Mr. Miyagi Vs. Jackie Chan

When I was growing up there a couple of films that everybody had to see, such as Short Circuit, the story of a military robot that comes alive or Teenwolf, with its van surfing to the Beach boys, another of these must-sees was Karate Kid, with plenty of kids trying to recreate the crane kick in the playground.

Karate kid (1984) follows the story of Daniel LeRusso (Ralph Macchio) who moves to California from New Jersey, he quickly starts hanging out with some the local kids, and soon is eye is caught by Cheerleader and rich girl Ali Mills (Elisabeth Shue) much to the rage of her ex Jonny. Daniel gets in a fight over the girl, gets his ass kicked, and then is victimised by Jonny and his fellow Testosterone fuelled dickheads. Its while this unfolds that Daniel also befriends the maintenance man of the apartment block in which he resides, Mr. Miyagi, played by Pat Morita, a role which he was nominated for best supporting actor at the 1984 academy awards.

After saving Daniel from being turned into jam by Jonny and his hoods, Miyagi teaches him the ways of karate, so he can take on Jonny and is ilk, in an up coming karate tournament, where he will earn the respect of the thugs, hopefully with the result of being left alone.

Karate kid was a complete phenomenon , sporning two sequels , and a fourth film in which Mr. Miyagi takes on a new protégé in the form of future two time Oscar winner Hilary Swank. As well as a videogame encompassing the storyline of the first two movies, and an animated series, where the torment motif is abandoned for a more adventure based format.

Given the high regard that any 80’s kid like myself has for Karate Kid I was horrified to learn that a remake was in production, and then slightly relieved when I heard Jackie Chan was to play the Miyagi character, in this case Mr. Han. Well I think 80’s kids everywhere can breath a sigh of relief, they haven’t crushed the spirit of Karate Kid, giving doubters a chop to the face.

The remake follows the original very closely, while still being different enough to make it worth watching. This time the story follows Dre Parker a younger character than LeRusso, who this time moves to China after his single mother gets a new job, in the eighties moving halfway across America was a long way, but no longer with the days of social media, so a more drastic move seems logical to give Dre that same culture clash and sense of isolation Daniel felt. After hanging out with some fellow westerners, his eye is caught by a local girl, Mei Ling, much to the rage of family friend Cheng, I think you can see where this is going… so after an ass kicking he’s befriended by Mr. Han the apartment blocks maintenance man, and surprise surprise a karate/kung-fu expert, queue un-conventional training and montages.

Okay so its quite similar to the ‘84 version, the main difference for me is the difference between Mr. Miyagi and Mr. Han. Miyagi was a slightly eccentric old Japanese man, who’s wife died in child birth, a fact which didn’t really effect the character more than giving him background, but with Mr. Han it’s a different story. Mr. Han is a shy and socially awkward man, who’s wife and child were killed in car accident, for which he blames himself, and this is where the difference lies, Miyagi, had something bad happen to him, but he has excepted it as part of life, whereas Mr. Han’s guilt over the loss of his family deeply effects him and his day to day life, making him less of a superficial character, giving him much more depth. Jackie Chan has never acted better.

There are numerous differences between the two, for which I could properly go on all day, like the whole earning the tormenters respect through the tournament participation makes a lot more since within eastern culture, much more than some spoilt rich get having a change of heart after having his ass handed to him.

Macchio’s career pretty much peaked with the Karate Kid franchise, with only two note worthy exceptions, the first being My Cousin Vinny, where wrongly accused of murder, Macchio is left reliant on the inexperience of his lawyer cousin Vinny, played brilliantly by Joe Pesci, a film which won Marisa Tomei an Oscar for best supporting actress. The exception to the rule is the little known, though brilliant, Crossroads, and no, not the Britany spears movie, something far more spectacular, but I think that’s a ramble for another day.