June 4, 2025 • 6 mins
Our movie sensei Ben O’Shea was in the studio with Clairsy & Lisa to review the latest martial arts film Karate Kid: Legends.
Ben said that this movie had a tough journey to success but does a good job at it. Lisa wanted to know, how many "not everybody was Kung Fu Fightings" did he give the movie?
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Great per flick with Beno. Well, Ben, good morning, good
morning in a while since some karate chops, I guess
a kid. Yes, yeah, well like the original the original
Karate Kid movie I never know. It's the original Karate
Kid came out in nineteen eighty four. Yeah, Daniel LaRusso,
(00:24):
Daniel San played by Ralph Matchio, who at the time
was a young kid. He'd never really done martial arts before,
and so they gave him sort of a crash course
in rehearsal before the movie. But it was that's why
some of the moves, you know, he's doing a lot
of wax on waxoft and a lot of painting the fence.
He's not doing a lot of roundhouse tends. And they
(00:44):
were all these they were all the incredible, incredible karate
learning techniques imparted to him by mister Miyagi played by
Pat Marita, the late great Pat Marina rip And So,
if you were a kid like me who grew up
in the nineteen eighties, I can promise you you were
in the playground of your primary school, you were doing
(01:04):
wax on wax off, you were paid of sense, and
you were one hundred percent Obviously, movie and you were
one hundred percent trying to do the crane kick, which
was the ultimate move that Daniel sn learned during the
movie in one really long bontage that you just thought,
I bet he's going to have to use that at
some point, And sure enough, he does. When he's in
the All Valley karate tournament at the end of the
(01:26):
movie and he's facing his nemesis from the Cobra Kai dojo, Johnny,
who's also the head bully of the group of kids
at school who was bullying Daniel San and the head
bully bully Chief, And there was an iconic scene whether
out trick or treating on Halloween, and Daniel and his
(01:47):
sweetheart are set upon by the Cobra Kai kids dressed
in skeleton sort of costumes, and they just absolutely whooped him.
And then and then in this karate tournament he had
to fight all of these kids one after another. And
then in the sort of penultimate fight, he gets his
leg hurt. It basically stuck on one leg and and
but even despite that, he's still beating Johnny in the
(02:09):
final and then the sense Cobra Kai Sense says to
Johnny the infamous line sweep the leg, and Johnny looks
conflicted because he knows it's not very ethical, but he said,
you know, you do what you said, do what I
told you to sweep the leg. And he's like, yes, sense,
and he goes out, sure enough, sweeps the leg. Daniels incapacitated.
You think he's out for all money, but no, he
(02:30):
can do the one legged crane kick. Think about it
should have been called the Flamingo. Who should because flamingos
are the ones that stand on one leg. Cranes have
two legs at the functional. Anyway, he does it, kicks
Johnny in the head, and he wins a tournament and
then also gets that kicked in the head. Obviously knocks
something straight in Johnny's mind because then he gives him
a begrudging respect. Good on your Daniels, you're not the
(02:51):
you lose that. I thought you weren't anyway.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
So then they made two more movies after that, Sorry
for the Bully hit two more movies after that, and
then there was a fourth movie didn't have Ralph Macchio
and had a girl, Karate Kid still had still had
mister Miyagi.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
And then there was a long break and then they
made a new Karate Kid a couple a few years ago,
now ten years ago, maybe starring Will Smith's kid Jaden Smith,
and it was set in China, and instead of mister Miyagi,
they had Jackie Chan playing Hahn, a kung fu master,
so it was more of a kung fu kid than
a karate kid anyway. And then all of a sudden,
(03:29):
now comes a new karate kid movie called Karate Kid Legends,
which technically is a standalone sequel to the Jackie Chan
Karate Kid movie because he's back. Jackie Chan is back,
and Ralph Macchio, the original karate Kid, is back, and
so you have a situation where you have Ralph Maccio
is now a karate sense Jackie Chan is obviously kung
(03:51):
fu sense. They joined forces to train a new karate
kid played by Ben Wang, who's name of the film
is Lee Fong, who's a kid who, like the original movie,
is a fish out of water. He's the new kid
in town, going from Beijing to New York City. Basically
it's the same storyline as the first movie. He is
he gets a little sweetheart who he's very very lamored of.
