Cobra Kai has been a huge success for the Karate Kid franchise, and it has also quietly rectified some of the movies’ biggest ongoing issues.
Cobra Kai has been a welcome addition to the Karate Kid franchise, and the show cleverly rectified one of the overall property’s biggest and oldest problems without drawing attention to the issues it had. For all the fame and nostalgia surrounding the Karate Kid movie franchise, the original films weren’t without their faults. Luckily, Cobra Kai has stepped in and swept all the negative feelings aside about some of the franchise’s less popular entries and caused a passionate following to either return or arise in its wake.
The Karate Kid movie was released in 1984. As well as two direct sequels that also starred Ralph Macchio, a fourth movie was also produced with Hilary Swank replacing Macchio’s character as the student of Pat Morita’s Mr. Miyagi. The film series attempted a reboot in 2010 but the series eventually sputtered to a conclusion. However, Cobra Kai continued the Karate Kid timeline when it burst onto the scene in 2018. Although Cobra Kai is a soft sequel to the movies, it also improved certain aspects of them and can continue to do so in Cobra Kai season 6.
Cobra Kai Makes You Forget The Karate Kid Sequels Were All Terrible
The first Karate Kid movie is easily the best
Cobra Kai is produced to a very high standard and has been since day one. The show’s slick choreography and slowly evolving character-based plots honor the first movie while also making improvements. Thankfully, Cobra Kai lacks the shortcomings of the failed sequels that spawned from the original Karate Kid movie. The show is of such high quality that it forgives the awful attempts to continue Mr. Miyagi’s story beyond the first film.
Unfortunately, the second Karate Kid movie just didn’t live up to the hype of the first, and the following two sequels also didn’t meet expectations.
1984’s The Karate Kid was profitable and well-received. While 1986’s The Karate Kid Part II also enjoyed a good financial return, this was largely due its predecessor’s popularity. Unfortunately, the second Karate Kid movie just didn’t live up to the hype of the first, and the following two sequels also didn’t meet expectations. The minds behind the movie franchise’s first installment couldn’t match their achievement of catching lightning in a bottle the same way as they had with the first film. In fact, the franchise’s lengthy break is part of the reason why Cobra Kai is so much better.
The Karate Kid Part II was of a completely different tone to the first movie and suffered from noticeable pacing issues. By the time 1989’s The Karate Kid Part III came around, the movie’s creative team decided to return to the original formula that had led to the success of the first film. However, what resulted was nothing more than a pale imitation of the 1984 franchise starter. Things didn’t improve with 1994’s The Next Karate Kid which brought Hilary Swank into the fold, and even the 2010 reboot movie failed to recapture the magic of the franchise’s earlier days.
Cobra Kai Has Redeemed Karate Kid 2 & 3
Some of Cobra Kai’s best characters started in bad Karate Kid movies
Cobra Kai has managed to repurpose certain elements from the movies and made the films themselves retroactively seem better.
Despite the first two Karate Kid sequels not hitting the mark with fans, Cobra Kai has managed to repurpose certain elements from the movies and made the films themselves retroactively seem better. Making Cobra Kai a sequel series was a big part of its success, as it allowed the show to dip into the pool of pre-existing franchise canon and restart rivalries that had long since burned out.
For instance, while Cobra Kai initially focused on its new characters, and cast members from the first Karate Kid movie, it has since allowed Yuji Okumoto to reprise his role as Chozen from The Karate Kid Part II. Chozen’s character is much more developed in Cobra Kai, which redeems his movie. The same is also true of The Karate Kid III’s Ian Thomas Griffith coming back and allowing Daniel’s backstory with Terry Silver to finally pay off. Silver becomes a brilliant Cobra Kai villain, and he would be absent from the story if not for his first Karate Kid appearance.
Cobra Kai’s Future Can Do The Same For Karate Kid 4 & The 2010 Reboot
Every Karate Kid movie could be justified by the time Cobra Kai ends
Cobra Kai still hasn’t exhausted the rich history of its parent franchise. Hilary Swank has yet to return in her role as The Next Karate Kid’s Julie Pierce. As such, she could still appear in Cobra Kai season 6 and justify the existence of the underwhelming movie in which she starred in 1994. It’s also possible she could star in the upcoming Karate Kid movie, which is continuing the success of Cobra Kai after it ends with season 6.
Chan will be playing Mr. Han in the 2024 Karate Kid movie alongside Ralph Macchio’s Daniel LaRusso.
While Hilary Swank’s appearance in Cobra Kai isn’t confirmed, another major franchise star will definitely redeem their Karate Kid movie by appearing in the upcoming feature film. Jackie Chan played Mr. Han in 2010’s The Karate Kid, which, at the time, served as a reboot for the franchise. However, Chan will be playing Mr. Han in the 2024 Karate Kid movie alongside Ralph Macchio’s Daniel LaRusso, adding further fixes to the franchise’s canon undertaken by Cobra Kai’s efforts.
