The Next Karate Kid (1994)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Nice effects though.

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Mr. Miyagi is back and he takes a new pupil under his wing; a troubled adolescent girl. The Next Karate Kid is definitely a film that i think gets alot of hate for truly no reason, first of all Hilary Swank? was pretty damn great and i actually enjoyed her character way more than whatever the hell Ralph Macchio was portraying in The Karate Kid Part III plus once again Pat Morita gives a terrific perfomance as Mr. Miyagi and i really enjoyed seeing Michael Ironside in a villain part again. Sure it's not the best in the series but it's 100 times better than Part III. (10/10) (A)

Originally, it did not do great, but with time it has become a favorite amongst young woman, the story of julie yet not origanal to a movie buff yet inspiring to first time viewer, It has taught young girls to be strong. as to join karate. Hillary Swank Has had a long career but for her first movie it is not that bad.

It had been five years since the third film in the original trilogy, but for some reason they felt like another film with a brand new "kid" would breathe life into the series, Ralph Macchio being grown up of course, I decided to watch it. Basically Kesuke Miyagi (Noriyuki 'Pat' Morita), once an Army Sergeant attends a commemoration for Japanese soldiers who fought in World War II for the US Army in Boston, and there he meets his commanding officer's widow Louisa Pierce (Constance Towers). She then introduces him to her bad tempered and bratty teenage granddaughter Julie Pierce (young Hilary Swank), who lives with the memory of her parents being killed in a car accident. This has caused friction between her and her grandmother, but also with her fellow school students, but she also passes time caring for an injured hawk she has named Angel, kept in the school roof pigeon coop. At school Julie meets and befriends young and kindhearted security guard Eric McGowen (Chris Conrad) who works in the fraternity known as the Alpha Elite, and she also gains an enemy in aggressive student Ned (Michael Cavalieri), both are taught by vicious mentor Colonel Dugan (Michael Ironside). She finds herself being horribly bullied by the nasty members of the Alpha Elite, and after revealing that she used to be taught karate to her new friend Mr. Miyagi, he agrees to teach her more moves to defend herself. She learns balance, be co-ordinated, awareness of incoming threat, and to have respect for all life, and she becomes friends with the monks that Mr. Miyagi has helping her. When she returns to school she knows that Angel, who was initially taken by Ned but returned, is able to fly, and they release her into the wild, and is then given a new prom dress from Mr. Miyagi. For some reason there the Alpha Elite are order by Colonel Dugan to bungee jump and enter, and when Julie leaves she and Eric share a kiss, but they also get caught up in a proposed fight on the docks. In the end, Mr. Miyagi is standing back to let Julie use her newfound karate skills to defend herself in the fight with Ned who is encouraged by Colonel Dugan, of course she wins. Also starring Arsenio 'Sonny' Trinidad as Abbot and Walton Goggins as Charlie. It is nice to still have Morita returning for his most famous and once Oscar nominated character, and young double future Oscar winner Swank does alright as the new female karate kid, but the film is let down by the same old same old plot, nothing new to be seen really, not a original or highly interesting martial arts adventure. Okay!

Ugh. Just thinking about this movie makes my stomach churn. This has got to be one of the lamest excuses for a movie franchise sequel that I have ever scene. This fourth installment of the "Karate Kid" movies is so bad it makes "Police Acadamy 4" look like an Oscar contender. I know at the time Hillary Swank was just starting out and had to take whatever she could get as an actress, so she has a somewhat valid excuse. However, Pat Morita should have given more thought about this script before signing on. After all the character of "Myagi" was the best of his career and he should have been more protective of this beloved character. I think where this movie suffers the most is just in the lame writing. The story is just so out to lunch and feels so amateurish that you cant wonder who were the hacks brought in to write it? Give you an example, the scene where Swank firsts meets Myagi. Swanks supposed guardian or maybe it was her grandmother, cant remember, tries to introduce them. She walks away in a huff and says "My name is Julie and I came here to live because my mother was killed in a traffic accident 6 months ago." I mean wow. It was so blatantly absurd. Talk about having a plot point thrown in your face and dangled. My jaw dropped to floor after hearing that and the movie just goes down hill from there. Skip this movie.....skip, skip skip.