(04:15):
There's some bullies and the only way to get respect
is to go in a city wide, city wide karate tournament.
So it's basically very similar plot, and that side of
it is actually very fun. Ben Wang. The difference between
him and Ralph Macchio when he was a kid, Ben
(04:36):
Wang the young actor is actually amazing. He knows stuff.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
He knows stuff.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
So the fighting now fighting sequences are through the roof.
Instead of the crane kick, which literally any kid in
the playground could do back in the eighties, Ben Wang's
character does a dragon kick, which is a spinning, twisting
roundhouse kick, which he can actually do in real life.
And I promise you there is no kid in the
play any kid that attempts this. You know, parents got
(05:00):
the ambulance on Speeddalob Yeah. Yeah. And so there's a
great scene where he is, you know, training montage with
Jackie Chan and Ralph Mattio and Ben where he just gets,
you know, just just absolutely butt kicked by two legends,
and that's pretty fun. There's a side plot involving Joshua Jackson,
(05:20):
who's the dad of the girl, Pacy Creek, who is
he put a former champion boxer, and then bizally in
the middle of the film, he gets his own montage
for his own boxing tournament switch off, which is egregiously
unnecessary and probably it's a little fun, but it takes
away from the film. And if you can imagine, this
(05:42):
film had a very tough path to being successful. It
had to kind of pand it to the nostalgia trip
for the fans of the original movie. It also had
to peel to kids these days, and it's done that
by slick editing and kind of a you know, Spider
Man into the Spider Verse graphics on the screen, which
the fans from the nineteen eighties will be like, what
the heck am I watching right now? So it's trying
(06:03):
to be everything to everyone. It does a pretty good job,
surprisingly good job, just because mostly Jackie chan is just
so hilarious. Channer a god, he's fantastic. Ralph Macchio, who
actually interviewed for this movie, he's pretty good as well.
He looks like he's having a great time. But yeah,
so go into this don't expecting it to be amazing.
(06:26):
It's not terrible though, it's much better than the last
Jaden Smith Karate Kid movie, and like, I think young
kids will like it all right, Well, how many not?
Everybody was kung fu fightings, are you, I'm going to
give this three three very good brilliants.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Good to see man,
Great per flick with Beno. Well, Ben, good morning, good
morning in a while since some karate chops, I guess
a kid. Yes, yeah, well like the original the original
Karate Kid movie I never know. It's the original Karate
Kid came out in nineteen eighty four. Yeah, Daniel LaRusso,
(00:24):
Daniel San played by Ralph Matchio, who at the time
was a young kid. He'd never really done martial arts before,
and so they gave him sort of a crash course
in rehearsal before the movie. But it was that's why
some of the moves, you know, he's doing a lot
of wax on waxoft and a lot of painting the fence.
He's not doing a lot of roundhouse tends. And they
(00:44):
were all these they were all the incredible, incredible karate
learning techniques imparted to him by mister Miyagi played by
Pat Marita, the late great Pat Marina rip And So,
if you were a kid like me who grew up
in the nineteen eighties, I can promise you you were
in the playground of your primary school, you were doing
(01:04):
wax on wax off, you were paid of sense, and
you were one hundred percent Obviously, movie and you were
one hundred percent trying to do the crane kick, which
was the ultimate move that Daniel sn learned during the
movie in one really long bontage that you just thought,
I bet he's going to have to use that at
some point, And sure enough, he does. When he's in
the All Valley karate tournament at the end of the
(01:26):
movie and he's facing his nemesis from the Cobra Kai dojo, Johnny,
who's also the head bully of the group of kids
at school who was bullying Daniel San and the head
bully bully Chief, And there was an iconic scene whether
out trick or treating on Halloween, and Daniel and his
(01:47):
sweetheart are set upon by the Cobra Kai kids dressed
in skeleton sort of costumes, and they just absolutely whooped him.
