The Karate Kidtrilogy was an iconic part of the ’80s, filled with cool karate action sequences, excellent training montages, and featuring one of the most important mentor/mentee relationships in any franchise. Mr. Miyagi will likely always be considered the best character from any of the movies. He was calm, patient, and always loved Daniel. Mr. Miyagi’s influence helped calm Daniel’s hot-headed behavior when he was a teenager.
Mr. Miyagi’s teachingson the importance of balance helped Daniel learn how to handle his problems, and to win three important karate competitions, and his influence remains strong in Daniel’s life as an adult inCobra Kai. Mr. Miyagi and Daniel’s relationship may have been a key part of what madeThe Karate Kidbecome such an integral part of the audience’s childhoods. However, there are plenty of things thatCobra Kaiactually improves on.
Cobra Kaistarted as a streaming series on YouTube, and was easily their biggest hit by far, soon being bought up by Netflix and distributed to a audience that was ready and willing to see what had happened to the characters from the old movies. The fact that they were able to bring in the same cast from before helped make the series both nostalgic and successful.
Cobra Kaihas benefitted by being a series too, and in many ways, does things better than even the beloved original movies. With more time to develop characters and conflicts, the show provides more fleshed-out relationships and struggles. The show turned the original story on its head, using the pilot episode to share Johnny Lawrence’s side of things and transform him into the trusted sensei of Miguel Diaz, a bullied teenager struggling with bullies. As a continuation,Cobra Kainever forgets where it comes from, leaning intoThe Karate Kidwhenever it can. But the past never stops it from telling a present-day story that is often better thanThe Karate Kidtrilogy.
Daniel And Johnny’s Rivalry
InThe Karate Kid, Daniel and Johnny’s rivalry starts with Ali, Johnny’s recent ex-girlfriend and someone Daniel had just met. Ali’s interest in Daniel turns Johnny’s bullying nature on Daniel, and they quickly form a rivalry that comes to a head at the All-Valley Tournament. But, outside of Ali, there is not much depth to their relationship.
What Cobra Kai Does Better
Thirty years later,Johnny is still bitterafter his 1984 defeat, and given Daniel’s apparent success, it does not make things easier when the two are forced back together. Daniel and Johnny’s rivalry acknowledges how Ali played a role in the past, but the present day gives them plenty to fight over when it comes to the fighting styles and values of the Cobra Kai dojo. The show even allows their relationship to develop beyond a rivalry, turning them into unlikely allies, which adds more layers and understanding of the past to their relationship.
Dissecting Cobra Kai Trauma
The first two films briefly show the problems with Cobra Kai, including the bullying the teenagers do to Daniel, Kreese’s encouragement for Johnny to fight dirty, and Kreese’s abuse of Johnny after he loses the fight.The Karate KidPart 3develops the torture further head-on when Daniel briefly trains with Terry Silver and is tricked into embracing and using his anger.
Johnny’s trauma of how his dojo taught him not to play fair and hurt others forces him to try and change when he sees the beginning of that behavior playing out in his students. Johnny even fights back against Kreese and Terry when they take on a more abusive approach. The show reverses roles, making Johnny’s students the bullied kids, and Daniel’s students the bullies, then switching roles again, telling a complex story of what it means to bully others, to get revenge, and to perpetuate cycles of abuse.
Daniel’s trauma surrounding his training with Terry Silver comes to the forefront when he is desperate to prevent Terry from taking over. Even the characters created for the series, such as Johnny’s son Robby, Miguel, Tory, and Hawk, face the emotional ramifications of Cobra Kai’s troubling mental and emotional impacts and how they have to work to find their balance again.
Fight Choreography
The action scenes and fight choreography inThe Karate Kidhad some iconic moments, such as Daniel’s stylish crane kick at the end of the first movie. But, otherwise, the fight scenes and choreography were not always amazing to watch. Most of the time, the choreography involved Daniel getting beaten up various times before he finally wins in the end.
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The fight scenes are given more depth and excitement. Plenty of them come from long-awaited emotional moments, andCobra Kaipays special attention to showing the different fighting styles between the students of the separate dojos. The fight scenes move through unique, interesting environments, and the choreography is, in some places, absolutely jaw-dropping — especially from teenage actors.
New Layers To Film Villains
For the most part,The Karate Kidmovie villains were fairly one-note. They typically wanted to beat Daniel up and were usually involved in the film’s final big fight. But otherwise, they were just there to be the antagonist and force Daniel to up his game.
