How to identify a classic movie? The simplest way is this. You don’t have to. Instead, you hear people talking about it in various contexts. You see it referenced in articles, books, movies, sitcoms, TV series and memes. So if you have not seen the movie, hearing about it enough number of times makes you curious enough to see it. That’s what happened with me and The Karate Kid. I came across its reference so many times in movies and television that I decided to watch it.
The Karate Kid is a classic coming of age tale of a teenager. Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio), only child of a single mother, moves from New Jersey to California. Almost immediately, he encounters bullies in his new school who pick on him and beat him for no reason other than that they are bullies and it’s what they need to do in order to feel important and powerful. Daniel decides to fight back and starts learning Karate. He finds an unusual mentor in the maintenance man, Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita) who agrees to teach him. What follows is a long and arduous journey where Daniel trains following Mr Miyagi’s sometimes unusual instructions. The Karate Kid is a heartwarming story of a teenager coming to terms with the evil elements of the world, elements that so far he had been protected from.
What makes this tale memorable? As always, it’s the characters, especially the character of Mr Miyagi. He speaks in short sentences, often dropping one or two words, like “not everything is as seem” or “always look eye.” He has a hobby of creating Bonsai trees and this blends in nicely with the martial arts philosophy. He can only give directions to the tree but ultimately the tree will show it’s true essence. Same thing will happen with Daniel if he masters the fundamentals of Karate. Daniel, on his part, is earnest and spontaneous.
These observations came into sharper focus when I watched the 2010 remake of the movie, starring Jackie Chan as Mr Han. It was a pity that the movie did not work because Jackie is one of my favourite actors of all times. The failure was on script level. The most glaring mistake was that they reduced the protagonist’s age to 12. This puts him sharply in the kids category and as a result, everything that follows loses its edge, including the romance, if you can call it that, with his schoolmate. In contrast, Daniel’s love story is a teenage one and hence is on solid ground. Original Movie is an adult story while remake is a kids story. Different temperaments, different audience reaction.
Imagine how effective this scene would have been if only the kid was four years older. Jackie is amazing as always but the script does not give him much, except for old Bruce Lee lines like “empty your mind” that don’t quite work. Also notice that in the original scene, Daniel goes home practicing the very moves that he detested moments earlier because he did not know how “wax on, wax off” is related to Karate.
Mr. Miyagi is ex-military, who fought in WWII. Mr Han has no such history and no hobby like Mr Miyagi’s Bonsai. It becomes difficult then, to relate to him. The movie takes place in China but this new terrain remains woefully under-utilised. How wonderful it could have been if they had worked the rich Chinese history and culture into the script, like Ang Lee did in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Difficult task but it would have been worth it.
There is a great scene in The Karate Kid. Daniel and his mother argue when Daniel says that he does not like it in California and he wants to go back. This is after he has beaten yet again by the bullies. He cannot tell the real reason to his mother and she does not understand his behaviour. As they go away arguing, Mr Miyagi opens the door and comes out. He has heard the whole thing. It is at this point that he decides to help Daniel. For some reason, this scene did not make it in the remake.
The Karate Kid does not have great cinematography, although the profile shot of Mr Miyagi and Daniel balancing on poles has become iconic. The makers wrote an honest story and told it with authenticity. Add to that great performances from Pat Morita as Mr Miyagi and Ralph Macchio as Daniel. Sometimes, that’s all that it takes to make a classic.