And then and then in this karate tournament he had
to fight all of these kids one after another. And
then in the sort of penultimate fight, he gets his
leg hurt. It basically stuck on one leg and and
but even despite that, he's still beating Johnny in the
(02:09):
final and then the sense Cobra Kai Sense says to
Johnny the infamous line sweep the leg, and Johnny looks
conflicted because he knows it's not very ethical, but he said,
you know, you do what you said, do what I
told you to sweep the leg. And he's like, yes, sense,
and he goes out, sure enough, sweeps the leg. Daniels incapacitated.
You think he's out for all money, but no, he
(02:30):
can do the one legged crane kick. Think about it
should have been called the Flamingo. Who should because flamingos
are the ones that stand on one leg. Cranes have
two legs at the functional. Anyway, he does it, kicks
Johnny in the head, and he wins a tournament and
then also gets that kicked in the head. Obviously knocks
something straight in Johnny's mind because then he gives him
a begrudging respect. Good on your Daniels, you're not the
(02:51):
you lose that. I thought you weren't anyway.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
So then they made two more movies after that, Sorry
for the Bully hit two more movies after that, and
then there was a fourth movie didn't have Ralph Macchio
and had a girl, Karate Kid still had still had
mister Miyagi.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
And then there was a long break and then they
made a new Karate Kid a couple a few years ago,
now ten years ago, maybe starring Will Smith's kid Jaden Smith,
and it was set in China, and instead of mister Miyagi,
they had Jackie Chan playing Hahn, a kung fu master,
so it was more of a kung fu kid than
a karate kid anyway. And then all of a sudden,
(03:29):
now comes a new karate kid movie called Karate Kid Legends,
which technically is a standalone sequel to the Jackie Chan
Karate Kid movie because he's back. Jackie Chan is back,
and Ralph Macchio, the original karate Kid, is back, and
so you have a situation where you have Ralph Maccio
is now a karate sense Jackie Chan is obviously kung
(03:51):
fu sense. They joined forces to train a new karate
kid played by Ben Wang, who's name of the film
is Lee Fong, who's a kid who, like the original movie,
is a fish out of water. He's the new kid
in town, going from Beijing to New York City. Basically
it's the same storyline as the first movie. He is
he gets a little sweetheart who he's very very lamored of.
(04:15):
There's some bullies and the only way to get respect
is to go in a city wide, city wide karate tournament.
So it's basically very similar plot, and that side of
it is actually very fun. Ben Wang. The difference between
him and Ralph Macchio when he was a kid, Ben
(04:36):
Wang the young actor is actually amazing. He knows stuff.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
He knows stuff.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
So the fighting now fighting sequences are through the roof.
Instead of the crane kick, which literally any kid in
the playground could do back in the eighties, Ben Wang's
character does a dragon kick, which is a spinning, twisting
roundhouse kick, which he can actually do in real life.
And I promise you there is no kid in the
play any kid that attempts this. You know, parents got
(05:00):
the ambulance on Speeddalob Yeah. Yeah. And so there's a
great scene where he is, you know, training montage with
Jackie Chan and Ralph Mattio and Ben where he just gets,
you know, just just absolutely butt kicked by two legends,
and that's pretty fun. There's a side plot involving Joshua Jackson,
(05:20):
who's the dad of the girl, Pacy Creek, who is
he put a former champion boxer, and then bizally in
the middle of the film, he gets his own montage
for his own boxing tournament switch off, which is egregiously
unnecessary and probably it's a little fun, but it takes
away from the film. And if you can imagine, this
(05:42):
film had a very tough path to being successful. It
had to kind of pand it to the nostalgia trip
for the fans of the original movie. It also had
to peel to kids these days, and it's done that
by slick editing and kind of a you know, Spider
Man into the Spider Verse graphics on the screen, which
the fans from the nineteen eighties will be like, what
the heck am I watching right now? So it's trying
(06:03):
to be everything to everyone. It does a pretty good job,
surprisingly good job, just because mostly Jackie chan is just
so hilarious. Channer a god, he's fantastic. Ralph Macchio, who
actually interviewed for this movie, he's pretty good as well.
He looks like he's having a great time. But yeah,
so go into this don't expecting it to be amazing.
(06:26):
It's not terrible though, it's much better than the last
Jaden Smith Karate Kid movie, and like, I think young
kids will like it all right, Well, how many not?
Everybody was kung fu fightings, are you, I'm going to
give this three three very good brilliants.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Good to see man,
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