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| Editorial Reviews: |
|  |  | | A fatherless teenager faces his moment of truth in The Karate Kid. Daniel (Ralph Macchio) arrives in Los Angeles from the east coast and faces the difficult task of making new friends. However, he becomes the object of bullying by the Cobras, a menacing gang of karate students, when he strikes up a relationship with Ali (Elisabeth Shue), the Cobra leader's ex-girlfriend. Eager to fight back and impress his new girlfriend but afraid to confront the dangerous gang, Daniel asks his handyman Miyagi (Noriyuki 'Pat' Morita), whom he learns is a master of the martial arts, to teach him karate. Miyagi teaches Daniel that karate is a mastery over the self, mind, and body and that fighting is always the last answer to a problem. Under Miyagi's guidance, Daniel develops not only physical skills but also the faith and self-confidence to compete despite tremendous odds as he encounters the fight of his life in the exciting finale to this entertaining film. | | | | John G. Avildsen not only directed Rocky, he tried remaking it over the years in a dozen different ways. One of them was this popular 1984 drama about a new kid (Ralph Macchio) in town targeted by karate-wielding bullies until he gets a new mentor: the handyman (Pat Morita) from his apartment building, who teaches him self-confidence and fighting skills. The screen partnership of Macchio's motor-mouth character and Morita's reserved father figure works well, and the script allows for the younger man to develop sympathy for the painful memories of his teacher. But the film's real engine, as with Rocky, is the fighting, and there's plenty of that. Elisabeth Shue is on board as the girl the klutzy Macchio dreams of winning. --Tom Keogh | |
| Custom Reviews: | |
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| | Excellent movie better than the latest version that came out in 2010. A must see for all who have not scene it before.
| | | Received the item quickly, and watching the movie in Blu-ray was great. Pleased with the transaction and the product.
| | Blu-ray: I've watched this film so many times since 1984 and I can never grow tired of it. | |
| | The early '80s was a time when coming-of-age films and underdog turned victorious style of films dominated the box office. One of the films that captured the attention of many and still is a time classic today is the 1984 film "The Karate Kid" directed by John G Avildsen ("Rocky", "Lean on Me", "Inferno") and a screenplay by Robert Mark Kamen ("Gladiator", "Taps", "Lethal Weapon 3, "The Fifth Element").
The film was an amazing hit at the box office, making over $90 million, receive rave reviews from critics and would later spawn several sequels, a television show and would earn actor Pat Morita an Academy Award nomination for "Best Supporting Actor" and elevate the popularity teen-hearthrob Ralph Macchio to great heights.
With the 2010 remake of "The Karate Kid" starring Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith, what best to reacquaint audiences of the first two films (the third and fourth films were panned) which makes its HD debut on Blu-ray with a special "Karate Kid I & II Collector's Edition", the Blu-ray release of the film will also be sold separately.
VIDEO:
"The Karate Kid" is presented in 1080p High Definition (1:85:1). Before I watched this film on Blu-ray, I had the opportunity to watch the 2005 DVD version and the first things that caught my attention was how the film looked its age. But I have seen how older films can look incredible on Blu-ray and with "The Karate Kid", although the opening sequences may show its age, the film looks absolutely beautiful for a 26-year-old film.
A lot of early '80s films didn't exactly utilize the best film stock and sometimes the film quality looks DNR'd or a bit cloudy and waxy. This was not the case of "The Karate Kid". Detail is much more apparent with the objects and surroundings and also there is a good amount of grain with this release.
Outdoor sequences look quite vibrant and reds, yellows and orange colors look quite nice and some colors really do pop. Blacks are nice and deep and overall, this is the best I have seen of this film and probably the best picture quality of "The Karate Kid" we are going to see of this film in a long time.
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
"The Karate Kid" is presented in English, French and Portuguese 5.1 DTS-HD MA and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital. For the most part, the majority of the film is dialogue driven. I noticed the music such as Bananarama's "Cruel Summer" really sound quite nice in lossless, especially Bill Conti's music which definitely sounds great in HD.
There are some moments with crowd ambiance or clanging when Daniel is trying to jump the fence but the majority of the surround that one will hear is during the tournament when the audience definitely is heard all around you. So, the majority of the surround channels are utilized towards the end of the film.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
"The Karate Kid" comes with the following special features (presented in standard definition):
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* Blu-Pop (TM): Activate the exclusive Blu-pop feature to reveal pop up trivia, interviews and more secrets from the film! Watch Ralph Macchio and William Zabka discuss their experience of working on "The Karate Kid".
* "Beyond the Form" Featurette - (13:03) Pat E. Johnson, martial arts master and choreographer explains what karate is and how he wanted to make the karate look realistic in "The Karate Kid" and training the talent.
