This supposedly takes place about 5 years after the end of Cobra Kai.


Rated PG-13

Running Time: 94 minutes

RT Score: 55% as of 5/29/25

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/karate_kid_legends

Metacritic score: 53

https://www.metacritic.com/movie/karate-kid-legends/


Reviews seem mixed. Some like it, but there is no glowing praise

IGN gave it a 6

https://www.ign.com/articles/karate-kid-legends-review

You Tube

You Tube

There is supposedly a post credit scene that ties into Cobra Kai



I plan to see this tomorrow afternoon.

For me, this was the worst of the franchise. The villain is very one-note, very one-dimensional (not that the villains in the 2nd - 5th ones were heavily fleshed out either).

Daniel doesn't even show up until nearly an hour into the movie, and this is a 90 minute movie to begin with. Jackie Chan has a bit part in the beginning, then doesn't show up until 45 minutes in.

It's very much Lee's story, and it's not that compelling. The plot basically fills in the Karate Kid formula with:

New kid in town
Establish love interest
First encounter with main villain, get beat up
Needs redemption - needs to train (this is where this movie's twists comes in w/the Joshua Jackson character)
Big fight at the end (either a tournament or fight to the death)

It's just not done as well as the other installments.

I have seen zero advertising for this, like I'm impressed at how little I've seen for it.

I've seen a bunch of adds for it on TNT during recent NBA playoff coverage.

Two mixed reviews. One liked the first half of the movie, the other disliked the first half. Both felt the second half was serviceable, if unremarkable. Neither outright disliked the movie.



Sounds like a bait and switch with Chan and Macchio being heavily featured in ads. Might not even bother with a Regal Unmimited viewing.

That's what I was afraid of. The main kid looks boring as hell. Bit of a fizzle for franchise after Cobra Kai and honestly I was so satisfied with the tv series I didn’t think another cash-in movie was needed….

I just got back from seeing it. I gave it 3 out of 5 and maybe a B-

I liked parts of it, but overall it felt very rushed and lacked some character development.

Ben Wang’s fight scenes and training sessions were really well executed. But, he has kind of a mopey personality like he did in American Born Chinese on Disney+. Li’s romance with Mia felt a little rushed.

Ming-Na Wen was very underwritten as Li’s Mom. She lacked a lot of Rande Heller had as Daniel’s Mom.

Daniel not appearing until much later in the movie didn’t really bother me too much. He did feel kind of tacked on.

Conor was a very underwritten KK villain. Really no personality. The climatic sequence was entertaining, yet mostly predictable.

It had its moments and was never boring.

And yes the Johnny Lawrence cameo was pretty pointless. It was like a wink wink we’re in the same universe as Cobra Kai.

My ranking on all the Karate Kid content

The Karate Kid
Cobra Kai
The Karate Kid Part 2
The Karate Kid 2010
The Karate Kid Part 3
Karate Kid Legends
The Next Karate Kid

Which is also pointless since this film and the sequels can't use characters that originate from the series.

I think I had my expectations set correctly and there was only one premium screen showing at 4pm, so I checked it out yesterday and enjoyed it. I could critique whether the movie took risks (it didn't), and it played to easy stereotypes and plotting (him freezing up due to anxiety around his brother), but it hit the beats correctly and the scripting/acting was adequate to move the story along. I mean, maybe it would have been cooler if he just overwhelmed and dominated the bully champ, but we all knew how the fight was going to occur as it was telegraphed with a long sequence where they practiced the special finishing move. As an A-List filler movie, I'd give it a thumbs up for sure, but I imagine if I had middle school aged kids, it could also be a nice family movie too.

Can't they? Despite Cobra Kai being on Netflix, isn't it a production independent of the platform? I seem to recall a lot of shows, even labeled "A Netflix [Whatever]", are not actually owned or created by the streamer.

It's Sony and they also produced Cobra Kai. The director said everything is cannon.

And regarding the pizza in the epilogue scene with Daniel and Johnny. When Daniel opened the box, it wasn't cooked and wrapped in plastic shrink wrap. It wasn't obvious, the presumably it was sent freeze dried from NY to California.

Macchio actually said this takes place 3 years after Cobra Kai. And he was the one who pushed the studio to delay the release until after Cobra Kai ended. This was originally suppose to come out last December.

https://screenrant.com/karate-kid-le...han-entwistle/

Saw this a couple days ago and it was better than I thought it was going to be. I thought it was pretty fun in an 80s movie kind of way.

I caught this on Netflix. I enjoyed it. Glad it didn't mess up the Cobra Kai continuity.

I liked that the plot tried something different. Li providing the training for the boxer dad. Already knows kung fu and just needs to learn karate quick. Thumbs up for creativity.

I liked the NY backdrop. The music and on-screen graphics were a nice touch. Usually I would hate that, but it fit the NY theme. I can appreciate it.

I would have liked 2 extra scenes for this short 1 hour, 34 minute movie. Maybe one more fight scene and one more character development scene. The film felt rushed with all the montages.

Solid B / B+ movie for the franchise.

Also caught this on Netflix. Cut Macchio and it’s a decent film. He felt tacked on and the movie ground to a halt. Finale was lackluster. Everything before is serviceable; Jackson and Chan are great supporting roles.

The shoehorned in Miyagi stuff drops a B- film to a solid C

I had no real intention of ever watching this, but I was on a 2hr. flight yesterday and this is only 95min., so...

First off, this is not a good movie. It can't decide if it wants to be a remake or a legacy sequel and instead tries to do both and doesn't really succeed at either. It's cliched and predictable, but also completely bonkers. I have never seen Cobra Kai, but old Ralph Macchio is kind of a charisma vacuum.

All that said, I couldn't help but like it. I found Ben Wang, Sadie Stanley and Joshua Jackson to be incredibly likeable. (It's a shame the latter two basically disappear from the movie when Macchio shows up.) This was also a good reminder of why I like Jackie Chan. I'm a huge fan, but have seen almost nothing he's done in the last 20 years. What little I have seen was not good. I thought he was a lot of fun here and I was surprised at how well he still moves. I also really enjoyed the couple of scenes featuring classic Jackie-style fight choreography, even if it's implementation was outrageously absurd. I saw a review on Letterboxd that called it a 5-star 3-Star movie. I don't know if I'd go that far, but I get the sentiment. I'll likely never watch it again, but for those 90 minutes I was sufficiently charmed.

finally saw this and it’s so basic it makes KK 3 look like an Oscar winner. Just mediocre all around.

also it’s hard to believe Chan and Macchio only have about 7 years age difference!