The Next Karate Kid

Rating:
Summary: The Next Karate Kid- Less of the Karate, More of the Kid!
Review: "The Next Karate Kid" is the fourth and as it stands final Karate Kid movie. Released in 1994, a few years after "The Karate Kid Part III", this movie no longer focuses on the Karate Kid Daniel and his relationship with his Karate teacher Mr Miyagi. It is unexplained but suffice it to say the original karate kid has grown up. In "The Next Karate Kid" we follow Mr Miyagi's relationship with a teenage girl named Julie and watch as she becomes the next karate kid.

Julie (played by Hilary Swank who went on to win an Oscar for "Boys Don't Cry") is being bullied by boys at school who are following the violent teachings of their coach. Mr Miyagi (played by Pat Morita from the original Karate Kid movies) comes into her life and helps Julie learn courage and self respect through the use of karate and belief in oneself.

In comparison to the other three Karate Kid movies, "The Next Karate Kid" is a lot less violent. The Karate Kid has been increasing the violence with each movie, but has gone the other way with this one, and is all the better for it. There is a lot less of the karate and a lot more of the kid! No longer does the karate kid become about the next fight scene or the major karate move taught by Mr Miyagi. In "The Karate Kid" Danny learnt the crane, in "The Karate Kid Part II" Danny learnt the driver punch and in "The Karate Kid Part III" Danny learnt the Miyagi family kata. These special moves were used at the end of each movie. In contrast, with "The Next Karate Kid" Mr Miyagi teaches Julie the tiger kick, but she doesn't need to use it in the final fight. In fact in this movie Mr Miyagi has the final fight. No longer is fighting the driving force of the movie, and I'm sure that's something Mr Miyagi would agree with since he hates fighting anyway.

Here in "The Next Karate Kid" we are able to focus on the characters. And from that we can really feel for them when the fight scene does come. So if you are looking for a real karate action movie I suggest another movie. The fight choreography itself is sometimes a little poor, but it is all done by the same choreographer as the original Karate Kid movies so maybe he was just having a bad day. Mr Miyagi also appears to be having a bad day, because although he wins his fights fairly easily, he does look very old when fighting. I'm sure he used to kick higher and not lose his balance in the previous movies.

Hilary Swank is truly fantastic as Julie. Hilary Swank makes you believe in Julie and her actions are perfectly credible through Hilary Swank's performance. Mr Miyagi is almost as much Mr Miyagi as he always was. I say this because some of what Mr Miyagi says is questionable. He says lines like "If must fight, win!" Not entirely sure Mr Miyagi would say that. Anyway this is down to the writing and not the wonderful performance from Pat Morita.

For me, the movie did end kind of suddenly since I was expecting a bigger fight at the end. However this is based on my experience of the other karate kid movies. This fourth installment is very understated so be prepared for that.

In conclusion, "The Next Karate Kid" is great and I'm glad it's on DVD.

Rating:
Summary: The Next Karate Kid- Less of the Karate, More of the Kid!
Review: "The Next Karate Kid" is the fourth and as it stands final Karate Kid movie. Released in 1994, a few years after "The Karate Kid Part III", this movie no longer focuses on the Karate Kid Daniel and his relationship with his Karate teacher Mr Miyagi. It is unexplained but suffice it to say the original karate kid has grown up. In "The Next Karate Kid" we follow Mr Miyagi's relationship with a teenage girl named Julie and watch as she becomes the next karate kid.

Julie (played by Hilary Swank who went on to win an Oscar for "Boys Don't Cry") is being bullied by boys at school who are following the violent teachings of their coach. Mr Miyagi (played by Pat Morita from the original Karate Kid movies) comes into her life and helps Julie learn courage and self respect through the use of karate and belief in oneself.

In comparison to the other three Karate Kid movies, "The Next Karate Kid" is a lot less violent. The Karate Kid has been increasing the violence with each movie, but has gone the other way with this one, and is all the better for it. There is a lot less of the karate and a lot more of the kid! No longer does the karate kid become about the next fight scene or the major karate move taught by Mr Miyagi. In "The Karate Kid" Danny learnt the crane, in "The Karate Kid Part II" Danny learnt the driver punch and in "The Karate Kid Part III" Danny learnt the Miyagi family kata. These special moves were used at the end of each movie. In contrast, with "The Next Karate Kid" Mr Miyagi teaches Julie the tiger kick, but she doesn't need to use it in the final fight. In fact in this movie Mr Miyagi has the final fight. No longer is fighting the driving force of the movie, and I'm sure that's something Mr Miyagi would agree with since he hates fighting anyway.

Here in "The Next Karate Kid" we are able to focus on the characters. And from that we can really feel for them when the fight scene does come. So if you are looking for a real karate action movie I suggest another movie. The fight choreography itself is sometimes a little poor, but it is all done by the same choreographer as the original Karate Kid movies so maybe he was just having a bad day. Mr Miyagi also appears to be having a bad day, because although he wins his fights fairly easily, he does look very old when fighting. I'm sure he used to kick higher and not lose his balance in the previous movies.

Hilary Swank is truly fantastic as Julie. Hilary Swank makes you believe in Julie and her actions are perfectly credible through Hilary Swank's performance. Mr Miyagi is almost as much Mr Miyagi as he always was. I say this because some of what Mr Miyagi says is questionable. He says lines like "If must fight, win!" Not entirely sure Mr Miyagi would say that. Anyway this is down to the writing and not the wonderful performance from Pat Morita.

For me, the movie did end kind of suddenly since I was expecting a bigger fight at the end. However this is based on my experience of the other karate kid movies. This fourth installment is very understated so be prepared for that.

In conclusion, "The Next Karate Kid" is great and I'm glad it's on DVD.

Rating:
Summary: No More Macchio
Review: Freed from the thrall of that eternal but tedious teen idol, Ralph Macchio, this is easily the best of the "Karate Kid" installments. Hilary Swank is an altogether "winning" heroine.

Rating:
Summary: No More Macchio
Review: Freed from the thrall of that eternal but tedious teen idol, Ralph Macchio, this is easily the best of the "Karate Kid" installments. Hilary Swank is an altogether "winning" heroine.

Rating:
Summary: SO much better than the third movie!
Review: I am SO glad that this one was not as bad as KK3. The plot is interesting, Mr. Miyagi is acting like himself again, and Hillary Swank is a great actress. The very beginning was a little shaky, but after that the movie became very good.

This movie has the idea of the first one somewhat, but featuring a quick-tempered girl, Julie. Mr. Miyagi is staying at her house while her grandmother goes to his house for some peace and quiet. Miyagi first has to earn Julie's respect during his stay. While he is there, he teaches her Kata for self-defense against a guy she hates, as well as how to dance for the upcoming prom. It may sound cliché, but when you see it you will like it.

Mr. Miyagi also takes Julie to a Buddhist monastery, with monks who turn out to be quite humorous. The best part is when they visit Julie's house and go "Zen bowling" on her prom night.

Overall, this was a great comeback from the horrible KK3. The only reason I gave it four stars instead of five is nothing can truly match up to the original Karate Kid. My advice? Buy the DVD of this one and the original, skip KK2 and KK3. This is the perfect sequel for the first one, as it does not ruin the charactars.

Rating:
Summary: Hillary Swank is grate in this movie.
Review: I think that it a boring so so movie no wonder this movie is barley reconised but I just saw it because I really like Hillary Swank and her peformince in boys dont cry got grate reviews so I figured I would see this first before I waist my money in the theter sinse that is more money. And know I really want to see that movie because her perfomince is grate.

Rating:
Summary: Fine movie but really not the series's sequel
Review: If you love the Karate Kid series, you probably like the original casts, and you want to know what's going on with them after the first, second, and third sequels, and so on. You feel being with them and share their adventure one after anothers. That's what the series for. In this "The Next Karate Kid", Miyagi is the only one from original series casting. Although this movie is good and great performance from Hilary Swank (the new karate gal named Julie), it really does not fit in the series. It is more like a side story for Mr. Miyagi but mainly focuses on the new karate gal Julie. I'm a bit disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Japanese culture, meet teenage spunk!
Review: Mr. Miyagi sure needs to learn a lot about girls. In this movie, a girl named Julie Pierce, who is having a lot of grief over the death of her parents killed in a car accident, learns karate from Mr. Miyagi, who has previously taught Daniel LaRusso. Julie learns it to defend herself against Ned and his friends of her school's Alpha Elite (which I consider a very STUPID organization). The ending is (and should be) the best part of the whole movie, especially after Eric gets beat up by Ned and his "little buddies." When Mr. Miyagi fights Colonel Dugan, he teaches him a lesson about the true concept of fighting. The content may seem boring in the beginning, but it becomes better as it nears the end of the movie.

Rating:
Summary: Abit too contrived for my taste.
Review: Not a very good movie at all. The acting was average , the script was contrived and so was the plot. It was a boring movie. Sorry but i think it's time to stop with the wipe on wipe off bit.

Rating:
Summary: Why
Review: See Ralph Macho was about 60 when this movie was being filmed so they had to re-write it and fill it in with the girl from BOYS DON't CRY. It should have never been made but Pat Morita needed the work. Case closed.