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The Karate Kid Movie Review Summary

Actors: Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita, Elisabeth Shue, Martin Kove, William Zabka

Detailed plot synopsis reviews of The Karate Kid


Daniel LaRusso (Macchio) and his mother Lucille move from New Jersey to California to start a new life. Daniel quickly finds that a black-haired kid with a New York Italian accent is a fish out of water in California blonde beach culture. Worse, the school bully Johnny Lawrence (Zabka) heads a gang called the Cobras and takes special delight in beating up Danny. They're all karate students, goaded by a teacher who's a Vietnam vet and encourages them to fight hard and dirty. It only gets worse when Johnny's beautiful ex-girlfriend Ali Mills (Shue, in her first notable role) takes a shine to Danny. An elderly Japanese gardener named Miyagi saves Danny from a beating and agrees to teach him some basic karate, although his methods seem a bit unorthodox: first he hands Danny a bonsai tree to take care of, then he saddles him with tasks like painting fences and waxing a car. But all of this will prepare Danny to face the bullies in the All Valley Karate Championship. This 1984 kid's version of "Rocky" is formulaic but satisfyingly stirring, and spawned three much weaker sequels.
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The review of this Movie prepared by David Loftus



Script Analysis of The Karate Kid

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Plot & Themes

Time/era of movie:    -   1980's-1999 Kids growing up/acting up?    -   Yes Kids:    -   general coming of age story    -   developing special abilities Kind of sports story:    -   karate Sports story?    -   Yes Age group    -   trouble in high school

Main Character

Identity:    -   Male Profession/status:    -   student Age:    -   a teen Ethnicity/Nationality    -   White American

Setting

United States    -   Yes The US:    -   California Misc setting    -   sports arena

Writing Style

Accounts of torture and death?    -   no torture/death If this is a kid's movie...    -   Ages 10-15

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