate Kid Part III and The Next Karate Kid films but does not offer special features beyond filmographies and bonus trailers.

FINAL THOUGHTS

This is an excellent collection that updates the Karate Kid series.  The special features offer an in depth look at what went into creating the films that achieved an esteemed status in our culture.  My only complaint is that there were no featurettes produced for The Next Karate Kid.  I would be interested in hearing Hilary Swank’s take on her experience.  Based on the caliber of the films and the special features I would recommend owning this collection.

VERDICT: RECOMMENDED

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