The Next Karate Kid (1994)

A vast improvement over its immediate predecessor, The Karate Kid III, this appealingly understated 1994 drama features a compelling performance by Hilary Swank, who would later win a Best Actress Oscar^® for her work in Boys Don't Cry. Swank plays 17-year-old Julie Pierce, the recently orphaned and troubled granddaughter of an old war buddy of Miyagi Yakuga (Noriyuki "Pat" Morita, the lone holdover from the previous Karate Kid films). Harassed at school by adolescent boys under the sway of an evil coach (Michael Ironside), Julie reluctantly finds refuge in the calm teachings of Mr. Miyagi. While the film's violence is as contrived and silly as that of the other KK features, the script provides exotic compensations via a subplot set in a peaceful Buddhist monastery. Still, it's Morita's crafty professionalism and Swank's emotional authenticity that makes this film more watchable than anyone might have expected. --Tom Keogh Amazon.com

Squish just like grape

Teen Wolf II. Revenge of the Nerds II. Speed II. Dumb and Dumberer. Friday the 13th VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan. Rocky V. What do all these movies have in common with The Next Karate Kid? They're all sequels that should have never been made. The first indication that this movie was a bad idea is that Macchio passed on it.

Hilary Swank plays Julie-san, a girl bullied in her high school. She's got anger issues, family issues, and the team of tough-guy jocks called the Alpha Elite does not help the situation at all. Despite the unlikely scenario of a high school boy's club that practices martial arts and enforces discipline/rules throughout the school, the odds of them picking on a single girl are even more unlikely. The odds of a girl beating up the leader of that group gets into the preposterous territory.

Aside from those obvious flaws, this movie is simply not that good. Nobody really wants to see Karate Kid I all over again with Hillary Swank playing the part of Ralph Macchio. Nothing against Swank, but she was simply an actress learning her way at this point, and this ridiculous, recycled role did nothing to help her out. And the addition of monks who bowl with their eyes closed surely didn't help.

It's a wretched sequel. Pat Morita and Hillary Swank may be good actors, but the idea to make this movie is as bad as playing with fireworks in an arid forest. June 6, 2008

A Sad End To a Great Series

Giving you a brief rundown of where I stand, I thought Part 1 was excellent. I thought Part 2 was even better. I didn't like Part 3 as much, but it did have an interesting theme as well as some great moments. This 4th chapter was really a sad end to this great series. Mr. Myagi is still in great form, but there are not many other good things I can say about this 4th chapter. In Daniel's absence, Myagi trains Julie Pierce (Hilary Swank). Julie is a really nasty girl, and even though she has some redeeming points, she fails to endear herself to us the way Daniel did depsite his faults. Moving on, Julie finds herself getting into trouble at her school which is controlled by bullies. The ringleader Colonel Dugan (Ironside) is too put it mildly, a major jerk who carries no charm. In Part 1, Kreese carried a charm despite his psychosis. In 2, Sato was frightening, but we never really forgot that he had some redeeming points. We can also speculate that Kreese or Sato would have destroyed Dugan with one hand tied behind their back, without even breaking a sweat. Most of the fight scenes in this movie are forced and unconvincing. (Especially the fight at the service station.) Moving on, Julie in a sympathetic moment gets suspended from school. Mr. Myagi takes her to a monastery. There, Julie cause some havoc by trying to kill a cockroach. In the high point of this movie, Myagi has to explain to Julie that ALL life is sacred to the monks. (A deep profound moment in this weak movie. This is the one gem in this 4th chapter. ) Moving on, Julie goes back to school. In an absurd scene at the dance, Julie's friend Erick gets into a fight with Dugan's bootlicker Ned. This leads to a totally preposterous street confrontation. While the street fight in "Rocky V" was actually quite plausible, the street fight in this weak KK 4 was a sad way to end this series. On the + side, there was some satisfaction in seeing Myagi easily trash Dugan. In one saving moment, Myagi gives Julie a proverb: "Fighting not good. But if must fight, win." Compare Julie's comment: "Mr. Myagi, we kicked butt," to Daniel's beautiful comment: "Mr. Myagi, we did it!" Being totally honest, Mr. Myagi did the best he could in this poor movie, and there was the profound scene in the monastery. But try comparing this 4th chapter to Part 1, 2, or even 3. See if 4 is ANYWHERE near as good as one of the other 3. While Director John Avildsen faithfully stayed at the Directing Helm from parts 1 to 3, he was smart to not have anything to do with this miserable 4th one. With all respect to Director John Avildsen, even his great directing could not have saved this doomed 4th chapter. May 20, 2008

milked the cow to death

To be honest I COMPLETELY hated this movie. It was so contrived and it actually ruined the series for me. I mean what "tough guy crew" picks on girls for fun. So lame.
Not to mention I prefered the characters that we came to love. If there was some reason they couldn't include Ralph Macchio, they shouldn't have made another. Nothing against Hilary Swank but I hated this film. Please don't watch. January 26, 2008

BETTER THAN THE OTHER SEQUELS! ENJOYABLE!

This film just edged out Karate Kid part 2 as a better movie. Pat Morita and Hilary Swank(in an early role)do their best in this fairly good and enjoyable sequel. I would give it 3 1/2 stars. The DVD transfer looks very good. I found the box set for the price of the first film,so it was worth buying the set. August 3, 2007

Missing Something

This movie was alright but it is seriously lacking something. I watched it when it came out on VHS and I kept on waiting for Daniel to show up or hell be mentioned but in this movie it was as though he never exsisted and isn't Daniel supposed to be living with his mentor in CA? So if this is the case and his mentor sent the grandmother to CA to his house shouldn't he have warned her about Daniel being there at least? They could have mentioned what happend to Daniel but in this movie they totally scratch him out and this movie is lacking because of it. Another thing is this movie doesn't touch the other three in any way shape or form. Pat Morita and Ralph Macchio had an on screen chemistry that you just couldn't denye was there and it made the movies all that much better but Pat and Hilary don't have that same chemisty that made Pat and Ralph such a great acting team and it shows in the movie. Also the other Karate Kid movies each have a theme to them especially the second one and this one leaves you with no theme what so ever except bullies always get what they deserve in the end which is a tad over done by this installment and the fight scene at the end is a little over done as I think they were aiming for the same affect they had in the Karate Kid II but they missed it by a long shot. Over all this movie is pretty good. Has some good moments but it should not have been a stand a lone movie all on its own in my opinion as it could have been much better then. December 21, 2005

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