For more than 40 years, the Karate Kid franchise has entertained fans with a four-film series, a remake-spinoff, and a TV show continuation. Now, the two best-reviewed movies of the bunch are crossing over for Karate Kid: Legends, with original star Ralph Macchio and the 2010 version’s Jackie Chan uniting to train the next martial arts hero, played by Ben Wang. The initial reception for the new installment is mixed, but most agree that it lives up to its past while making a star to watch out of Wang. Also, everyone seems to love Chan and Macchio together.
Here’s what critics are saying about Karate Kid: Legends:
Legends can hold its head as one of the best installments so far, better than Karate Kid (2010), but nothing on Karate Kid (1984).
— Jack Shepherd, Total Film
As far as Karate Kid movies go, this one can’t match the surprisingly elegant characterization of the first movie, but at 94 crisply paced minutes, it’s less distended than the shockingly overlong 2010 remake, and feels less obligatory than the old Macchio sequels.
— Jesse Hassenger, Paste Magazine
Karate Kid: Legends is a sensational sequel, building on the classic underdog framework of the original 1984 Karate Kid movie, while working in fresh fun, familiar faces, and a dazzling new talent.
— Kristy Puchko, Mashable
This is a fun, breezy adventure that nests right into the world of Karate Kid and largely delivers on the action, laughs, and heart fans love about the IP.
— Ben Wasserman, CBR
While the team-up may be fun for fans of previous Karate Kid movies and Cobra Kai, it also misses the emotional core of these coming-of-age stories.
— Matt Goldberg, The Wrap
[It] adds nothing original to the formula. It’s a formula that works, to be sure, making for a pleasant enough time filler. But that’s about it.
— Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter
Neither as fun as the early seasons of Cobra Kai nor as effective as the 2010 reboot, Karate Kid: Legends relies heavily on franchise favourites while bringing nothing new to the party.
— Tara Brady, Irish Times
Between the first couple of seasons of Cobra Kai and now Legends, The Karate Kid is the rare franchise that can boast one of the very best legacyquels as well as one of the worst.
— Matt Singer, Screen Crush
The movie grows out of that show’s ebullient spirit.
— Owen Gleiberman, Variety
Much like Cobra Kai, Legends has a bit more to say beyond revisiting some Crane Kicking hits.
— Ben Wasserman, CBR
For anyone who’s seen Cobra Kai, [this has] a familiar format, echoing how LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence tried to teach their students both Miyagi-do and Eagle Fang.
— Jack Shepherd, Total Film
Karate Kid: Legends ignores essentially all the events of Cobra Kai… Fans hoping Karate Kid: Legends will continue its storyline in some way should adjust their expectations accordingly.
— Matt Singer, Screen Crush
The plot is a “paint by the numbers,” generic story…It is also a stereotypical, “feel good” movie where one roots for the underdog and isn’t disappointed in the end.
— Allison Rose, FlickDirect
So simple, so unironic, so cheesy-sincere, so analog that you may feel it transporting you right back to the “innocence” of the ’80s. And that’s the best thing about Karate Kid: Legends.
— Owen Gleiberman, Variety
This is a surprisingly self-contained story all about Li, and a darn good one at that.
— Aidan Kelley, Collider
Turning the formula on its head where the young person will train an older person is a nice twist that still adheres to the standard beats of learning martial arts as material necessity and personal growth.
— Matt Goldberg, The Wrap
Karate Kid: Legends is like the IKEA instruction booklet for making a Karate Kid movie: a marvel of abbreviated, gestural storytelling that should be taught in schools as an example of what a perfectly structured script looks like.
— Walter Chaw, Film Freak Central
This latest installment goes way beyond recycling the basic premise… They might as well have called it Karate Kid: Déjà Vu.
— Matt Singer, Screen Crush
The plot is just awful, crammed with so many cliches that you’re barely done chuckling at one before another kicks you in the head.
— Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter
Older audiences will reminisce about watching Macchio play the Karate Kid. In comparison, younger audiences will enjoy the story and Ben Wang’s skills as an actor and martial artist.
— Allison Rose, FlickDirect
It’s certainly a crowd-pleasing film that will make you feel good all the way through, no matter how long you’ve been with the franchise.
— Mae Abdulbaki, Screen Rant
Setting the movie years after Cobra Kai certainly helps sell the movie to casual fans, allowing them to get into the story without having to cram six seasons of television into their heads in advance.
— Ben Wasserman, CBR
The movie ultimately chooses to work for its young audience more than its potentially nostalgic (or puzzled) parents.
— Jesse Hassenger, Paste Magazine
Karate Kid: Legends [is] a movie that understands its identity but still feels forced to cater to older fans in a way that neglects how well the film works for its target audience of younger viewers.
— Matt Goldberg, The Wrap
Starting off with a clip from 1986’s The Karate Kid Part II… there are numerous callbacks to past installments, and the end credits feature a cameo by one more franchise veteran.
— Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter
Karate Kid: Legends is a movie that, for better and worse, doesn’t let up, offering you no chance to catch a breath.
— Jack Shepherd, Total Film
At a cool hour and 34 minutes, the film understands what it means to keep a story tight and moving.
— Mae Abdulbaki, Screen Rant
Working in Karate Kid: Legends‘ favor is how it’s cut and paced a lot like Jeff Rowe’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. It’s jaunty and light.
— Walter Chaw, Film Freak Central
The moment Daniel LaRusso is introduced, Karate Kid: Legends begins sprinting towards its closing moments at a jarring, breakneck pace.
— Aidan Kelley, Collider
Legends barely lasts 90 minutes, and it often feels like it’s been severely truncated in the editing room until all that remained were the training montages and fight scenes.
— Matt Singer, Screen Crush
The fight scenes are well-choreographed and entertaining.
— Mae Abdulbaki, Screen Rant
For those who are fans of action sequences and especially Karate and Kung Fu, they should especially be pleased with what first-time feature film director Jonathan Entwistle has done to showcase the art form.
— Allison Rose, FlickDirect
[The movie is] designed to give you that “This is not your father’s Ralph Macchio fairy tale!” feeling.
— Owen Gleiberman, Variety
There’s some brilliant choreography on display, especially during one back-alley brawl that sees Li take on a bunch of ruffians. Yet, other fights are cut too fast, and some fancy camera work stops certain hits from having the impact they should.
— Jack Shepherd, Total Film
The fight sequences in Karate Kid: Legends can occasionally feel over-edited with one too many cuts and some creatively distracting animated additions, but on the whole, the fight choreography and stunt-work on display feels more elaborate than any of the prior films.
— Aidan Kelley, Collider
The fights are well-done, but nowhere near as crazy as what people saw on the Netflix series.
— Ben Wasserman, CBR
The fight choreography is passable but never impressive, and an over-reliance on shaky quick cuts drains out some much needed physicality. It doesn’t help that there’s surprisingly few of them.
— Wilson Chapman, IndieWire
It is incredibly funny with plenty of laugh-out-loud moments that land at the right place and at the right time.
— Allison Rose, FlickDirect
Karate Kid: Legends had me laughing.
— Kristy Puchko, Mashable
Ben Wang is a great new lead for this series, not just for some stellar martial arts skills, but also for his almost effortless charisma and lovable personality.
— Aidan Kelley, Collider
He’s lithe and captivating.
— Owen Gleiberman, Variety
The young actor exudes an electric, everyman appeal.
— Ben Truitt, USA Today
Wang is excellent not only as an actor but as a student of martial arts.
— Allison Rose, FlickDirect
Wang carries on Chan’s legacy by performing action skillfully while being funny.
— Kristy Puchko, Mashable
An early fight sequence positions Wang to be an able inheritor of Chan’s prop-heavy, comedic, hero-who-gets-hurt style, and he himself is a charming, effortless sort with a touch of ineffable star power.
— Walter Chaw, Film Freak Central
There’s a natural charisma and vulnerability to Wang that lends itself well to Li’s journey… He’s also got a bit of an edge that, like Daniel in the original Karate Kid, defies the usual tropes of a picked-on teenage protagonist.
— Ben Wasserman, CBR
Watching them spar with Wang and each other is a treat to behold. There is a joy in watching them on screen together that audiences, young and old, will love.
— Allison Rose, FlickDirect
This tag-team of combat gurus turns out to be an ace comedy team.
— Owen Gleiberman, Variety
The few moments where Han and LaRusso bicker over how to teach Li are highlights, albeit underutilized ones.
— Aidan Kelley, Collider
When Chan and Macchio share the screen, it is an absolute joy… It’s such a fun dynamic that you cannot help but partly begrudge the writers for not giving Chan and Macchio more to do.
— Jack Shepherd, Total Film
Sadie Stanley… acts with an eagerly ingenuous personality that feels entirely pre-social media, to the point that she evokes the Ally Sheedy of WarGames. (Yes, that’s a high compliment; keep an eye out for Sadie Stanley.)
— Owen Gleiberman, Variety
Though he’s in a minor role, Wyatt Oleff is a scene-stealer as Alan, Li’s tutor.
— Mae Abdulbaki, Screen Rant
Like William Zabka back in the day, Knight nicely inhabits the unstoppable karate villain role, though the movie begs to spend a little more time with him.
— Ben Truitt, USA Today
The film’s villains are a bit of a low point… one-dimensional even by Karate Kid standards.
— Aidan Kelley, Collider
Connor and O’Shea feel like afterthoughts in a way other Karate Kid antagonists didn’t, albeit for more over-the-top reasons pre-Cobra Kai.
— Ben Wasserman, CBR
Karate Kid: Legends opens in theaters on May 30, 2025.
