AaronCapenBanner Strange, utterly needless sequel has Pat Morita returning one last time as Mr. Miyagi. Set several years after Part III, Daniel is off on his own, leaving Miyagi free to instruct another troubled teenager, this time a woman, played by Hillary Swank, who is the granddaughter of his old commanding officer, who is being terrorized in her school by(you guessed it!) bullying martial arts/military cadet students(led by the dependable Michael Ironside) Plot is utterly predictable and uninspired; Miyagi's story was tied to Daniel's so having him instruct this girl is incongruous; it just didn't involve the viewer. Though not as silly as Part III, this is still not credible either, and marks an unfitting end to a story best left alone.

Robert When the third came out, I knew they would soon run out of steam. But then I saw the fourth and changed my mind just a little. The Karate Kid 2 managed to entertain me enough without making it seem like the fourth attempt to keep milking the original.In this fourth installment, the boy has left and in place is a girl. She's a teenager and has lost her parents so her attitude and mood are affected by that. However, when the great karate master in the past three films comes to "babysit" for a while, things get tense.At first the girl is annoyed by him as she was her aunt (I believe), however after much time and a trip to see Monks, the girl soon becomes happy. Soon she gets a date to prom and then of course, things get crazy! But that's for you to find out!Anyway, I rate this 7/10.

Jackson Booth-Millard It had been five years since the third film in the original trilogy, but for some reason they felt like another film with a brand new "kid" would breathe life into the series, Ralph Macchio being grown up of course, I decided to watch it. Basically Kesuke Miyagi (Noriyuki 'Pat' Morita), once an Army Sergeant attends a commemoration for Japanese soldiers who fought in World War II for the US Army in Boston, and there he meets his commanding officer's widow Louisa Pierce (Constance Towers). She then introduces him to her bad tempered and bratty teenage granddaughter Julie Pierce (young Hilary Swank), who lives with the memory of her parents being killed in a car accident. This has caused friction between her and her grandmother, but also with her fellow school students, but she also passes time caring for an injured hawk she has named Angel, kept in the school roof pigeon coop. At school Julie meets and befriends young and kindhearted security guard Eric McGowen (Chris Conrad) who works in the fraternity known as the Alpha Elite, and she also gains an enemy in aggressive student Ned (Michael Cavalieri), both are taught by vicious mentor Colonel Dugan (Michael Ironside). She finds herself being horribly bullied by the nasty members of the Alpha Elite, and after revealing that she used to be taught karate to her new friend Mr. Miyagi, he agrees to teach her more moves to defend herself. She learns balance, be co-ordinated, awareness of incoming threat, and to have respect for all life, and she becomes friends with the monks that Mr. Miyagi has helping her. When she returns to school she knows that Angel, who was initially taken by Ned but returned, is able to fly, and they release her into the wild, and is then given a new prom dress from Mr. Miyagi. For some reason there the Alpha Elite are order by Colonel Dugan to bungee jump and enter, and when Julie leaves she and Eric share a kiss, but they also get caught up in a proposed fight on the docks. In the end, Mr. Miyagi is standing back to let Julie use her newfound karate skills to defend herself in the fight with Ned who is encouraged by Colonel Dugan, of course she wins. Also starring Arsenio 'Sonny' Trinidad as Abbot and Walton Goggins as Charlie. It is nice to still have Morita returning for his most famous and once Oscar nominated character, and young double future Oscar winner Swank does alright as the new female karate kid, but the film is let down by the same old same old plot, nothing new to be seen really, not a original or highly interesting martial arts adventure. Okay!

sixstap When Eric fought Ned on the school roof he easily defeated him, but when he later fought Ned in the street at night he easily lost. Contrived plot loss so that Julie could step up.Film was disappointing because the title "The Next Karate Kid" implied the showcasing of some good fight scenes for the protagonist (Julie) like there were in the culminating scenes of the first movie, Karate Kid's "All Valley Tournament", but there were none. Disappointing. There was only Julie too quickly (and too easily) defeating Ned after, of course, Miyagi issued his obligatory trademark "focus!" advice to her. One wishes he'd said that to the writers and director during pre-production.All in all, the movie lacks cohesiveness and plays more like a series of dramatic skits. And who chose Miss Swank's hair style? Really, it looked like a long-eared Labrador. That look went out somewhere in the 70's. Her character didn't even change it for the one of the biggest events of most teens like, their Prom.Somewhere in the final credits there should've been this from the producer: "Thank you for buying a ticket. We got your money and you got a third rate movie".