The Karate Kid (1984) * * *

Directed by:  John G. Avildsen

Starring:  Ralph Macchio, Noriyuki "Pat" Morita, Elisabeth Shue, William Zabka, Martin Kove

The Karate Kid is a Rocky-type of movie with Rocky's director John G. Avildsen at the helm.   An underdog overcomes his enemies and wins out in the end, but it is also about the sweet friendship between the underdog and his karate teacher/apartment complex janitor, Mr. Miyagi (Morita- Oscar nominated for his work here).

The movie begins with Daniel LaRusso (Macchio) and his widowed mother moving from Newark, NJ to Los Angeles for a new job.    His mother is a nice lady with a big heart, but not equipped to handle it when Daniel soon finds himself being bullied by high school kids who look at least twenty and are black belts in karate.   Daniel begins dating the ex-girlfriend of Johnny (Zabka), the hateful leader of the teens.   He and his cohorts take out their displeasure on Daniel's face regularly.   After fighting off the teens during one particularly brutal attack, Miyagi, a karate expert himself, agrees to teach Daniel karate.   

Johnny is a California blonde with contempt oozing from every pore.   His cohorts follow him around and do his bidding, which usually involves tormenting Daniel in some way.    Their function is simply to receive their comeuppance in the end.    The black belts, who are students of the malicious Kreese (Kove) of the Cobra Kai dojo, are one-dimensional, but we don't mind seeing them get their butts kicked.   

The Karate Kid taps into the daily anguish of someone who is bullied on a daily basis.   Every day for Daniel becomes an exercise in eluding the Cobra Kai, until he learns karate and enters a local annual tournament which Johnny usually wins.   It is sad to see Daniel forced to dress as a shower stall (curtain and all- it's actually pretty inventive) to attend the Halloween dance with his girlfriend Ali (Shue) in order to avoid detection.   Ali is pretty, sweet, sincere, and rich.   Daniel is scorned by her parents because he is from the San Fernando Valley.    They seem to like Johnny, who must pull one heck of an acting job to even pass as approachable, let alone likable. 

Miyagi is a wise, elderly Japanese-American who can back up his talk.    His initial training includes Daniel sanding the floor, waxing the car, and painting the fence.   ("Wax on. Wax off")   Daniel feels like free labor until Miyagi reveals the method to his madness.    Morita brings warm humor to Miyagi and thus creates one of the most memorable characters in recent memory.    People respond to his strength and eternal goodness, which carried him through three other sequels.    His relationship with "Daniel-san" turns out to be exactly what the doctor ordered for each.

The fighting in the tournament is well choreographed and by now we know who wins.    Avildsen knows how to push the underdog angle without pushing too far.    It does not retain all of its original power, mostly because I am not fourteen anymore, but The Karate Kid is still a good entertainment which you can watch on cable and not feel like you just wasted two hours.