The Karate Kid

The Karate Kid series of movies stars Pat Morita as Mr. Miyagi, the humble humble caretaker of a building complex who befriends a teenage boy, Daniel-san.

Part I

Moving from New Jersey to California, Daniel fails to understand the social rules of his new school. He falls afoul of a group of karate students with a white teacher, an ex-military man whose creed is "No mercy". Miyagi teaches Daniel karate in a subtle, puzzling way. Basic blocking moves are disguised as movements of painting a fence and polishing a car.

Thinking he's never going to learn and thing and that Miyagi is just taking advantage of him, Daniel is about to quit. He confronts Miyagi, who shouts "Wax on!" (the signal to move his arm in a circle) while taking a mock swing at him. Daniel blocks the blow perfectly. After a few similar exchanges, Daniel realizes that his yard chores actually made him rather proficient in self-defense.

Meanwhile, the bullies are relentless, and Daniel has fallen in love with the girlfriend of their leader. To make peace, Miyagi arranges a truce so that Daniel can train for an upcoming karate tournament, where all differences are to be settled.

Part II

The second part continues seamlessly from the end of the tournament, much the same as Rocky II continues where Rocky I left off. Miyagi confronts the evil karate teacher, and gives him a "worse punishment" by showing mercy to the man who does not believe in forgiveness. The nose-tweaking scene is not to be missed!

Then Miyagi gets the news that his father is dying. He flies to his hometown, a tiny village in Okinawa which he had fled 45 years ago. A pacifist, Miyagi chose not to fight the wealthy Sato to prevent an arranged marriage with Yukie. The lesson for Daniel is not to put passion over principles.

Daniel decides to tag along, and the pair (master and pupil) are met at the airport by Sato's nephew, who kind of kidnaps them to a meeting with Sato. Once again, Miyagi chooses not to fight.

Reaching the village, they arrive at Yukie's house where Daniel meets Yukie's beautiful niece Kumiko.

Follow up

In the third and fourth movies, story values are thrown out and the films focus more on fighting, earning little money at the box office and low ratings from the critics. The aging Ralph Macchio's attempt to play Miyagi's protege fails, and he is replaced by then-unknown Hillary Swank for the final film.