The Karate Kid movie franchise spans five films, including sequels and a remake, and here are all of them ranked from worst to best. The first of The Karate Kid movies introduced the characters of Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and his karate sensei/best friend Mr. Miyagi (Noriyuki “Pat” Morita). 1986’s The Karate Kid Part II and 1989’s The Karate Kid Part III soon followed, and Morita then headlined 1994’s The Next Karate Kid alongside a new co-star, Hilary Swank, who played Julie Pierce, Mr. Miyagi’s second student. 16 years later, The Karate Kid brand was resurrected for a 2010 remake that starred Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan.
However, just as crucial to The Karate Kid movies enduring success was Cobra Kai, Daniel’s enemy dojo, which returned — along with LaRusso’s teenage rivalry with Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) — in a highly successful and critically acclaimed TV series that began on YouTube Red and continues on Netflix. Cobra Kai cemented The Karate Kid‘s legacy and inspired a new generation to rediscover the films. What they ultimately find is that The Karate Kid movies have varying levels of quality, and some are more beloved than others. However, The Karate Kid movies continue to stand the test of time, and one of the films is unequivocally the best around.
6
The Next Karate Kid (1994)
The Final Pat Morita Karate Kid Movie
The Next Karate Kid was the final film to star Pat Morita as Mr. Miyagi, but without Ralph Macchio as Daniel LaRusso. Also known as The Karate Kid Part IV, future Academy Award-winner Hillary Swank was introduced in her breakout role as Julie Pierce, a troubled Boston teenager who Mr. Miyagi takes responsibility for. It’s also the first of the Karate Kid movies not directed by John G. Avildsen or written by Robert Mark Kamen.
The plot involves Mr. Miyagi learning that Julie Pierce, the granddaughter of his late World War II Army comrade, already knew some Miyagi-Do karate, so the sensei decides to continue her training and teach her important life lessons. The Next Karate Kid also stars Michael Ironside as the villain, Col. Paul Duga, and Walton Goggins has a small role as one of the Alpha Elite, the film’s stand-ins for Cobra Kai as bad guys.
Despite the charm of Miyagi and Julie’s relationship and the athletic gusto Swank brought to her role, The Next Karate Kid takes the lowest spot of The Karate Kid movies ranked. The Next Karate Kid features characters that aren’t very well fleshed out and includes increasingly absurd stakes. The film culminates in a predictable brawl between the Alpha Elite, Julie, and her boyfriend, Eric McGowen (Chris Conrad) which mimes the beginning of The Karate Kid Part II. The defeated Alpha Elite turn their backs on Col. Dugan, just like the Cobra Kai did to John Kreese (Martin Kove) in the second Karate Kid, and Dugan is humiliated by Miyagi the same way Kreese was.
The Next Karate Kid does introduce an interesting new element of Buddhist monks whose monastery Miyagi takes Julie to for training, but the monks are played for comedy instead of deepening the audiences’ philosophical understanding of Miyagi-Do karate. The Next Karate Kid was a critical and financial failure upon its release in 1994, but there is still enjoyment to be found watching Mr. Miyagi train Julie-san while lamenting that “boys are easier.”
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5
The Karate Kid Part III (1989)
Daniel’s Karate Kid Trilogy Ended On A Low Point
The Karate Kid Part III was released in 1989, and it was the final and, easily, the worst chapter of Daniel LaRusso’s movie saga. Fresh from a summer in Okinawa with Mr. Miyagi, the young Daniel LaRusso returns to Los Angeles and finds himself embroiled in a diabolically ridiculous plot by John Kreese and his best friend, multimillionaire Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith), to ruin LaRusso’s life and force him to defend his karate championship in order to bring the Cobra Kai dojo back to prominence.
Daniel-san’s relationship with Mr. Miyagi is tested like never before, and he even abandons his sensei as LaRusso briefly joins Cobra Kai before he comes to his senses. The Karate Kid Part III has a similar ending to the original film, but this time, Daniel’s predictable triumph lacks the same impact or exhilaration.
The biggest issue with The Karate Kid Part III is Daniel-san himself; LaRusso has never been more temperamental, irrational, and unlikeable, and Macchio (who was 28) was obviously too old to still be playing 18-year-old Daniel.
