KARATE KID: LEGENDS (2025) review
written by: Rob Lieber
produced by: Karen Rosenfelt
directed by: Jonathan Entwistle
rated: PG-13 (for martial arts violence and some language)
runtime: 94 min.
U.S. release date: May 30, 2025
The remake of “The Karate Kid” from 2010 was a huge hit, although that’s not how I recall it. Jackie Chan was on point in the sensei role, but Jaden Smith definitely lacked in the titular role. It served as a reminder that young Ralph Macchio exuded effortless charm and charisma back in 1984 when it all started with “The Karate Kid.” While there haven’t been any sequels since that remake, the television series “Cobra Kai”, which continued from the first three movies from the 80s, has become a cult classic. Now, there’s “Karate Kid: Legends”, an amalgam that combines everything good that’s come before it and ties it into a tightly wound format that wraps it all up in under two hours. Brevity isn’t the only thing to celebrate; there’s also screenwriter Rob Lieber’s ability to balance new supporting characters centering around a new lead, while blending important old and older characters into the mix. Energetic pacing may not allow for in-depth characterization, but director Jonathan Entwistle makes up for that by showcasing a wonderful ensemble cast that maintains the movie’s enjoyability factor.
There will be an undeniable degree of nostalgia going into “Karate Kid: Legend” – hold on, why do I feel the need to type “Karate Kids: Legends”? Probably, because there have been so many of these movies, yet not many know there have been more than the 1984 classic and the 2010 surprise hit. That nostalgia will depend on the viewer, but this legacyquel does a good job of connecting its story with what’s come before it while also doing its own thing.
On that note, the movie has an interesting cold open that immediately sets out to establish that connection. It’s 1986 in Okinawa, and teenager Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) is listening to the origin of karate as told to him by his sensei, Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita). Thankfully, it’s archival footage from “Karate Kid Part II” (which came out in 1986) and not deep-fake de-aging (although some A.I. technology is involved). It’s a fitting and surprising way to retcon the relationship between the Miyagi family of Japan and the Han family of China, including some unexpected animation to accompany the story. It’s a scene that shouldn’t work, but it does and foretells how this movie will efficiently combine karate and kung fu.
From there, we turn to the present day, where we go to Beijing, where Mr. Han (Jackie Chan) is overseeing a sprawling wuguan (kung fu school) as the shifu (master) of his young students. Among them is his great-nephew, Li Fong (Ben Wang), a teenager learning the art much to the chagrin of his mother Dr. Fong (Ming-Na Wen), whose eldest son was attacked and killed after he competed in a marital arts tournament. To start anew, she’s decided to pack up and move to New York City with her son, where she’ll work at a hospital and he’ll enroll in high school, much to his dismay. Li has no choice but to swear to his mother that he will adhere to a “no fighting” rule and focus on his SATs, with the help of math tutor Alan (Wyatt Oleff), in this new stage of life.
Once in the Big Apple, Li makes the most of it and tries to maneuver high school life in America and get acclimated to life in his NYC neighborhood. It doesn’t take long for the quiet, albeit confident Li to meet and flirt with teenager Mia Lipani (Sadie Stanley), who works at her father, ex-boxer Victor’s (Joshua Jackson) struggling pizza parlor. Li meets Mia again as a classmate at his high school. Soon enough, she earns the ire of her jealous ex-boyfriend, Connor (Aramis Knight), who’s also the local karate champion at a nearby MMA dojo called Demolition, run by O’Shea (Tim Rozon), who also happens to be a loan shark Victor owes money to. After a couple of bully-provoked run-ins with Connor, including an altercation that leaves him with an unavoidable shiner, Li decides to help his newfound friends and agrees to teach middle-aged Victor a few moves to help him get back in the ring and compete to get out from under the debt he has with O’Shea.
So far in the story, there is enough to differentiate from what has come before in the “Karate Kid” franchise. Wang’s Li is the first Asian protagonist to headline a movie in the series and from the start of the story he has a decent amount of martial arts training (unlike Macchio – I can’t attest to Hillary Swank since I never saw her in 1994’s “The Next Karate Kid”, but I’m not opposed to it), both of which are elements we haven’t seen before in these movies. It’s also a fun and refreshing element to have Li train someone his father’s age while contending with his trauma from his past, which involves his late brother. This happens after Victor watches Li dispense some debt collector goons in the alley behind his pizzeria, Peter Parker style. The dynamic between Li, Mia, and Victor could be an interesting enough movie, with or without karate.
Training Victor doesn’t go so well, and sends Li into a tailspin of trauma, withdrawing from Mia and his mother, and ignoring calls from Mr. Han. His behavior leads to a visit from a concerned Mr. Han, who’s compelled to check in on his troubled student. He encourages Li to sign up for the “5 Boroughs” martial arts tournament to help out the Lipani family and confront his past, but Mr. Han realizes he will need some help if Li succeeds. Mr. Han flies to Los Angeles to visit Daniel LaRusso (played by a current-day Macchio, who still doesn’t look his age – he’s the original Paul Rudd), and explains that Mr. Miyagi was to him what he was to Daniel, and requests his help in training Li. It’s comical to see Chan’s pushy Mr. Han try to persuade a reluctant Daniel to join him back in New York City.
Despite his refusal, you know Daniel’s arrival (clocking in at 55 minutes into the movie) is inevitable. Once all these characters unite, there’s an undeniable chemistry and entertaining draw to the whole endeavor. It may not be a major role, but it’s still fun to see Macchio back in the role, this time as a sensei patiently passing down “two branches, one tree” knowledge. Daniel and Mr. Han pack a lot into the limited week-long timeframe they have to train their pupil, and that offers up a humorous montage where the poor kid is thrown around like a rag doll between the two teachers.
Undoubtedly, there are certain tropes of the series that screenwriter Rob Leiber, whose last solid work was 2018’s “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day”, is adhering to. The story’s first half contains some different and new elements, yet there are still requisite training montages and woefully stereotypical bullying antagonists. I can understand the training sequences to be expected in a coming-of-age, underdog sports movie. Still, the two main antagonists are one-note here, staying in jealous, arrogant bully mode throughout the movie. Knight and Rozon barely have an impact here, but Leiber’s writing and formulaic trappings don’t help them either.
On the flipside, Wang is a standout as Li, injecting “Karate Kid: Legend” with a refreshing newness and exuding an obvious on-screen likeability that’s easy to follow. Both Wang and Stanley are in their 20s, which is in line with the tradition of so many movies revolving around high school-age teens. At least they both look like they could be teens, as did Macchio and Elizabeth Shue back in the day. Li is great alongside equally likeable supporting actors, except for the antagonists.
Like the “Rocky” movies, any “Karate Kid” movie will maintain certain tropes, so one shouldn’t be surprised when they appear here. Like the “crane” move in the original film, Li is trying to master the “tiger trap”, which is a move his brother mastered. “Karate Kid: Legends” has plenty of trial and error and familial tensions as Li progresses through the tournament, leading to a skyscraper rooftop finale. It winds up being that rare sequel that appeals to an array of viewers and gets bonus points for getting all done in under two hours.
RATING: **1/2
