By George & Josh Bate
Some would say we’ve seen enough of the Karate Kid franchise. Four films followed the 1984 classic before a 65 episode television series expanded the story and earned widespread critical acclaim, seemingly leaving little else for the franchise to achieve. Despite this, a sixth film in the series was commissioned that follows the events of the 2010 film starring Jackie Chan and Cobra Kai. With delight and much surprise, Karate Kid: Legends defies expectations in more than justifying its existence among the other entries of this storied franchise.
Karate Kid: Legends follows Li Fong (Ben Wang), a Chinese teenager who leaves the kung fu school of Mr. Han (Jackie Chan) in Beijing to move to New York. Struggling to fit in, Li, who promised his mother (Ming-Na Wen) that he will leave fighting behind, is brought back into the world of martial arts when he agrees to help a new friend (Joshua Jackson) prepare for a tournament. This journey sees Li reunite with Mr. Han and, eventually, the original Karate Kid himself Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio).
After a disorienting first few minutes that make one feel as if they have been dropped into the middle of a movie, Karate Kid: Legends gains it footing and goes on to be a true crowd-pleaser. Existing within the Karate Kid franchise limits the scope of what the new film can go for, as viewers go into a Karate Kid film expecting a certain kind of story and tone. Screenwriter Rob Lieber manages to craft a clever spin on the franchise formula with a story that repositions the titular Karate Kid as the teacher, rather than the student, for much of the film.
After ingratiating himself with fellow teenager Mia (Sadie Stanley), Wang’s Li character begins to train Mia’s father Victor, played by Joshua Jackson, as Victor hopes to win prize money in a boxing tournament that will allow him to pay off loan sharks and retain his New York pizza restaurant. In the grand scheme of cinema, the story isn’t particularly novel, but it is told in an undeniably engaging and heartfelt manner. Jackson plays an unexpectedly sizable role in this story and makes a solid argument to be the surprise standout amongst the cast.
Around the halfway mark of the film, Karate Kid: Legends departs from its clever spin on the franchise formula and becomes a mirror image of the original The Karate Kid. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing though as this shift in narrative structure marks the introduction of Macchio’s LaRusso character into the story, in addition to a more substantial role for Jackie Chan’s Mr. Han. Together, Macchio and Chan have magical chemistry as the two mentor Li to become the karate champion of New York. The two legends effortlessly deliver fun one-liners and playfully push one another with their different views on how to train Li. The sudden backseat that Jackson’s Victor character takes at the halfway mark had the potential to derail the film but ultimately does not as the story with Mr. Han and LaRusso training Li is just so much fun. Even though we’ve seen it countless times before, there is something so engrossing about the journey of the original The Karate Kid, which shows why this story has persisted for over 40 years.
The Karate Kid himself this time around is played by Ben Wang, who is known for his role as Jin Wang in the Disney+ series American Born Chinese. Wang, much like his character Li, grows into the role over the course of the film. At first, his line delivery feels a bit inauthentic and forced, although this is fairly easy to overlook given the fish out of water story he finds himself in.
Eventually, Wang makes for a worthy and likable lead to root for, especially as he works side-by-side with actress Sadie Stanley for much of the film. Stanley, whose previous work includes The Goldbergs and the live-action Kim Possible movie, plays Li’s love interest Mia. Wang and Stanley have sweet chemistry and make their burgeoning relationship interesting to invest in over the course of the film. The dialogue and, in turn, the performances may be a bit cheesy at times and the romance plays out fairly predictably and yet, much like the film overall, one can’t help but have a good time watching everything unfold.
Also in Karate Kid fashion, there is a villain to root against. The characterization of Conor Day (Aramis Knight) is thin to say the least, although Knight does his job in crafting Conor into a by-the-books, dislikable antagonist for Li to face off against.
There is definitely validity in the argument that Karate Kid: Legends, especially its second half, plays too similarly to the original film, although straying too far away from the 1984 classic could have meant that the film loses touch with what makes it so appealing in the first place.
At 94 minutes, Karate Kid: Legends zooms by. As has been the case since the original, the appeal of these films and Cobra Kai has always come from the relationships between the characters, rather than the karate. And, in this manner, the latest film is no exception. As a story about overcoming grief, coming of age, building found family, and adjusting to a new place, Legends is genuinely heartfelt and elicits all the right emotions.
The fighting, on the other hand, takes quite a back seat in the film. Legends is surprisingly light on fight scenes, as emphasized by the pace with which the final tournament briskly goes by and concludes before it feels like it really began. Again, the karate is the background of the story, rather than its emotional core, and yet there nonetheless seems to be something missing with how regularly the film presents combat. When it does, the results are mixed. While all the fights are intricately choreographed and feature plenty of cool moves and takedowns, some are filmed too closely or with too much shaky cam, making it difficult to fully appreciate the work that Wang and others put into the fight sequences.
Elevated from a nit-pick to a full-fledged issue in the movie is the extensive use of ill-fitting licensed music throughout. Most egregious is a montage that seemingly features three, maybe even four, separate songs. Considerate inclusion of licensed music works great, but Karate Kid: Legends uses music in such distracting and haphazard ways. The issue isn’t with the songs themselves necessarily, but, rather, their incongruence with the content of a variety of scenes.
VERDICT: 7.5/10
After five films and 65 television episodes, there was seemingly not much else the Karate Kid franchise could achieve. Much to our delight and surprise though, Karate Kid: Legends proves to be a true crowd-pleaser and a worthy addition to the series. The film puts a clever spin on the Karate Kid formula for its first half before closely mirroring the story of the original, although to great effect. Joshua Jackson becomes the unexpected standout for much of the film, before the film transitions to a focus on the titular legends – Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio. The two Karate Kid veterans share magical chemistry, delivering endless amounts of smiles and laughs as they banter about how best to train the lead character Li. After a shaky and forced start, Ben Wang grows into the lead role over the course of the film, mirroring the journey of his character. Through the various relationships in the film, including Li and his love interest Mia, real emotion is evoked and transforms Legends into a genuinely heartfelt journey. On the downside, the relative lack of fighting compared to other entries is out of place, as is the overabundance of ill-fitting licensed music from beginning to end. These issues are fairly easy to set aside, however, as Karate Kid: Legends proves to be so engaging and touching, making it yet another great movie of summer 2025.