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Monday, January 12, 2015

For the glory of love



The Karate Kid (1984)

Rating: PG

Runtime: 127 minutes

Box Office (in today’s dollars): 203 million (approximately)

Characters: Daniel LaRusso, Keisuke Miyagi, Ali Mills, Johnny Lawrence, John Kreese, Lucille LaRusso, Bobby, Dutch, Jimmy, Tommy, Freddy Fernandez, Barbara, Susan, Mr. Mills, Mrs. Mills

Cool Stuff: Golf n’ Stuff

Cool Music: “You’re the Best”

Cool Quote: “Wax on, wax off.”

This movie is one of the longer ones I have watched so far on my list, so there is a lot to cover. Strangely, this is the first time I had seen this movie from start to finish. There are a lot of characters in the film; few are actually important. Daniel is the new kid in town. He seems to be a nice kid, but he is also kind of a jerk. Miyagi is great. At first you think he is tricking Daniel into doing all his chores (wash/wax his cars, sand his floor, paint his fence and house), but he is teaching him how to be a karate master. Ali is the rich girl next door and (against her friends Barbara and Susan’s wishes) is the only one who likes Daniel. Johnny and all his Cobra Kai buddies (Bobby, Dutch, Jimmy, and Tommy) are bad dudes, and they learned it all from John Kreese: ”Strike first, strike hard, no mercy!”

The coolest thing in the movie is a place I’d actually like to visit: Golf n’ Stuff ... a place where you can play arcade hockey and mini golf, ride go-karts and bumper boats, jump on a trampoline, and visit a photo booth. Outside of one song, the soundtrack is pretty bad. It ruins scenes by telling you what’s about to happen. It’s loud when something bad is about to happen, quiet when we are supposed to be learning something. But all is forgiven when the “You’re the Best” montage finally arrives! I also really liked the scene where we find out Miyagi’s sad backstory.

Deciding the coolest quote was tough. My girlfriend loved “Must be ‘take a worm for a walk’ week”, and I’m guessing everyone else loves “Get him a body bag ... yeah!” Me, I’ll stick with the classic “Wax on, wax off.” To close, I’d like to mention three things: Daniel’s mom is awesome, Ali’s mom is terrible, and this movie has a bracket tournament! Salty likey!

Next movie to review: The Terminator

1 comment:

  1. Karate Kid was rad. The karate tournament montage was money. However, I still say that this is one of the very rare instances when the sequel was better than the original. Karate Kid II rules!

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