Blu Ray Review: The Karate Kid

The remake of The Karate Kid hits our cinemas next Friday, 28th July and, for many this will be a chance to relive their childhood as one of the greatest 80s movies of all time gets a rebirth. To coincide with the new theatrical movie, Sony have released the original The Karate Kid and The Karate Kid, Part II on blu ray and I was lucky enough to get advanced copies to bring you for review.

Synopsis: There is more to karate than fighting. This is the lesson that Daniel (Macchio), a San Fernando Valley teenager, is about to learn from a most unexpected teacher: Mr. Miyagi (Morita), an elderly handyman who also happens to be a master of martial arts. So when he rescues Daniel from the Cobra Kai, a vicious gang of karate school bullies, Miyagi instills in his young friend the importance of honor and confidence as well as skills in self-defense, vital lessons that will be called into play when a hopelessly outclassed Daniel faces Johnny, the sadistic leader of the Cobra Kai, in a no-holds-barred karate tournament for the championship of the Valley.

I’m 30 next week and was 4 and 6 when the original movies came out and am probably the exact age that Sony are aiming the new release of the blu rays at. I’ve had the DVD of The Karate Kid for years as it’s a movie I’ve loved since I saw it 20 odd years ago. Both the original and the sequel were directed by John G. Avildsen and star Pat Morita as the now infamous Mr. Miyagi and Ralph Macchio as Daniel LaRusso. The Katate Kid also starred Elizabeth Shue who I’m sure I mentioned in another post that I wanted to marry when I was 10!

Watching The Karate Kid now brings back so many awesome memories – watching it with my friends when I was growing. The movie isn’t about fighting, in fact most of the movie, you don’t really see any. It’s made the phrase ‘wax-on, wax-off’ famous and is based around teaching LaRusso the skills he needs to defend himself by pating houses and fences and sainding the floor! Through learning the art of karate, Daniel is able to defend himself like he never could before. The movie seeks to enforce that Karate is about defence and not attack and is filled with morals throughout.

The word Karate actually means:

• A method developed in Japan of defending oneself without the use of weapons by striking sensitive areas on an attacker’s body with the hands, elbows, knees, or feet.
• A sport based on this method of self-defense.

The Karate Kid will stand the test of time for years to come I’m sure. When I watched it a few years ago with friends, they liked it just as much as I did even though they’d not seen it before. The movie is about friendship, good vs. evil, bullying and how best to overcome it.

If you’ve never seen the original The Karate Kid, I highly recommend you do. It’s release on Blu Ray today and you can order it here and part II here:

Blu Ray Features:

• “Beyond the Form” Featurette
• Commentary with Director John G. Avildsen, Writer Robert Mark Kamen and Actors Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita
• “East Meets West: A Composer’s Notebook”
• “Life of Bonsai” Featurette
• “The Way of the Karate Kid” Multi-Part “Making of” Featurette
• Blu-Pop (TM): Activate the exclusive Blu-pop feature to reveal pop up trivia, interviews and more secrets from the film!

Check out the trailer for the Blu Ray below: