''The Next Karate Kid'' is a 1994 American

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; a ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

, and the fourth installment in ''The Karate Kid'' franchise, following ''

The Karate Kid Part III ''The Karate Kid Part III'' is a 1989 American martial arts drama film, the third entry in the ''Karate Kid'' franchise and a sequel to ''The Karate Kid Part II'' (1986). It stars Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita, Robyn Lively, and Thomas Ian Griffith ...

'' (1989). It stars

Hilary Swank Hilary Ann Swank (born July 30, 1974) is an American actress and film producer. She first became known in 1992 for her role on the television series '' Camp Wilder'' and made her film debut with a minor role in ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' (1992 ...

as Julie Pierce (in her first theatrical appearance in a starring role) and

Pat Morita Noriyuki "Pat" Morita (June 28, 1932 – November 24, 2005) was an American actor and comedian. He was known for his roles as Matsuo "Arnold" Takahashi on ''Happy Days'', Mr. Miyagi in ''The Karate Kid'' film series, Captain Sam Pak on the sitco ...

Mr. Miyagi Mr. Miyagi (June 9, 1925 – November 15, 2011) is a fictional character in the original films (1984-1994) of the ''Karate Kid'' franchise. He is a karate master (portrayed by Pat Morita) who mentors Daniel LaRusso and Julie Pierce. Although he ...

. ''The Next Karate Kid'' was directed by

Christopher Cain Christopher Cain (born October 29, 1943) is an American director, screenwriter, and producer. Cain was born in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. In 1969, he married Sharon Thomas, and adopted her two sons, Roger and Dean. The couple's daughter Krisin ...

, written by Mark Lee, produced by

Jerry Weintraub Jerome Charles "Jerry" Weintraub (September 26, 1937 – July 6, 2015) was an American film producer, talent manager and actor whose television films won him three Emmys. He began his career as a talent agent, having managed relatively unknown ...

, and with music by

Bill Conti William Conti (born April 13, 1942) is an American composer and conductor, best known for his film scores, including ''Rocky'' (and four of its sequels), ''The Karate Kid'' (and all of its sequels), '' For Your Eyes Only'', ''Dynasty'' (and its ...

. It is the first film in the series not to feature

Ralph Macchio Ralph George Macchio Jr. ( ; born November 4, 1961) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Daniel LaRusso in three ''Karate Kid'' films and in ''Cobra Kai'', a sequel television series. He also played Johnny Cade in '' The Outsiders' ...

in the lead role as

Daniel LaRusso Daniel LaRusso is a fictional character in the '' Karate Kid'' franchise. He is the main protagonist of the Karate Kid film trilogy and one of the main characters in its spin-off series ''Cobra Kai''. He is portrayed by Ralph Macchio. Overview ...

, and was released on September 9, 1994.

Plot

travels to

Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...

for a commendation for

Japanese-Americans are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 census, they have declined in number to constitute the sixth largest Asi ...

who fought in the

442nd Regimental Combat Team The 442nd Infantry Regiment ( ja, 第442歩兵連隊) was an infantry regiment of the United States Army. The regiment is best known as the most decorated in U.S. military history and as a fighting unit composed almost entirely of second-gene ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He meets Louisa Pierce, the widow of his commanding officer Jack Pierce, and they both listen to the opening speech given by Senator Daniel Inouye. At Pierce's home in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, they catch up. Miyagi is also introduced to Pierce's granddaughter,

Julie Julie may refer to: * Julie (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the name Film and television * ''Julie'' (1956 film), an American film noir starring Doris Day * ''Julie'' (1975 film), a Hindi film by K. S. Sethumadhava ...

, a teen struggling with anger issues due to her parents' death in a car accident. Her behavior has led to friction between Julie and her grandmother, along with her fellow students and teachers. She sneaks into the school at night to care for an injured

Harris's hawk The Harris's hawk (''Parabuteo unicinctus''), formerly known as the bay-winged hawk, dusky hawk, and sometimes a wolf hawk, and known in Latin America as peuco, is a medium-large bird of prey that breeds from the southwestern United States south ...

named "Angel", which she keeps in a pigeon coop on the roof. Miyagi invites Louisa to stay at his house in Los Angeles to enjoy peace and quiet tending his garden while he remains in Boston as Julie's caretaker. At school, Julie meets and befriends Eric McGowen, a teenage security guard-in-training and a pledge for a shady school security

fraternity A fraternity (from Latin language, Latin ''wiktionary:frater, frater'': "brother (Christian), brother"; whence, "wiktionary:brotherhood, brotherhood") or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club (organization), club or fraternal ...

