The Karate Kid Part II

A disappointment. I gained nothing from <em>'The Karate Kid Part II'</em>, it adds very little to the original. Pat Morita (Mr. Miyagi) is the only plus point for me, he especially has one great and emotional scene with his co-star. Otherwise, no-one else stands out - not even (the still solid) Ralph Macchio (Daniel). Up until the ending I was actually nonplussed about it, neither liking or disliking it, but the conclusion is so uninteresting and lame that I just couldn't wait for 'The End' to appear. I will say it isn't an excruciating watch or anything, but I just expected a great deal more from this sequel. It doesn't feel attached to the first film, which is obviously a negative. Other things that didn't help were the shoehorning out of Elisabeth Shue (Ali) & Randee Heller (Lucille) and the repetitive nature of the story; e.g. another love story that features a jock-like character, Daniel still getting battered and bruised for the majority. Hopefully the next two follow-ups are much better.

**A worthy continuation.** After the great success of the first film, it was quite predictable that another film would be made that would continue the story. This film picks up right where the first left off, and follows in the footsteps of Daniel and his master, Miyagi, on a journey to southern Japan, the latter's homeland, to see his dying father and settle a score with a man he swore to kill. Him if he ever set foot on Japanese soil again. As in the first film, we again have Ralph Macchio in the role of Daniel and Pat Morita as Master Miyagi. Both were very good and they give us again everything that we appreciated in the first film. The main difference in the work of both actors turns out to be the greater formal protagonism of the character of Morita, who is the great protagonist of this film: all the action, and the whole story, is centered on the figure of Miyagi, in the past and in the its peaceful stance in the face of a situation in which it is forced to fight. Of course, the film tries to give Macchio equal relevance by forcing an enmity between his character and another, created to be one of the film's antagonists, but the situation feels far too forced and contrived to really be an advantage to the story. Incidentally, even the romantic sub-plot between Daniel and Kumiko, a young Japanese woman played by Tamlyn Tomita, doesn't seem credible enough, despite the actress' good work. Danny Kamekona doesn't do a bad job, but he seems a little stereotypical, whereas Yuji Okumoto does nothing but be hateful. Technically, the film is quite correct and seeks to create a convincing Japanese environment, in which the houses, gardens, buildings and other elements really look like a rural area of Japan. Filmed in Hawaii for production convenience, the film really managed to recreate that environment well and give us a flavor of Japanese traditions through clothes, houses, sets and other details such as the tea ceremony and dance. The cinematography is quite pleasant and the soundtrack has some very good songs, one of which even deserved an Oscar nomination that year.

At least they had the sense not to let the grass (or Bonsai) grow between the first outing and this sequel for "Danny" (Ralph Macchio) and his Yoda-esque mentor "Miyagi" (Pat Morita). Now, they have to go to Okinawa when the older gent gets a message about his father and his childhood love. Once there, though, they begin to appreciate that local property developer "Sato" (Danny Kamekona) - once the best friend of our elderly ninja, now has an axe to grind. Not only that, but he is using his skillful young nephew "Chozen" (Yuji Okumoto) to pick on the impressionable, butter-wouldn't-melt, young "Danny" too. When he falls for the charming "Kumiko" (Tamlyn Tomita) the baddies find themselves with even more leverage over "Miyagi" and it seems that only a fight between him and "Sato" will settle old scores. Jeopardy? Well no, not really. It all plays out pretty much as we would expect, though perhaps a little more violently towards the end. I think this is a film nowadays that will either twang at your nostalgia strings or not. If you remember Peter Cetera's "Glory of Love" theme then that might help; otherwise it's really just an excuse for Morita to imbue his character with a worthy sense of self-respect/worth/control and for Macchio to breeze through as the honourable and hormonal teenager coming to terms with his first crush. The combat scenes are perfectly choreographed with plenty of opportunity for "Miyagi" to get in on the action and it's all set against the same cerebral, balance of nature, background that we saw in 1984. For me, it has the look of a decently produced television movie to it, and it's harmless sentiment with a message that still has meaning today.