My quick rating – 6.2/10. Well, it looks like the Karate Kid franchise is determined to keep crane-kicking itself forward, whether it has a real story to tell or not. Karate Kid: Legends brings us a new martial arts mash-up that’s about as subtle as a roundhouse to the face and just about as quick, too. After a family tragedy, kung fu prodigy Li Fong (Ben Wang) is uprooted from Beijing to New York City with his mother. The poor kid doesn’t even have time to unpack his suitcases before some local punks decide to give him a warm American welcome. The film basically says, “Hey Li, welcome to New York! Here’s your instant confrontation. Enjoy your stay.”
To be fair, that’s probably pretty realistic. The only surprising part is that no one pulled a gun. Instead, we get the familiar, safe Karate Kid formula, complete with bullies, a new friend in need, and a conveniently timed local karate tournament. So, of course, Li’s kung fu alone isn’t going to cut it — this is Karate Kid: Legends after all, not Ip Man. Mr. Han (Jackie Chan, back from the 2010 reboot) decides to call in none other than Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio), fresh off waxing cars and still very much alive in this timeline. Together, they merge kung fu and karate into some hybrid style that’s apparently unbeatable. (Or at least good enough to finish the movie in under 90 minutes.)
Speaking of 90 minutes, the film clocks out at 89 — barely enough time to microwave a stuffed crust pizza, which is ironically the nickname Li earns during this adventure. Honestly, that joke lands better than most of the emotional beats. And yes, there’s actually a scene where they make a stuffed crust pizza. In New York. Where apparently no one’s ever heard of good pizza. That’s probably the funniest part.
We get all the usual tropes: the bullied kid finding confidence, the rousing 80s-style training montage (because who needs originality when you can have Survivor on standby), and a finale showdown that tries to stir up the nostalgia by echoing the classic Karate Kid moves. It’s all fun enough in a popcorn flick kind of way. The fight choreography is solid, with Ben Wang holding his own and Jackie Chan still looking like he could take on twenty dudes with a mop and a ladder. Ralph Macchio mostly looks amused to be getting another paycheck.
But everything here feels rushed. The film is basically a checklist of franchise ideas scribbled on a whiteboard by execs who couldn’t decide if they were making a sequel to the original series, a follow-up to the 2010 remake, or a side-hustle for Cobra Kai references. Instead of cleverly tying things together, they awkwardly mash it all up into a movie that doesn’t really resolve any of its storylines. The big emotional arcs — Li’s grief, his relationship with his mom, his new friendships — are barely touched before they’re shoved aside for the next fight scene.
Honestly, they missed a golden opportunity to at least mention Dre Parker (Jaden Smith) and keep it all in the same universe. Instead, Karate Kid: Legends sits in limbo: not quite a proper sequel, not quite a standalone. It’s like someone looked sideways at the franchise, shrugged, and said, “Sure, why not another one?”
So yeah, it’s fun, it’s watchable, it scratches that nostalgic itch with enough nods to keep fans smiling. But when the credits roll, I was left thinking they could’ve aimed higher. Maybe next time they’ll actually look forward, instead of over their shoulder, and give us a story that hits harder than the punches.
Amazon, along with these streamers, has this one for theater pricing.