, the Alpha Elite. The members are taught to enforce the school rules, mostly using physical force, by a self-styled colonel, Paul Dugan. His toughest and most aggressive student is the short-fused Ned Randall, who makes unwelcome sexual advances upon Julie. When Julie survives almost being hit by a car by jumping into a tiger position, she finally learns to confide in Miyagi when he recognizes her skill. She reveals she was taught karate by her father, who learned from her grandfather, Miyagi's student. While trying to feed Angel one night, Julie is detected by the Alpha Elite who chase her through the school. Although she escapes them, she is arrested by the police and gets suspended for two weeks by Dugan. Miyagi uses this time to take Julie to a

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

to teach her the true ways of karate and how to handle her anger issues. Julie learns through direct lessons about balance, coordination, awareness and respect for all life. She befriends the monks, who eventually have a birthday party for her, giving her a cake and an arrow that Miyagi had caught in mid-flight in a demonstration of Zen archery. They also concede to her wish that they visit her in Boston, where they go bowling with Miyagi. A local player challenges them, loses the match, and accepts their tutelage in how to bowl a strike blind. Upon returning to school, Julie discovers that Angel was found by Ned who called animal control. Miyagi assists Julie in releasing the bird back to the wild, using the pain suppression technique from the first film to heal her broken wing. In preparation for the

prom A promenade dance, commonly called a prom, is a dance party for high school students. It may be offered in semi-formal black tie or informal suit for boys, and evening gowns for girls. This event is typically held near the end of the school yea ...

, Miyagi teaches Julie how to dance, and buys her a dress. Julie goes to the prom with Eric, but under Dugan's orders, the Alpha Elite bungee jump in. When one of the members breaks his arm, Eric shows concern, but Ned tells him to stay out of it. Eric drives Julie home and kisses her. Ned follows them and smashes the windows of Eric's car with a baseball bat. Ned challenges him to a fight at the docks, and is joined there by Dugan and the Alpha Elite. They set fire to Eric's car and severely beat him, but he is saved by Julie and Miyagi. Ned tries to grab Julie, but she challenges him to a fight. She holds her own, using the karate she has learned, even when Ned throws sand in her face. Julie defeats Ned and turns her back on him. Dugan bullies the rest of the group to continue the fight, but they refuse. Miyagi challenges Dugan to fight and wins, leading the Alpha Elite to abandon him. The film concludes with Angel flying freely above the water.

Cast

* Noriyuki "Pat" Morita as

as Julie Pierce *

Michael Ironside Frederick Reginald Ironside (born February 12, 1950), known as Michael Ironside, is a Canadian actor, producer, director, and screenwriter. He is known for playing villains and "tough guy" heroes, and has also portrayed sympathetic characters. E ...

as Colonel Paul Dugan *

Constance Towers Constance Mary Towers (born May 20, 1933) is an American film, stage, and television actress, and singer. She gained prominence for her appearances in several mainstream 1950s films before transitioning to theater, starring in numerous Broadway ...

as Louisa Pierce * Chris Conrad as Eric McGowen * Arsenio 'Sonny' Trinidad as Abbot Monk * Michael Cavalieri as Ned Randall *

Walton Goggins Walton Sanders Goggins Jr. (born November 10, 1971) is an American actor. He has starred in a number of television series, including ''The Shield'' (2002–2008), '' Justified'' (2010–2015), ''Vice Principals'' (2016–2017), ''The Righteous ...

as Charlie * Senator Daniel Inouye as Himself (cameo) *

Frank Welker Franklin Wendell Welker (born March 12, 1946) is an American voice actor. He began his career in the 1960s, and holds over 860 film, television, and video game credits as of 2022, making him one of the most prolific voice actors of all time. With ...

as Angel the Hawk (voice)

Reception

''The Next Karate Kid'' was critically panned upon release in 1994, although many critics praised Swank’s performance, and it is still considered to be her breakout role. At the

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, it holds an approval of 7% with an average score of 3.70/10 based on 27 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads: "''The Next Karate Kid'' is noteworthy for giving audiences the chance to see a pre-Oscars Hilary Swank, but other than a typically solid performance from Pat Morita, this unnecessary fourth installment in the franchise has very little to offer". On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 36 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by

CinemaScore CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data. Background Ed Mintz founded Ci ...

gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale. ''The Next Karate Kid'' was the least successful movie of the series at the domestic box office. The total box office gross for ''The Next Karate Kid'' was $8.9 million ($16.71 million when adjusted for 2021 inflation), compared to $90.8 million ($247.27 million in 2021) for the original, $115.1 million ($274.72 million in 2021) for ''Part II'', $38.9 million ($80.75 million in 2021) for ''Part III'', and $171.8 million ($217.01 million in 2021) for the 2010 ''Karate Kid.''

Year-end lists

* Dishonorable mention – Dan Craft, ''

The Pantagraph ''The Pantagraph'' is a daily newspaper that serves Bloomington–Normal, Illinois, along with 60 communities and eight counties in the Central Illinois area. Its headquarters are in Bloomington and it is owned by Lee Enterprises. The name is d ...

Home media

The film was released on DVD on August 28, 2001. A manufacture-on-demand Blu-ray release was released on September 6, 2016, as part of Sony's Choice Collection. It was later reissued as a "double feature" Blu-ray with ''

'' by Mill Creek Entertainment on January 8, 2019.

References

External links

Official trailer
* * * *
How Julie Pierce Paved The Way - Character Analysis/Theory
April 30, 2021 {{DEFAULTSORT:Next Karate Kid, The 1990s action drama films 1990s teen drama films 1994 drama films 1994 films 1994 martial arts films American coming-of-age films American martial arts films American teen drama films American teen films American sequel films Columbia Pictures films 1990s English-language films Films about school bullying Films directed by Christopher Cain Films scored by Bill Conti Films set in 1994 Films set in Boston Films shot in Massachusetts Karate films The Karate Kid (franchise) films 1990s American films