What happens when you combine the different generations of Karate Kid movies? Well, what about if you combine that with an origin story for a new protagonist that doesn’t really have their origin? Think Spider-Man: Homecoming, but with karate. That’s what you get with Karate Kid: Legends. It brings the story of Li Fong to the forefront and shoves together the legacy of the 80s and 90s Karate Kid movies with the 2010 version that Jackie Chan starred in.

Li Fong (Ben Wang) is a student of Mr. Han (Jackie Chan). His mom, Dr. Fong (played by Ming-Na Wen) moves him from Beijing to New York for a new job. Li’s also been told by his mother “no more fighting” after a horrific accident and attack involving his older brother, who passed away. Li’s new life in New York takes an exciting route when he meets Mia (Sadie Stanley) at a pizza shop. She’s one of his classmates, and they strike up a friendship. Her dad, Vic (Joshua Jackson), owns the pizza shop and took out a loan from some shady characters. After a late-night attack by some loan sharks, Victor and Li fight them off, and Vic realizes that Li can help him restart his boxing career. That is, until the loan shark tells his opponent to knock him out for good.

This leads to Mr. Han coming to New York to see what’s wrong with Li, and they decide to enter the 5 Boroughs Tournament to get Vic the money to save his shop. Han realizes that he needs more help to train Li in both Kung Fu and Karate, so he brings along an old friend from the Miyagi school of Karate, Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio).

The Good Of Karate Kid: Legends

Karate Kid: Legends feels like the older films in the series. In a cinematic landscape where being earnest and inspirational is not necessarily the goal, this movie is both of those things. It’s not quite after-school special, but it feels like a movie out of its own time. Ben Wang is a revelation as Li. Not only does he nail the stunts and the look of the fights, but he’s also charismatic and easily captures the audience to root for him. We’ve all been awkward teenagers in a moment where we were taken out of our comfort zone. Here, it’s him moving to New York and entering this fighting tournament. He handles the assignment and then some.

The pairing of Ralph Macchio and Jackie Chan as the dual senseis for Li is also a magical one. They’re not together for very long, but the time we get with both of them teaching Li is a highlight of the film. For Cobra Kai fans, there’s also a nice nod at the end of the film.

The actual fights and stunts in the film are easily the best part of the whole thing. The training montages, the highlights of the early fights in the 5 Boroughs Tournament with both Li and his rival Conor are great. They’re presented like a level out of Street Fighter. It all builds to their final confrontation, and that’s as awesome as the buildup makes it out to be. Director Jonathan Entwistle and his team really did a great job making the fights feel huge.

The Bad Of Karate Kid: Legends

Karate Kid: Legends does take a LONG time to get going. There’s a lot of stuff in the first half that’s just building up Li to have another wound and a reason to get in the 5 Boroughs Tournament with Vic and Mia. Vic wants to get money to pay off his loan from Conor’s dad, O’Shea (Tim Rozon, who has one of the most evil-looking faces in Hollywood, dude did a great job at being hateable with like no dialogue). So, he tries boxing again and gets injured in the fight. This puts a strain on LI and Mia’s budding relationship, but it just feels like overkill. It does parallel his own brother’s death, but the guy already has that as a wound; we didn’t really need a subplot of training Vic to box more like a karate fighter.

At a certain point, the thought is going to cross your mind, because it takes so long to get to, “why is Daniel LaRusso even in this movie?”. It crossed my mind. The movie takes so long to get to the payoff of him and Han being together, that it probably should have gotten there a bit quicker.

Also, the ways that they show off why Conor is a bad guy are just kind of strange. The kid has a massive temper, beats the crap out of kids at school, beats the crap out of the people he’s sparring with, you’d think at a certain point that someone would step in. It’s a small thing, but it does take a bit of luster away from Conor being a legit antagonist to Li, and more of just an unnecessary jerk.

The Ugly Of Karate Kid: Legends

The worst thing about Karate Kid: Legends is some of the dialogue. Particularly with Mia. She feels like they were writing for a 35-year-old divorcee with the way she talks about her prior and current relationship with Conor. Yes, she dated the guy that wants to kick the crap out of Li. It adds a wrinkle to the whole story of the movie, but it’s brought down by some of the dialogue. Sadie Stanley’s performance isn’t bad by any means, she’s just not helped out by the writing.

The other thing that stuck out to me was the one time we see Han and LaRusso fight, it’s against some small-fry thugs from O’Shea. O’Shea has the most punchable face in the movie, and he doesn’t really get any comeuppance. No arrests, no payback for what he did to Vic. It would have been more powerful in the movie for the only scene where Han and LaRusso get physical for it to be against him.

Even with some of these big issues, you’re left with a feeling of exuberance and fun after watching Karate Kid: Legends. By no means is it perfect, but the film, most importantly, feels like a Karate Kid. Like a combination of kung fu and karate, this one splits the difference between eras giving audiences of multiple generations something to enjoy.

Karate Kid: Legends releases in theaters on May 30th.

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