Cool Karate Kid (The Karate Kid (DVD))

Member Name: Emmamac1

Product:	The Karate Kid (DVD)
Date:	13/07/09 (40 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lots of action and cool karate moves!

Disadvantages: Small amount of swearing and some bullying

I recently bought the Karate Kid from Amazon as a four disc set. It brought back many memories for me and I felt my kids may enjoy it. It was made in 1984, and lasts 142 minutes. The film stars Ralph Macchio, Pat Marita and Elisabeth Shue.

I obviously did not read the Amazon details, as I was shocked to see that it was rated a 15! Once I opened the collection, I was relieved to see that only disc one, the original Karate Kid, was a 15 and the others were PG rated.

The Karate Kid is a film about a young boy, approximately 15 years old, named Daniel. He moves to a new town with his Mum, and was not happy about the move, living in a small run down apartment. Straight away he meets the rich girl Ali (Shue) who he falls for. Daniel also comes across the 'cool' rich gang who is led by Johnny, a Karate expert. Johnny and his gang are bullies and pick on the new kid Daniel, especially over jealousy with Daniel's friendship with Ali.

During Daniel's third beating he is rescued by his neighbour, Mr Miyagi, who is a karate master. They try to resolve the bullying problem face to face with the gang, but it ends up in a challenge. Daniel has been entered into the All Valley Karate Championship, this will stop the bullying. If he does not show then the harassment will start again.

Now the master, Mr Miyagi, starts to train Daniel. The relationship between the two is very special. Mr Miyagi becomes a father figure to Daniel, and the two form a strong bond. There are some lovely scenes between these two characters. The training scenes involve much hard work for Daniel, but he perserves and dedicates himself to doing well.

The last scenes of the film are the Karate Competition. I will not reveal what happens, but I enjoyed it the second time around, some 25 years later!

Karate Kid has some great music throughout, featuring Banarama and Survivor, as examples, real 80's pop. It brought back memories!

The only reasons that I could find why it was rated a 15 was that the language in a few places was strong, and the bullying was unpleasant.

Karate kid put a couple of messages across. Daniel stood up to the bullies, and got on with his own life. He came from a less affluent background, but still knew he could achieve without having everything. Ali, the girlfriend, showed that money isn't everything, and against her parents wishes and friends opinions decided to date Daniel. Daniel did not give up, and with support from Mr Miyagi, his Mum and Ali, things start to go well.

The four disc set was very good value for money, £6.98. Even though the film is dated I did enjoy it. It has a feel good factor, which nobody can turn down!

Summary: Great messages put across throughout the film