History YMMV / TheKarateKid

** ''Glory of Love'' would've been a super ultra narmy and cheesy love song that TastesLikeDiabetes... if it wasn't performed by a pro like Peter Cetera, who makes it really charming.

** BillConti's score deserves mention also. Including the main theme derived from Survivor's "Moment of Truth." Survivor had the freakin' market ''cornered'' on rousing 80's anthems.

* NarmCharm: ''Glory of Love'' would've been a super ultra narmy and cheesy love song that TastesLikeDiabetes... if it wasn't performed by a pro like Peter Cetera, who makes it really charming.

* {{Sequelitis}}[=/=]ToughActToFollow: The third movie, common complaints involving that Ralph started to show his age, and the fact that [[ItsTheSameSoItSucks it was a rehash of the first movie]].

* {{Sequelitis}}[=/=]ToughActToFollow: The third movie, common complaints involving that Ralph started to show his age, and the fact that it was a rehash of the first movie.

* HamAndCheese: Thomas Ian Griffith as Terry Silver. He's one physical deformity away from being a ''WesternAnimation/{{Captain Planet|AndThePlaneteers}}'' villain. Or a Bond Villain.

** Mr. Miyagi is the real main character of the film series. Community even theorized that The Karate Kid was a story about Mr. Miyagi than about Daniel.

** RogerEbert found Thomas Ian Griffith as Terry Silver's over the top performance the best and most redeeming quality of the third movie.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Mr. Miyagi is the real main character of the film series. Community even theorized that The Karate Kid was a story about Mr. Miyagi than about Daniel.

* HamAndCheese: Thomas Ian Griffith as Terry Silver. He's one physical deformity away from being a ''WesternAnimation/{{Captain Planet|AndThePlaneteers}}'' villain.
** Or a Bond Villain.

!! [=YMMVs=] for the 2010 remake:
* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic:
** About midway through the film, a Mandarin version of "Dirty Harry" by Gorillaz can be heard. Commence scooping up the pieces of your mind now.
** The score is by JamesHorner, that's right, the same guy who scored ''Film/{{Avatar}}'', ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime'', ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail'', ''Film/{{Titanic}}'', and ''Film/{{Willow}}''.
** They snuck the Music/RedHotChiliPeppers' cover version of Music/StevieWonder's "Higher Ground" into the tournament montage.
* CriticalResearchFailure Dre plays a mean VideoGame/{{D|anceDanceRevolution}}DR. Mei Ying then proceeds to beat him, by standing away from the screen, facing Dre, and focusing on upper body dancing. Completely disregarding the fact the way D D R works is that you follow the instructions on the screen. So unless she knows the song ''backwards'' and ''blind'' there is no way she could've gotten a high score. That said, RealityIsUnrealistic. There are plenty of videos of people playing DDR blindfolded that are a quick search away, and playing in a turned-around position wouldn't be that far-fetched if she was really that familiar with the song. Given, that probably happened to be the one song she had totally down in that way on the game, but it's far from impossible if someone really good at the game cared to put the work in.
* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct:
** Jackie Chan plays a dramatic role surprisingly well.
** Fans initially scoffed when they heard that Jaden Smith was playing the Daniel-san {{expy}}, accusing WillSmith of nepotism. However, Jaden's performance was also praised.
* ToyShip: Both Dre and his crush Mei Ying are around 12 years old.

* TookALevelInJerkass: Daniel, while having his share of flaws, was still likable enough. Which is why it was baffling to see how the first and second act of the third movie took away every quality that made the audience want to cheer for him. Thankfully he came to his senses during the final portion of the movie.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Mr. Miyagi is the real main character of the film series.

* CriticalResearchFailure Dre plays a mean VideoGame/{{D|anceDanceRevolution}}DR. Mei Ying then proceeds to beat him, by standing away from the screen, facing Dre, and focussing on upper body dancing. Completely disregarding the fact the way D D R works is that you follow the instructions on the screen. So unless she knows the song ''backwards'' and ''blind'' there is no way she could've gotten a high score. That said, RealityIsUnrealistic. There are plenty of videos of people playing DDR blindfolded that are a quick search away, and playing in a turned-around position wouldn't be that far-fetched if she was really that familiar with the song. Given, that probably happened to be the one song she had totally down in that way on the game, but it's far from impossible if someone really good at the game cared to put the work in.

** John Kreese came off pretty unsympathetic when he nearly choked his own student to death over [[SoreLoser losing a]] [[DisproportionateRetribution karate tournament.]]

