The Wasted Potential of Karate Kid: Legends

Courtesy of Columbia Pictures

Karate Kid Legends is a sequel to the original Karate Kid movies, the 2010 remake, and Cobra Kai starring Ben Wang, Jackie Chan, Ralph Macchio, Joshua Jackson, and Sadie Stanley. Li Fong is the great-nephew of Mr. Han and moves from Beijing to New York City after his mom gets a new job where he deals with bullies, meets a girl he has feelings for, and tries to help her and her dad deal with thugs. This movie came out only a few months after the series finale of Cobra Kai and was supposed to come out in December 2024. Karate Kid: Legends also connects the 2010 remake with the original movies.

Karate Kid: Legends starts off promising. We meet Li Fong and his mom, and how they are related to Mr. Han. Li and his mom move to NYC, and we get our usual Karate Kid formula kicking in. Unlike Daniel LaRusso and Dre Parker, Li is already talented at karate. Li has more of a tragic backstory in connection to his brother that holds him back. Li tries to help this pizza owner named Victor Lipani, who is a former boxer, and his daughter named Mia, whom Li develops feelings for. The first act has a nice pace and feels fresh while at the same time trying new things that work and have potential if they keep going with them.

Ben Wang portrays our new protagonist, Li, well, and he feels unique instead of just another Daniel LaRusso. His chemistry with Sadie Stanley as Mia works. Joshua Jackson as Victor is also good and his dynamic with Li also works. It’s a nice role reversal as Li tries to help Victor win a boxing match. Aramis Knight as Conor Day feels more similar to Mike Barnes than Johnny Lawrence, but Conor feels more intimidating and dangerous than Barnes ever did. Ming-Na Wen as Li’s mom is another great performance as she worries for Li and wants him to stay away from fighting.

After a good first half, Karate Kid: Legends feels like wasted potential in the second half. Out of all the Karate Kid movies, this is the shortest when it probably should have been around two hours like 1984’s The Karate Kid. The movie has many characters and plots for a short movie and once Li gets into his training for the tournament he will face Conor in, it feels rushed. While a slow pace doesn’t work for every movie, it always works for a Karate Kid movie. They always take their time showing how the protagonists develop, not just in karate skills, but as characters. For the tournament, Mr. Han gets the help of Daniel to teach Li Miyagi-Do karate, but it feels so quick and rushed you barely experience it. It feels like the movie could have been a lot longer to help Li understand Miyagi-do and maybe show more disagreements in how Li should be taught between Mr. Han and Daniel.

Speaking of Mr. Han and Daniel, their actors Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio are not in this movie as much as the marketing would make you think. Jackie Chan’s role as Mr. Han is fine and he does a good job, but Ralph’s role feels just a bit longer than an average cameo. Remember how Sony would falsely market their Marvel movies like Morbius and Amazing Spider-Man 2? They did it again here. It feels like Sony Pictures wanted a sequel to the 2010 movie, but also wanted to make a profit off of the success of Cobra Kai, so they integrated Daniel LaRusso into the story. Ralph’s performance is okay, but it pales in comparison to his performance in Cobra Kai. The connection between Mr. Han and Mr. Miyagi is explained well at the very least.

The tournament, which is called The Five Boroughs Tournament, feels rushed over as well just to get to this final fight. Most of the fights feel bland, although the last match is the best. Also, most of the new characters feel pushed aside in the second half. It feels like Sony wanted Karate Kid: Legends to be like Ghostbusters: Afterlife with a new cast and the old cast coming into the end, but Ghostbusters: Afterlife did better in taking its time telling its story and developing the new characters.

Is this the worst Karate Kid movie? No, it’s a million times better than The Karate Kid Part III and The Next Karate Kid. It’s got a good first half and is enjoyable. The new characters do work and probably could have carried the movie if they were allowed. At the same time, it’s disappointing how it rushes through things that make a Karate Kid movie special, they market Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio so heavily, only for them to have smaller roles than what was implied. It feels like there were different ideas for different Karate Kid movies squished together into one but Sony wanted to rush it and not take its time. They should have waited another year after Cobra Kai to make this movie, added an extra thirty minutes to the movie, and given Daniel more time to teach Li Miyagi-do while at the same time not pushing the new characters to the side when Daniel and Mr. Han are fully integrated into the story.

My final grade for Karate Kid: Legends is a C+. While it is enjoyable, it feels like wasted potential in how characters are handled, story arcs are handled, and rushed sequences. A good movie is in here somewhere, but it feels pushed to the side, like how Kreese pushed Johnny aside when he lost to Daniel in the All-Valley Karate Tournament. Don’t expect this to be like the Creed movies. What are your thoughts on Karate Kid: Legends? Let us know in the comments below.