The mustache-twirling villainy of Terry Silver is entertainingly over-the-top, which is part of why his return in the Cobra Kai series is welcomed. His scheme against LaRusso, however, is nonsensical. Equally cartoonish is Daniel’s new rival, “Karate’s Bad Boy” Mike Barnes (Sean Kanan), who engages in a level of harassment against Daniel and his new (platonic) female friend Jessica Andrews (Robyn Lively) that should have called for police intervention.
The biggest issue with The Karate Kid Part III is Daniel-san himself; LaRusso has never been more temperamental, irrational, and unlikeable, and Macchio (who was 28) was obviously too old to still be playing 18-year-old Daniel. However, Pat Morita reliably brings a great performance as Miyagi, who silently mourns how far Daniel-san has fallen before he saves his pupil once more. The audience appeared to begin to be tiring of the Karate Kid movies by the release of The Karate Kid Part III, which grossed a meager $38.9-million. It took 30 years for Daniel to make his comeback thanks to Cobra Kai.
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4
The Karate Kid Part II (1986)
Mr. Miyagi Gets His Time In The Spotlight
Released in the summer of 1986, The Karate Kid Part II admirably wasn’t a clone of the original; instead, the focus shifts to Mr. Miyagi, who is accompanied by Daniel back to his hometown in Okinawa to visit his dying father. The visit also reignites his lifelong rivalry with Miyagi’s former best friend Sato (Danny Kamekona). LaRusso also gets an appealing new love interest in Kumiko (Tamlyn Tomita) and an unforgettable new enemy in Sato’s nephew, Chozen (Yuji Okumoto).
The Karate Kid Part II revealed the origin of Miyagi-Do karate and increased Daniel-san’s martial arts abilities, which culminates in a brutal fight with Chozen that irreversibly escalated the level of violence of The Karate Kid movies beyond the controlled confines of karate tournaments.
The Karate Kid Part II isn’t the equal of the first movie, but it deepens the friendship between Daniel-san and Mr. Miyagi while also introducing crucial new elements to the mythos. The film was shot in Hawaii, which doubled for Okinawa, and yet it’s strange (but convenient for LaRusso and the audience) that despite being back home, Miyagi and Sato exclusively converse with each other in broken English instead of Japanese.
The love story between Daniel and Kumiko doesn’t quite live up to the lyrics of the film’s chart-topping theme song, “Glory of Love” by Peter Cetera (which was originally intended for Rocky IV), but LaRusso’s animosity with Chozen has palpable danger and life-or-death stakes. The Karate Kid Part II was an even bigger box office success than the original, earning $115-million worldwide, which made it one of the highest-grossing films of 1986.
3
The Karate Kid (2010)
The Modern Reboot Strikes True
2010’s The Karate Kid accomplishes the miraculous feat of being a remake that’s almost as good as the original (and it’s actually even better in certain ways). Starring Jaden Smith as Dre and Jackie Chan as his mentor, Mr. Han, The Karate Kid title is a total misnomer used purely for marketing since the film was shot almost entirely in China (including the Forbidden City) and is about kung fu, not karate. The Karate Kid 2010’s story is a beat-for-beat echo of the 1984 original, but that turns out to be positive.
Against all odds, The Karate Kid 2010 succeeds by being true to the core essence of the original film while creating winning characters in its own right.
In the remake, Dre is a 12-year-old American in China who finds himself bullied by a kung fu gang and is rescued by his building’s handyman, who happens to be a reclusive martial arts master. Mr. Han trains Dre in an unorthodox manner to fight in a tournament he eventually wins, and he forms a genuine bond with his pupil. Dre also gets a love interest named Meiying (Wenwen Han).
Against all odds, The Karate Kid 2010 succeeds by being true to the core essence of the original film while creating winning characters in its own right. Jaden Smith is a charismatic and likable lead as Dre, but Kung-fu master Jackie Chan delivers a remarkably resonant dramatic performance as Mr. Han, who has his own demons he overcomes through his friendship with the American boy. The kung-fu in the film is truly impressive and light years beyond anything in the prior Karate Kid movies, and the remake also finds novel ways for Mr. Han and Dre to flip the classic tropes of how Mr. Miyagi trained Daniel.
The Karate Kid 2010 received generally favorable reviews, and it never got a sequel, but it earned $358 million worldwide, which makes it the highest-grossing film of The Karate Kid franchise. However, it exists outside the “Miyagi-verse” and it isn’t considered canon by the producers of Cobra Kai.
