Karate Kid: Legends
Clocking in at just 94 minutes, Karate: Kid Legends is a perfectly fine summer movie that doesn't overstay its welcome when it combines the star of the original Karate Kid and the star of the 2010 version casting both Ralph Macchio and Jackie Chan in supporting roles as mentors for the next kid to be trained in the Miyagi style. Our star this time around is high schooler Li Fong (Ben Wang) who starts out lost in more ways than one moving to New York with his mother (Ming-Na Wen) who demands "no fighting" in an attempt to start a new life following the death of Li's brother (Yankei Ge).
Two mentors aren't enough this time around so we also get Joshua Jackson as pizza shop owner and former prize fighter Victor Lipani who becomes one of Li's small circle of friends. And, because it's not Karate Kid move without a love interest, we also get Sadie Stanley as his daughter Mia. Other trappings from the franchise are found here as well including Mia's prick of an ex-boyfriend Connor (Aramis Knight) who just happens to be the star student at a ruthless Karate academy who wins the local Five Boroughs tournament every year.
You can guess the story from here. Li's training with Victor leads to the resurfacing of past trauma and the Five Boroughs tournament provides a solution to all of his problems and also an excuse to unite the two branches of Mr. Miyagi's teaching, building Karate on top of the Kung Fu principles Li Fong already knows well. Even with this blending, and the comedic moments it allows Chan and Macchio to play off one another, the film stays firmly structured in the established mold of the Karate Kid films.
Karate Kid: Legends is fun, if lightweight, summer fare. Ben Wang fits right in as our next Karate teenager while Jackson, Macchio, and Chan (along with Win) provide an eclectic group of role models for our protagonist. And the friendship between Ben and Mia is believable enough to allow for a PG-level romantic turn. And for someone who hasn't watched Cobra Kai, there was nothing about the story that felt needed further explanation or context (always nice in a franchise film). It lacks the killer soundtrack of the original film, but the Five Boroughs tournament (held in scenic outdoor locations across the city) freshens up the tournament aspect of the series by transforming something old into something new again.
Watch the trailer- Title: Karate Kid: Legends
- IMDb: link
