Ranking The Karate Kid Franchise
With “Karate Kid: Legends” now in theaters, it seems like an appropriate time to do a ranking of the Karate Kid Franchise (including “Cobra Kai”). Grab a Coors Banquet and read on to find out where each installment ranks.
1. The Karate Kid- A true 80’s classic. It’s an iconic, timeless, quotable, and inspiring underdog story.
2. Cobra Kai- A prime example of how to do a sequel/reboot. The series had its ups and downs to be sure, but it perfectly balanced legacy characters with new characters. More importantly, it gave Johnny Lawrence/William Zabka his due.
3. The Karate Kid Part 2- A worthy Japan set sequel that offers up additional characterization.
4. Karate Kid: Legends- It’s not often that I want a film to be longer, but this film could have used an extra 20 minutes or so. It’s a bit too rushed and needed more scenes with Ralph Macchio, the tournament, and the villains. With that said, it’s still a satisfying sequel that delivers exciting action, engaging new characters, and joyous scenes with Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio together.
5. The Karate Kid Part 3- A goofy but still entertaining sequel that wound up being the last time we saw Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita on screen together. Terry Silver is completely cartoony here but thankfully his character was fully redeemed in “Cobra Kai”.
6. The Next Karate Kid- Is it perfect? No, but this unfairly maligned 4th entry is still a fun watch thanks to Hilary Swank and Pat Morita.
7. The Karate Kid (2010)- The reboot has a lot of admirers, but I am not one of them. It is by no means a bad film, but it is a bland one that overstays its welcome with a needlessly long 140 minute runtime. It also lacks the emotional impact that the original had and tries to mimic far too many key moments from the original. The film does have one thing going for it though and that’s Jackie Chan.
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