2
Cobra Kai (2018-2025)
The TV Spinoff That Surpasses The Movies
From its humble beginnings as an exclusive on YouTube Red, the Netflix show Cobra Kai has proved to be one of the best entries in the Karate Kid franchise. Running for 6 seasons, Cobra Kai picks up decades after the events of 1994’s The Next Karate Kid, and once again re-focuses the story on the rivalry between Johnny Lawrence and Daniel LaRusso (both of whom are now adults). It’s also the first Karate Kid project not to feature Mr. Miyagi owing to the death of Pat Morita in 2005. However, much like the legendary actor, the legacy of Miyagi lives on in the modern day.
While it’s rare for a TV spinoff of a movie to surpass the source material, Cobra Kai is arguably the best entry in The Karate Kid franchise, with many even claiming that it’s better than the 1984 film that first introduced the world to Danny, Johnny, Mr. Miyagi, and the All Valley Karate Tournament. The key strength of Cobra Kai is its masterful repositioning of the events of The Karate Kid. The TV show zeroes in on the former bully and antagonist Johnny Lawrence, following him as he turns his life around by trying to restore the Cobra Kai dojo to its former glory.
Cobra Kai exploring how LaRusso and Lawrence’s lives intertwine in the future proved to be a storytelling stroke of genius, and made for an incredibly engaging viewing experience. The show starts with Johnny and Daniel both running dojos of their own and passing on their former rivalry to their students. Both characters have been developed in an incredibly believable way too, with Daniel initially being something of a smug and unlikable antagonist, with Johnny repositioned as the struggling underdog who turns to martial arts when he feels he has nothing left.
Not only does Cobra Kai continue the story of Daniel and Johnny, but it also brings back a ton of Karate Kid characters, such as Chozen, Kumiko, Ali Mills, John Kreese, and Terry Silver. From beginning to end Cobra Kai is an absolute delight for fans of The Karate Kid movies, and there’s a strong case for it being even better than the films (though the debate is a fierce one).
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1
The Karate Kid (1984)
The Iconic Sports Movie That Kick-Started The Franchise
The Karate Kid is one of the most beloved and inspirational sports movies, and it’s difficult to argue against the 1984 original being the best in the franchise (even when compared to Cobra Kai). While it borrows aspects of the formula of the Rocky movies, as well as Rocky‘s Oscar-winning director, John G. Avildsen, 1984’s The Karate Kid‘s enduring heart and soul is the bond between Daniel LaRusso and Mr. Miyagi.
The plot is now legendary: Daniel moved from New Jersey to Los Angeles and became rivals with Cobra Kai’s Johnny Lawrence after he began dating Johnny’s ex-girlfriend, Ali Mills (Elisabeth Shue). After being ganged up on repeatedly, Miyagi trains Daniel-san to compete in a karate tournament, which he wins by defeating Johnny. 40 years later, The Karate Kid remains an eternally satisfying story filled with characters who have gone on to become pop culture icons, and their story is being continued and expanded upon in Cobra Kai.
Many of The Karate Kid‘s famous tropes have continued to resonate. The film is fondly remembered for Miyagi’s ingenious methods of training Daniel by making him perform household chores like painting a fence and sanding the floor — of course, “wax on, wax off” is eminently quotable — and Daniel’s climactic crane kick that he used to defeat Johnny is iconic. The performances by Pat Morita and Ralph Macchio remain touching and powerful.
William Zabka was underrated as Johnny, although Cobra Kai has realized his full potential. It’s incredible how three sequels, a remake, and a hit TV series were all built from The Karate Kid, which speaks to the original film as a true classic of the 1980s — one that still connects with generations of fans, new and old, as the springboard for Cobra Kai and it’s characters.
The Karate Kid
- Cast
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Ralph Macchio, Noriyuki “Pat” Morita, Martin Kove, William Zabka, Randee Heller, Ron Thomas, Elisabeth Shue, Xolo Mariduena, Mary Mouser, Jaden Smith, Wenwen Han, Taraji P. Henson, Jackie Chan
- Created by
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Robert Mark Kamen
- Character(s)
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Daniel LaRusso, Mr. Miyagi, John Kreese, Johnny Lawrence, Ali Mills, Lucille LaRusso, Bobby Brown, Dre Parker, Mr. Han, Meiying, Sherry Parker
This story originally appeared on Screenrant
