= 4 stars

Starring Pat Morita, Ralph Macchio, Tamlyn Tomita
Directed by John G. Avildsen

Amazon Link

As with the first Karate Kid, my personal biases made revisiting this flick more enjoyable. It’s a feel-good, Rocky type film that mostly lives up to the original. However, cheese and corn is definitely starting to ooze into the series.

After the All Valley karate tournament where Daniel (Ralph Macchio) shamed the bullies of Cobra Kai, Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita) receives an urgent letter informing him that his father, back in Okinawa (a small island south of Japan), is dying. Mr. Miyagi hasn’t been back to his home village in many decades - he ran away after proposing to the finance of his former best friend, Sato (Danny Kamekona). Daniel decides to join Mr. Miyagi on this trip.

After arriving, they learn that Sato has held a grudge to this day, and challenges Mr. Miyagi to a fight to the death. Daniel meets Kumiko (Tamlyn Tomita) who provides a worthwhile romantic distraction. Eventually, Mr. Miyagi is able to teach everyone that all this anger stuff is pointless, while saving his home village from destruction. Along the way we get some exotic locales, a few exciting fist fights, and the Miyagi brand of meditative, zen-like, life advice.

First the good: Karate Kid Part II gets much credit for not totally rehashing the original. It was a gutsy move to dig into Mr. Miyagi’s back-story and set the whole movie in Okinawa. The safer, more obvious route would have been a movie about Daniel, maybe fighting bullies in Fresno. Pat Morita and Ralph Macchio are both still dedicated to their roles, although Macchio a bit less so - he seems to have lost a bit of that gangly, clueless kid charm.

What’s not so good: A formula is definitely emerging, where Daniel is saved by a secret karate technique (instead of the “crane kick” here we have the “drum technique”), and there’s an obligatory scene where Daniel is outnumbered and Mr. Miyagi has to come skulking out of the shadows and save his ass. There are also some oddly convenient plot developments: Ali, Daniel’s first girlfriend, has fallen in love with a quarterback and mom is transferred to Fresno - both characters are MIA and leave Daniel totally available to travel to another country.

But overall I enjoyed this romp. There’s humor (”Rule #2 is first learn Rule #1″), exotic locations (can’t beat a tea ceremony), and the tension definitely builds as Mr. Miyagi and Daniel run away and are beat up repeatedly because they believe karate is only for defense. I find this made the pay off that much more satisfying.

A few personal connections are worth mentioning. Most of the Okinawa scenes were filmed on the northern side of Oahu (more specifically, Kahaluu). In one scene you can see the island Chinaman’s Hat. I recall that this film was being made while I was in junior high and some classmates were fairly intent on checking out Ralph Macchio. I guess he was kind of a stud back then, which today is rather laughable. Well, this was junior high.

IMDB: The Karate Kid, Part II
Wikipedia: The Karate Kid, Part II
Rotten Tomatoes: The Karate Kid, Part II

Categories: 4 Star Movies, Movies :: Tags: 4 stars, John G. Avildsen, Pat Morita, Ralph Macchio, Tamlyn Tomita, The Karate Kid, The Karate Kid Part II :: Trackback URL
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