This is a collector edition Blu-Ray featuring the first two Karate Kid movies starring Ralph Macchi and Pat Morita, 1984's The Karate Kid and the 1986 sequel, The Karate Kid Part II. The first movie was an adaptation of the proverbial 98lb weakling being bullied, said weakling being played by Ralph Macchio. He plays Daniel Larusso, who is forced to move from NJ to CA with his mother when she gets a new job. They live in a run-down apartment with an odd janitor (played by Pat Morita) from Okinawa named Mr. Miyagi. As Daniel starts a new school, he tries to win the affection of Elisabeth Shue's character Ali, whose ex-boyfriend Johnny ( played by William Zabka) is not over her and takes to beating the snot out of Daniel regularly. Daniel checks out the local karate Dojo, the Cobra Kai Dojo, only to discover that Johnny is the head student there. It is run by a crazy ex-military vet (played by Martin Kove) who encourages bullying behavior. When the Cobra Kai kids jump Daniel outside the apartment complex, Miyagi saves him and starts training him in Karate.
The first movie has many great themes, such as family, friendship, bullying, self-defense, etc., that still hold up 30-plus years later, even if the cheesy music montages and over-acting that were the hallmarks of 1980s movies have long since gone out of style.
The second movie, other than the first few minutes, takes place six months after the events of the first movie. In it, Daniel and Miyagi travel to Okinawa when Miyagi gets word that his father is near death. When they arrive, they are caught up in a decades-old honor feud and grudge that Miyagi's ex-best friend Sato (played by Danny Kamekona) still has for him. While there, Daniel falls in love with a local woman named Kumiko (played by Tamlyn Tomita), the niece of Miyagi's old love interest, Yikie (played by Nobu McCarthy). Sato's nephew, Chozen (played by Yuji Okumoto), feels disrespected by Daniel and the two battle throughout the movie, culminating in a very good fight at the end of the movie.
I will not give away more about either movie in case anyone reading this has not seen either one. These are definitely the two best movies of the four that were made. A case can be made for the argument that Part II is as good or better than the original. However, I think most people believe the original movie is the best.
The first movie has many great themes, such as family, friendship, bullying, self-defense, etc., that still hold up 30-plus years later, even if the cheesy music montages and over-acting that were the hallmarks of 1980s movies have long since gone out of style.
The second movie, other than the first few minutes, takes place six months after the events of the first movie. In it, Daniel and Miyagi travel to Okinawa when Miyagi gets word that his father is near death. When they arrive, they are caught up in a decades-old honor feud and grudge that Miyagi's ex-best friend Sato (played by Danny Kamekona) still has for him. While there, Daniel falls in love with a local woman named Kumiko (played by Tamlyn Tomita), the niece of Miyagi's old love interest, Yikie (played by Nobu McCarthy). Sato's nephew, Chozen (played by Yuji Okumoto), feels disrespected by Daniel and the two battle throughout the movie, culminating in a very good fight at the end of the movie.
I will not give away more about either movie in case anyone reading this has not seen either one. These are definitely the two best movies of the four that were made. A case can be made for the argument that Part II is as good or better than the original. However, I think most people believe the original movie is the best.
The Blu-Ray set is a two-disc set, with one disc for each movie. The blu-ray transfers are okay for both movies, but not a total HD restoration. I don't think one was necessarily needed for these movies, but it would have been a nice touch. The first movie has the most extras. Each one has a "Blu-Pop" version of the movie in which pop-ups with information about the movie appear throughout the movie (kind of like the old pop-up video show on VH1 for those old enough to remember that). The first movie has a two-part making-of feature of about 45 minutes combined and a cast and crew commentary track. The second movie just has the Blu-Pop version and a short making-of featurette.
Overall, the movies are good and hold up relatively well. There are certainly parts of each movie that are dated 30+ years down the line, but they are generally good movies with good messages and will definitely evoke a nostalgic feeling in those of us who were kids in the 1980s.
Overall, the movies are good and hold up relatively well. There are certainly parts of each movie that are dated 30+ years down the line, but they are generally good movies with good messages and will definitely evoke a nostalgic feeling in those of us who were kids in the 1980s.
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