After overcoming the odds to become a champion, Daniel decides to accompany Miyagi to Okinawa who is off to pay his respects to his ailing father. When his father passes away, Miyagi is given a short time to mourn, before fighting his old rival, Sato. Meanwhile, Daniel falls in love and rubs Sato's nephew the wrong way to the point where they may have to fight to death. Karate Kid was far from original, but it's a classic for a reason. It's the ultimate underdog story of a regular Joe overcoming the odds to achieve greatness. In many ways, I think it's the teenage equivalent to Rocky. Everything about it rang true. As entertaining as this sequel is, it feels pretty contrived. The freshness is no longer there and I didn't get the same allure or that "special" feeling. That being said, this is pretty good for a sequel. I've seen it about 5 times, so obviously I liked it. It certainly knows how to tug on your heart-strings. The culture in Okinawa made for an intense experience. Their beliefs are entirely different from others. I didn't necessarily agree with it, but they truly believed in it. They believe there is honor in fighting to the death, while I think that is too extreme. Watching Daniel adapt to the lifestyle in Japan is engaging to watch. Miyagi and Sato's issues rivet me. It's genuinely emotional and always manages to move me. The performances are top-notch. Macchio is excellent once more as Daniel. Watching him evolve is fun to watch. You can see his confidence growing as well. Pat Morita is his match as Miyagi. His immaculate chemistry with Macchio is the key to this sequel. There is a lot of good stuff in this sequel, but they always make things livelier. Danny Kamekona's intensity knows no bounds. His performance as Sato is a memorable one. Yuji Okumoto plays one of the most despicable characters to ever grace the screen as Chozen. The final fight scene with him and Daniel will get your adrenaline going. Tamlyn Tomita is cute as Kumiko, but I wasn't all that into her romance with Daniel. To be honest, I was incensed at how quickly they dropped the romance, with Daniel and Ali. Am I really supposed to believe that a woman of strong character like Ali would suddenly fall in love with a UCLA football player and just dump him like that? Ali was nowhere near that shallow. It's lazy writing at its finest and screams of "We weren't able to get her back for the sequel"I really enjoy this sequel for the most part. It's not as genuine and I do have some issues with it, but it's really well done. As long as you don't expect the original, you should be entertained. 7.5/10

The first Karate Kid film - which was extraordinary - had a lot of little elements which American teenagers could relate to. This sequel does not. But it has some other good aspects that work in a different way.The basic story is that Miyagi learns his father is dying in Japan, so decides to travel there and see him one final time. Daniel decides to accompany Miyagi, partially to study Japanese cultures, but also to spend time with his friend Miyagi. When arriving in Japan, Miyagi runs into a childhood friend who later turned into his enemy, Sato, who holds a lifelong grudge against Miyagi for stealing his girlfriend as a teenager. Sato wants to arrange a fight to death against Miyagi, but is willing to wait until the death and mourning of Miyagi's father, out of respect. During this time, Daniel meets Sato's nephew Chozen (a Karate expert about Daniel's age) and major tension starts between the two of them. Also, Daniel meets a girl his age named Kumiko, and romance is started between them.This movie has some beautiful scenery (although not really filmed in Japan, but Hawaii), some interesting words of wisdom from Miyagi, good music, strong performances, and decently choreographed fight scenes. I also enjoyed the story, I'd just note that - unlike the first movie - this movie is really more about Miyagi than Daniel.But as a fan of the first movie, I really liked Elisabeth Shue's character, Ali, in the first movie, and wish she could have been included in this. I don't think Kumiko is as interesting a character as Ali, nor is her chemistry as strong with Daniel... The writers should have been able to think of some way to include her. Maybe Ali could have come to Japan to study Japanese cultures with Daniel? And spend time with her boyfriend? That's just my quick idea of how she could have been included in this movie. But it's too bad she wasn't.In summary, I'd say if you really enjoyed the first movie, and grew fond of the two main characters (Daniel and Miyagi), then you'll enjoy seeing them together in a different interesting story (as long as you don't expect this to be equally as good as the first). But if you did not love watching the chemistry between them in the first film, then it's highly unlikely you'd enjoy this one any better.

Whatever you may have seen in your life or even whatever you will see in the future, I can predict that no movie will ever give you the same feeling as this. This is one of the most enjoyable romps I have seen. An excellent and difficult production, bolstered by great performances. Wonderful movie, and I should know, I practically grew up on it. I much enjoyed this film, mostly because of the convincing characters. Certainly the characterizations are shallow and quickly changeable, often for little or no reason. As social commentary I give it a nine; for story and acting a six. It's worth seeing for some inventive uses of cinema.

Inferior to its predecessor "The Karate Kid - Part II" offers more of the same but with less enthusiasm. Miyagi's (played by the amazing Pat Morita) lessons are powerful as ever, always the great treat for the series are probably the main reason why this sequel doesn't suck. Other than that, Daniel (Ralph Macchio) is irritating sometimes and the location setting wasn't much interesting to see worked on a plot. It starts where the first ended with Daniel's triumph over his rival (Johnny Lawrence), and there's a bit of duel between Miyagi and the other guy's master (high point of the film). However, Miyagi is informed that his father is dying and he needs to go back to Japan to see him. What propels this simple visit to become frightening to the veteran master is two pending issues: to see again the woman he loved (Nobu McCarthy) but left behind and his best friend Sato (Danny Kamekona) turned into enemy since both loved the same woman. While the conflict between this two longtime friends starts and delays over and over, the guy's nephew (Yuji Okumoto) decides to torment Daniel just for the fun of it and to cause more and more trouble to the recent arrivals in town. Daniel's love interest (Elisabeth Shue) traded him for a football player but this time he has the company of a lovely girl (Tamlyn Tomita). Although this was filled with some idiotic dumb moments and lines (the word 'coward' is used so often that it becomes quite laughable after a while) and a painfully slow progression of events (almost a snooze, gotta be honest), this manages to succeed even after all these years being an afternoon's classic flick to many kids out there, still hasn't lost its charm. There's something about its essence that makes it a timeless film, for all ages and with many admirable things to teach. But can't say I enjoy much the violent overturn at the ending, looked completely overworked and out of place, or to endure Bill Conti's soundtrack, quite a sleeper even though it was appropriate to present a different culture. Saved by "Glory of Love" Oscar nominated song and main reason of why we don't forget this film every time this plays on the radio or elsewhere. The drama is well tied-up together, greatly presented in its saddest parts, the few adventure sequences are brilliantly created - notably the breaking the ice scene, despite the ridiculous shift of events with Daniel criticizing the guys doing wrong and then he chicken out and says he can't do it. In comparison with the first episode I think this lost in humored moments, it was too serious. Overall, it stands out as a good movie but never makes the full circle for the loyal fans of the genre and the series. 8/10