* FanDiscontinuity: Fans of the second film could just view it as the GrandFinale of the Karate Kid franchise while ignoring the rest that follows completely.

* RootingForTheEmpire: Searching on youtube you'd be surprised to find fan edits that have Johnny Lawrence winning the Karate Tournament instead of Daniel.

** The score is by JamesHorner, that's right, the same guy who scored ''Film/{{Avatar}}'', ''TheLandBeforeTime'', ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail'', ''Film/{{Titanic}}'', and ''Film/{{Willow}}''.

* CriticalResearchFailure Dre plays a mean [[VideoGame/DanceDanceRevolution DDR]]. Mei Ying then proceeds to beat him, by standing away from the screen, facing Dre, and focussing on upper body dancing. Completely disregarding the fact the way D D R works is that you follow the instructions on the screen. So unless she knows the song ''backwards'' and ''blind'' there is no way she could've gotten a high score. That said, RealityIsUnrealistic. There are plenty of videos of people playing DDR blindfolded that are a quick search away, and playing in a turned-around position wouldn't be that far-fetched if she was really that familiar with the song. Given, that probably happened to be the one song she had totally down in that way on the game, but it's far from impossible if someone really good at the game cared to put the work in.

** John Kreese came off pretty unsympathetic when he proceeded to choke his own student to death over [[SoreLoser losing a]] [[DisproportionateRetribution karate tournament.]]

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: "You're the best, around, nothing's ever gonna keep you down!"

* HamAndCheese: Thomas Ian Griffith as Terry Silver. He's one physical deformity away from being a ''WesternAnimation/{{Captain Planet|AndThePlaneteers}}'' villain.
* MoralEventHorizon: Chozen crosses this by refusing to help Daniel save a child's life during a storm. Just in case nobody got it, in the finale he holds a knife to Kumiko's throat and [[WouldHitAGirl punches her lights out]].

* ItsTheSameNowItSucks: The general complaints concerning the third movie, especially after the well received second movie.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: About midway through the film, a Mandarin version of "Dirty Harry" by Gorillaz can be heard. Commence scooping up the pieces of your mind now.

* CriticalResearchFailure Dre plays a mean [[VideoGame/DanceDanceRevolution DDR]]. Mei Ying then proceeds to beat him, by standing away from the screen, facing Dre, and focussing on upper body dancing. Completely disregarding the fact the way D D R works is that you follow the instructions on the screen. So unless she knows the song ''backwards'' and ''blind'' there is no way she could've gotten a high score.
** That said, RealityIsUnrealistic. There are plenty of videos of people playing DDR blindfolded that are a quick search away, and playing in a turned-around position wouldn't be that far-fetched if she was really that familiar with the song. Given, that probably happened to be the one song she had totally down in that way on the game, but it's far from impossible if someone really good at the game cared to put the work in.
* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: Jackie Chan plays a dramatic role surprisingly well.

** They snuck the RedHotChiliPeppers' cover version of StevieWonder's "Higher Ground" into the tournament montage.

* CriticalResearchFailure Dre plays a mean [[VideoGame/DanceDanceRevolution DDR]]. Mei Ying then proceeds to beat him, by standing away from the screen, facing Dre, and focussing on upper body dancing. Completely disregarding the fact the way D D R works is that you follow the instructions on the screen. So unless she knows the song ''backwards'' and ''blind'' there is no way she could've gotten a high score.
** That said, RealityIsUnrealistic. There are plenty of videos of people playing DDR blindfolded that are a quick search away, and playing in a turned-around position wouldn't be that far-fetched if she was really that familiar with the song. Given, that probably happened to be the one song she had totally down in that way on the game, but it's far from impossible if someone really good at the game cared to put the work in.

* HamAndCheese: Thomas Ian Griffith as Terry Silver. He's one physical deformity away from being a CaptainPlanet villain.

* CriticalResearchFailure Dre plays a mean [[VideoGame/DanceDanceRevolution DDR]]. Mei Ying then proceeds to beat him, by standing away from the screen, facing Dre, and focussing on upper body dancing. Completely disregarding the fact the way D D R works is that you follow the instructions on the screen. So unless she knows the song ''backwards'' and ''blind'' there is no way she could've gotten a high score.
** That said, RealityIsUnrealistic. There are plenty of videos of people playing DDR blindfolded that are a quick search away, and playing in a turned-around position wouldn't be that far-fetched if she was really that familiar with the song. Given, that probably happened to be the one song she had totally down in that way on the game, but it's far from impossible if someone really good at the game cared to put the work in.