* Commentary with Director John G. Avildsen, Writer Robert Mark Kamen and Actors Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita - The original director's commentary from "The Karate Kid" 2005 DVD release. It was great to hear all three together and to hear Pat Morita reminisce about those years and have a lot of fun. Really fun commentary, especially in regards to the filming of the tournament.
* "East Meets West: A Composer's Notebook" - (8:17) Composer Bill Conti talks about composing a movie and what he wanted to accomplish with "The Karate Kid".
* "Life of Bonsai" Featurette - (10:00) A featurette about the bonsai tree.
* "The Way of the Karate Kid" Part 1 Featurette" - (23:59) Robert Mark Kamen talks about writing the screenplay for "The Karate Kid". Direct John G. Avildsen and Robert Mark Kamen talking about the cast, Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita talks about auditioning for the role. The cast talks about being part of the film and working with director John Avildsen.
* "The Way of the Karate Kid" Part 2 Featurette" - (21:25) The cast talk about director John Avildsen's talent. Also, information on the filming of the martial arts tournament.
EXTRAS:
"The Karate Kid I & II Collector's Edition" comes with a cardboard slipcase which contains both Karate Kid films on Blu-ray.
JUDGMENT CALL:
"The Karate Kid" was one of those inspirational coming-of-age, underdog becomes victorious films that were so indicative of the '80s. Along with films such as "Vision Quest" and "Revenge of the Nerds", "The Karate Kid" was a fantastic film that definitely made me and many of my classmates want to sign up for karate class.
Ralph Macchio wasn't this hulking actor, known for his work at the time on TV series such as "Eight is Enough" and the film "The Outsiders" (1983), Macchio does a fantastic job playing Daniel,a skinny guy who learns martial arts from a book and we sympathize with him as he is a person who is constantly being bullied, getting beaten up by the jocks and I can easily remember the audience in the theater in applause after Daniel's crane-kick. The other time I ever recall seeing this was for "Rocky IV". But really, when you think about the character, I don't know anyone at that time who could have played a convincing Daniel. Macchio was perfect for the role!
Pat Morita did a wonderful job playing Mr. Miyagi. Having watched Morita play Arnold on "Happy Days", it was great to see him in such an important supporting role and although it would seem both Mr. Miyagi and Daniel would be like oil and water, the two manage to have great chemistry onscreen. One of the most interesting lines from the film was when Miyagai talks about Okinawa as his country and I'm sure many people caught that and said, "Okinawa is not a country". But this was smart on Robert Mark Kamen's part as a writer (especially leading to the second Karate Kid film) as Okinawan's viewpoint towards Japan and how natives of the island have looked at Okinawa as a separate nation especially since the culture and language is much different than Japan.
As "The Karate Kid" proved to be successful and has done well for the careers of Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita, Elisabeth Shue who plays the love interest would also benefit from the film's popularity and eventually would lead to major roles in "Adventures in Babysitting" (1987) and "Cocktail" (1988).
And also credit has to go to Billy Zabka (who plays Johnny Lawrence) and the guys of Cobra Kai. You couldn't help but hate these guys as they were the epitome of jock bullies that were so full of themselves. Their performance helped elevate Ralph Macchio's game and made you want to see the underdog come victorious. And add Martin Kove as John Kreese, the necessary evil who dictates how his students should fight in the tournament.
For many people who grew up during the time "The Karate Kid" was in theaters or watched it ad infinitum on cable, sure the film is definitely nostalgic but even 26-years-later, the film still manages to hold up quite well and is still as enjoyable as when I first watched it in 1984. And to make things much more impressive, the film looks and sounds great on Blu-ray.
"The Karate Kid" has everything that people - young and old can appreciate. An enjoyable, inspiring film that will no doubt continue to entertain future generations. It's pretty surreal to read the various message boards from people who were not even born with this film came out but yet has as much as passion as one who did grow up around that time period.
Overall, if you are a big fan of "The Karate Kid", this Blu-ray is definitely worth owning. And if you enjoy the second film as well, "The Karate Kid I & II Collector's Edition" is the version you most like would want to buy. Nevertheless, "The Karate Kid" is a definite classic and is definitely recommended!
| | | I gave this movie a 5 rating. What a relief it was to be able to sit down and watch a movie with my grandson and not have to put my hands over his eyes because of scenes not appropriate for his viewing. Made popcorn sat back and enjoyed the show. He really enjoyed it and I enjoyed watching him enjoy it. It was a nice family afternoon.
| | | good service, came on time and looks in good condition. haven't watched it yet but looks like it'll be fine.
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