Stop me if you’ve heard this one: a fish-out-of-water new kid is bullied by the local toughs, but a sage-like teacher appears to give him new skills. Along the way he learns about himself before ultimately showing up his tormentors and even winning the heart of the girl. Of course you stopped me a dozen or so words back, because of course you’ve heard that one. Everyone has. It’s been done a million times and keeps coming back for more. There are countless stories just like it in virtually every medium of storytelling, but they are not all of equal quality. This is one instance that has withstood the test of time admirably, and will likely remain a cultural touchstone for many more years to come. From the summer of 1984, this is “The Karate Kid.”
As I mentioned, this is one of a multitude of movies that follow the same basic formula for the underdog hero of a competitive activity. It never deviates greatly from that formula, but still manages to surprise first-time viewers. The specifics of how it executes make all the difference. Some movies would try to compensate for an old formula by being very flashy and dazzling. Others don’t seem to actually care, but still go with that approach. “The Karate Kid” is instead very frugal and economical with its storytelling capital, effecting something of a “less-is-more” style. There’s very little that could honestly be described as glitzy or glamorous about this movie. The characters and situations are, if anything, just a little bit muted rather than over the top. It all feels credible and natural. The characters of Ali and Kreese occasionally strain this a bit, but even then it’s infrequent. There is no emphasis on fancy moves or special effects. All throughout, the movie feels very down-to-earth and easy to believe. Any one of the characters as written could easily have come across as an unfortunately broad and cartoonish stereotype, but to the credit of the director and actors, there are only a few tiny glimmers of anything like that.
There are the requisite montages, 80s synth-pop-rock soundtrack, and every other element one would expect given the movie’s premise and the time in which it was made. Lots of other movies would have all of those things competing for the audience’s attention to the detriment of all the others. In contrast, “The Karate Kid” has its ingredients very well proportioned and none of them is overpowering. This meshes nicely with the theme of balance. Mr. Miyagi teaches Daniel that karate is not about fighting or violence or raw strength, but is instead about balance and inner peace, learning discipline so that he will not have to fight. Yes, ultimately our hero wins the big tournament in the end, but it is never about beating up the Cobra Kari students for revenge or any other reason. In the same way, the movie does not aim to attack the viewer’s senses but maintains a sort of quiet, simple harmony composed of solid foundational elements. Over three decades later, this movie serves as a fine example of what can be accomplished with seemingly so much less than a modern, explosion-filled, CGI visual-laden spectacle.
The ending is very abrupt slightly awkward for it, but in fairness there really wasn’t much else to do or say at that point. Anything further would have run the risk of being trite and cliché. As the movie doesn’t really stumble anywhere else, I give it an A and a hearty recommendation. I’m still not sure how I had never seen this before, although I somehow don’t find it as odd in this case as with some other movies.
*Footnote: on ratings and time periods. I’m sure a lot of you reading these are asking why I have previously spent so much time on 80s movies and discussing their MPAA ratings. I have asked myself the same questions, it may please you to know. The best answers I can come up with are these. Regarding the 80s, I was born in them, so there is probably a natural tendency to fill in gaps that are contemporary to my own youth. There are certainly a great many other gaps to fill from other periods both before and after. I will be making more of an effort to spread things around going forward. As for ratings and family-friendliness, I felt compelled in the cases of both The Goonies and Airplane! to remark on the subject simply because both cases seemed incongruous with modern standards. It is not my intention to spend a great deal of time discussing the ratings board’s subjective stamp in this column, but I may mention it from time to time where it seems that it might be appropriate. Of course, these are my own opinions and are entirely subjective as well. For what it’s worth, my opinion of “The Karate Kid” is that it would probably get the same “PG” rating today as it did then.