Thirty-six years ago!
No, that’s impossible! There must be a mistake with the math. No. No matter how I tried to make the figures lie, every time I subtracted 1984 from 2020, it came out 36.
So it really has been 36 years ago that Daniel Larusso (Ralph Macchio) defeated despicable bully Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) in the All Valley Karate Championships in Los Angeles when “The Karate Kid” hit the silver screen. The plot for the film was the typical story of how a kid who is bullied exacts revenge on the bully. But what makes this film rise above the hackneyed plot is the relationship that develops between Daniel and his karate tutor.
Daniel and his mother have moved from Newark, N.J., to the Reseda neighborhood of Los Angeles, and Daniel, who didn’t want to move in the first place, takes an immediate dislike to his new home. To make matters worse, he becomes the brunt of bullying led by Lawrence and his buddies, all of whom are members of the Cobra Kai karate dojo run by the arrogantly malicious sensi John Kreese (Martin Kove).
That First Tree
Life is fairly miserable for Daniel until he meets Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita), an immigrant from Okinawa who is the live-in handyman at Daniel’s apartment complex and who also happens to be a karate master.
From this point on the film is quite predictable, but the bond that develops between Miyagi and Daniel makes it a very satisfying film, and it launched a number of sequels, none of which was as good as the original. However, if you happen to be a fan of “The Karate Kid,” you have a real treat awaiting you on Netflix, which is now airing the first two seasons of “Cobra Kai.”
The series takes its name from that infamous dojo operated by the despicable John Kreese, and it is set 36 years after Daniel defeated Johnny in the All-Valley Tournament. Macchio, Zabka, and Kove all are on hand to reprise their roles of Daniel, Johnny, and Kreese respectively, and it’s really a lot of fun to see what their lives are like now.
Daniel owns and operates the Larusso car dealership, and in addition to being a very successful businessman, he’s a devoted husband and father. No, he didn’t marry Ali (Elisabeth Shue), and we do find out what ultimately happened to her, but you’ll have to watch the series learn what her life is like.
But What About Ali?
Daniel is married to a lovely woman named Amanda (Courtney Henggeler), who also works with him at the car dealership. They have two children, a teenager named Samantha (Mary Mouser) and Anthony (Griffin Santopietro), the young brother, who does nothing but play video games and eat.
Whereas Daniel has fashioned a good life for himself, the past 36 years have not been kind to Johnny. When the series begins, we find Johnny working as a handyman, but he doesn’t like the job, and soon after he clashes with a client, he finds himself unemployed.
As the story progresses, a series of events (I won’t delineate them here) occurs that will bring both Daniel and Johnny back to the karate dojos, and their rivalry is renewed in a very special way.
The Dojo
In addition to seeing Daniel and Johnny as adults, what makes “Cobra Kai” so much fun is the clever way that the storyline parallels what happened in the original “Karate Kid.” And a number of flashbacks to the Miyagi days punctuate the series, but the real treat for hardcore fans is when Daniel returns to the original set of Mr. Miyagi’s dojo. This is where Daniel learned, “wax on, wax off,” “paint the fence,” and “sand the floor.”
“Cobra Kai” is wonderful entertainment in that it brings us up-to-date in the lives of Daniel and Johnny. The acting is fine, the karate scenes are nicely choreographed, and the script includes a nice blend of comedy and drama. The series comprises two seasons, but the word is a third season is in the works.
I say, “Bring it on! BONSAI!”
