It’s been 15 years since Sony last released a Karate Kid movie, The Karate Kid. While that Jaden Smith-starring film was widely considered to be satisfactory, and grossed over $350M on a budget of just $40M, the announced sequel failed to see the light of day. It would be eight years before the YouTube/Netflix spin-off, Cobra Kai, would be released, ushering in a new era of fans for The Karate Kid franchise. Now, coming right on the heels of the series finale of Cobra Kai, we have Karate Kid: Legends.
The Karate Kid with Jaden Smith was decently well-received when it was released but has not aged well. Most now regard that film as fairly lackluster, with many hoping that Karate Kid: Legends would continue the momentum from Cobra Kai. While Karate Kid: Legends fails to live up to the original trilogy of films, it does offer a better experience than the last two Karate Kid movies.
Table of Contents
Plot
Karate Kid: Legends focuses on Mr. Han (Jackie Chan) from the 2010 The Karate Kid movie. However, there’s no connection to that film beyond the presence of Mr. Han. He has a new student, Li Fong (Ben Wang), who moves from China to the United States, only to end up getting bullied just before a big New York karate tournament.
As there are almost no surprises in the film, based on that short description you should be able to guess the entire plot of the movie with a high rate of accuracy. Sony played it extremely safe, making all the mistakes the company is known for, namely hiring writers and directors who lack the experience and talent needed to propel a film to new heights, while relying heavily on star power to get audiences in theaters (Uncharted, Morbius, Kraven, etc.).
Much to the dismay of the new Cobra Kai fanbase, Karate Kid: Legends almost entirely ignores the successful Netflix series. This was likely to prevent audiences from feeling the need to watch six seasons of the show to understand what’s going on in the film, but if the movie was good enough that wouldn’t have been an issue (Marvel has proven as much).
One problem is that while Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) is in the movie, his presence is completely unnecessary. It’s as if he was added in during the third or fourth iteration of the script. You could remove LaRusso from the film entirely, and nothing about the plot would change. And if you’ve never seen Cobra Kai, you’ll have no issues following the plot of Karate Kid: Legends.
Style and Action
The first Karate Kid film was released in the 1980s, when movies were all about rooting for the underdogs, and training montages. Karate Kid: Legends does well to channel that same 80s energy, but does very little to update it for modern times. This results in a film that’s certainly passable, but brings nothing new or interesting to the table. There are moments throughout the film in which there are some stylistic choices with subtitles, training montages, and fight introductions, but it’s inconsistent and doesn’t add much to the movie.
While Karate Kid: Legends takes place in the modern world, there’s almost no mention of social media, live streaming, or anything that today’s youth would highlight in a semi-underground karate tournament. Very little was done to bring Karate Kid into 2025, missing out on the potential of a stylized film in the same vein as Bullet Train, or even going as far as something like Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (extreme, but you get the point). Karate Kid: Legends definitely tried to add stylistic choices, but never fully commits like the two aforementioned films.
For a movie that focuses heavily on martial arts and fighting, the cinematography for the fight sequences and training montages is lackluster at best. It’s on par with Cobra Kai, which had a much smaller budget and didn’t need to wow on the big screen. Compare this to something like Creed and it’s a night and day difference. The trilogy of Creed films elevated the action of the Rocky franchise to new heights. This was a chance to do the same for the Karate Kid franchise, but instead, it ended up as a watered-down mixture of the original Karate Kid, and the Jaden Smith film.
Acting
The one saving grace for Karate Kid: Legends is that the acting is easily some of the best we’ve seen in the franchise. Jackie Chan is his usual charming self, with Ben Wang offering an equally compelling performance opposite Chan. Ming-Na Wen’s Dr. Fong is a worried, yet convincing mother to Li Fong, while Joshua Jackson is a highlight of the film as retired boxer, Victor Lipani.
It’s a great ensemble cast that is only brought down by the very basic script they’re stuck with. The main issue comes in the form of the villain, Conor (Aramis Knight), and his dojo. In a movie like this, the audience needs to either hate the villain or understand and potentially agree with their motivations. Neither happens in Karate Kid: Legends, as the villains are as straightforward and basic as it gets. Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) didn’t have a lot of depth in the original film, but that was significantly more depth than the writers gave Conor in Karate Kid: Legends.
The Final Verdict
Karate Kid: Legends is fine in the most basic way possible. That’s the theme of the movie, keep it basic. Few people will find the film to be bad, but even fewer will be wowed by what transpires. It’s about as by-the-books as it gets, offering the least amount of effort to create the bare minimum requirement for an enjoyable experience at the movies. If Sony had opted for a better writer or a more stylized director, this could’ve been the start of a new film trilogy. As it stands, Karate Kid: Legends fails to continue the momentum of Cobra Kai, and is unlikely to spawn any kind of relevant sequel.
Going up against Mission: Impossible and Lilo & Stitch this weekend, the film may have a hard time turning a profit. That’s something a direct connection to Cobra Kai could have assisted with, but Sony dropped the ball with the choice to leave out almost any connection to the series. This may end up causing another decades-long hiatus for the franchise (aside from potential Cobra Kai spin-off shows), but we’ll see how general audiences react this weekend.
About “Karate Kid: Legends”
Synopsis: After kung fu prodigy Li Fong relocates to New York City, he attracts unwanted attention from a local karate champion and embarks on a journey to enter the ultimate karate competition with the help of Mr. Han and Daniel LaRusso.
Director: Jonathan Entwistle
Writer: Rob Lieber
Cast: Jackie Chan, Ben Wang, Joshua Jackson, Sadie Stanley, Ming-Na Wen, Ralph Macchio
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 1 Hour, 34 Minutes
Releases: May 30, 2025
Bryan Dawson has been writing professionally since the age of 13. He started his career as a video game writer and has since worked for Random House, Prima Games, DirecTV, IGN, AOL, the British Government, and various other organizations. For GNN, Bryan taps into his passion for movies.
- Bryan Dawsonhttps://geeknewsnetwork.net/author/bdawson1/
- Bryan Dawsonhttps://geeknewsnetwork.net/author/bdawson1/
- Bryan Dawsonhttps://geeknewsnetwork.net/author/bdawson1/
- Bryan Dawsonhttps://geeknewsnetwork.net/author/bdawson1/
