The Karate Kid (1984, PG)

Until just now, I'm pretty sure I'm the only '80's kid that hadn't seen this movie (and I'm sure I just lost a few friends by saying that).  I had seen the 2010 remake starring Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith which I did enjoy and was today (pleasantly?) surprised how many parallels there were between the two versions of the film despite the differences: remake took place in China as opposed to California, it used Kung-Fu rather than Karate, and the main character was younger.  In my defense, I was already aware of some of the main cultural references from the original film: the line "sweep the leg", "wax on, wax off", and the song "you're the best around".  Though I now have a greater understanding of them.  This was sort of a homework movie for me.

In both versions of the film, I was bracing myself to dislike the main character who was a kid (not particularly cerebral) who gets into trouble (fights) with other kids who are part of a violent/borderline-evil marital arts dojo.  In both cases, I found myself liking the Kid a lot more than I thought I would because his shortcomings were due to him being a kid.  The original film stars Ralph Macchio (from... well, he's most famous for this film, though he was also in My Cousin Vinny [he was Vinny's cousin]) falling for a young Elisabeth Shue (Adventures In Babysitting, Leaving Las Vegas) and falling into the bad graces of her DB (unsavory fellow) ex-boyfriend who is part of that nasty dojo mentioned earlier.  The karate jerks repeatedly harm him until Macchio's local repair man helps him out.  I found the early parts of the film a little gut-wrenching as the Kid is in a bad situation and has to try to avoid the violence, but later the story got into full swing and it was a pleasant ride.

While I'm sure my nostalgia-infected cohort would say otherwise, I think I actually liked the second one a little more than the original.  Don't get me wrong, I liked them both.  The original was... well... original, and is definitely iconic.  But for an audience that has seen neither, and if you can only see one of them, I'd suggest the newer iteration (which is just a little more modern and relatable for that reason).  If you liked Rocky, you'll like this film (original).  But who am I kidding, if you haven't seen this then I imagine you haven't seen Rocky either.  Especially near the end it's a sports movie, so you like those you should like this.  If you haven't seen a "sports movie" but don't like the idea of them, don't judge: they're often better than a nerd might think (and I use the term "nerd" not in a derogatory way, but in the first person).