Cobra Kaiembraces the film’s villain characters and offers them more development and backstory. Johnny Lawrence is given far more room for understanding his backstory and how he became the teenage bully he was, in addition to developing him as an adult. Kreese’s backstory shows his involvement in the army, and Mike is gifted the chance to show he grew from being the bad boy of karate.Chozen proved himself as a changed manand was more than willing to help and stand with Daniel.
Dojo Rivalry Is More Personal
The movies did not feature any real rivalry between dojos at all. Instead, the fight was specifically between Daniel and Johnny. Mr. Miyagi didn’t really have a dojo, just teaching Daniel one-on-one, and when it came time to announce their place in the tournament, they had to come up with a dojo name just to enter.
The rivalry between Cobra Kai and Miyagi-Do, or even Eagle Fang, is far more personal between the senseis and the students. Daniel, Johnny, Kreese, and Terry have so much history between them, and the tension goes back decades. As for the students, many of them are classmates or friends who were thrown into a war they were not ready for. And many of them had issues that went beyond karate, but is expressed through their fighting
Redemption Arcs
There are no real redemption arcs inThe Karate Kidtrilogy. Daniel returns to Mr. Miyagi following his torture by Terry Silver, as expected, and Johnny’s moment of not wanting to fight dirty against Danieldoes not say much when he does it anyway.
Cobra Kaispends more time devoted to showing how the different karate styles influence the students and how they are more aggressive under Cobra Kai, while they become calmer under Miyagi-Do. Plenty of the characters, once they leave behind the aggression of Cobra Kai, come back to themselves and balance out their behavior.
Miguel and Hawk appear as a more developed version of themselves once they step away from the aggression that Kreese and Terry bring to karate, and even Robby, training under Miyagi-Do, learns that fighting isn’t always the answer and that, maybe, there isn’t always an easy villain to point to.
But the best redemption arc is Johnny’s, as we see him go from a washed-out beer-drinking loser to someone who founds a karate dojo to help bullied students, to a person who finally comes to question the values from his old master that he held onto for years. His transformation into a balanced and mature adult is at the heart of the show.
Terry Silver
InThe Karate Kid Part 3, Terry Silver is a substantial villain, but he is also fairly annoying. His loud and over-the-top behavior could only have been interesting for so long before his boisterous laugh and manic personality grew tiresome, even if it was also threatening.
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Terry Silver is still a big bad, but by calming him down significantly, the audience gets to meet the root of the character, rather than someone who comes across as being high on drugs the entire movie. Terry Silver is far more intimidating inCobra Kaibecause he is an antagonist with motivations rather than a man enjoying torturing a teenage boy.
Miguel And Robby’s Rivalry
The Karate Kidoffered a new main rivalry in each film. The tension between Daniel and Kreese was the biggest element, as it appears in two of the films, but otherwise, no rivalries carry on outside of one film.
Miguel and Robby do not get along from the very beginning, and it makes sense why. They fell for the same girl, and ina brutal and fantastic fight in high school, Robby eventually kicks Miguel off the second floor, resulting in Miguel breaking his back, falling into a coma, and after waking up, needing months of physical therapy.
There are deep emotional layers to their conflict. However, whenCobra Kaiallows them to begin the process of settling their differences and talking things out, it gives them a chance to work through some of their problems. Both teens become protagonists, helping the audience to see that neither one is bad, and that both make mistakes sometimes, and all anyone really wants is to see them resolve their differences and work together.
Larger Emotional Arcs
Daniel gets angry plenty of times. He is almost always on an emotional rollercoaster. He needed to get angry in order for Mr. Miyagi to bring him back to a balanced center. But, Daniel’s anger tends to be in short bursts before he ultimately has to re-learn the same lesson again.
The longer emotional journey inCobra Kaiover several characters is far more satisfying. Miguel’s struggle with his broken body after he loses the fight with Robby is traumatizing for him, and then after he goes to Mexico to find his fatherand realizes his dad is a bad person, his emotional breakdown is heartbreaking.
Robby’s desperation to be different from his father Johnny results in him leaning on Miyagi-Do too much, only to realize that learning to fight isn’t what Robby needs and only worsens his anger. It takes jail time and a lot of love and acceptance from both Johnny and Daniel, to get Robby right with himself.
Female Fighters
Daniel gets to know various girls in the original trilogy, including Ali, Kumiko, and Jessica, and all play a role in Daniel’s journey. But none of them are involved in karate, and so the female representation in the original films is sorely lacking.
Sam, Tory, Aisha, Devon, and many other girls and women become excellent karate fighters, whether as students or senseis. Sam is raised practicing karate by her father Daniel, and Tory is a street kid who’s desperation makes her vicious in a fight. The two of them are considered to behighly skilled fighters, which is important when acknowledging that karate, as a sport or as self-defense, is something anyone can learn.
