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Karate Kid 2
List Price: Unknown [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
Certainly, one element of cinema has never changed - if the original was successful, the question is - "can you sequelize it?". "The Karate Kid" was one of those examples, as the success of the first film lead to not only one, but three additional sequels, the last of which involved a female (Hillary Swank). Although this sequel doesn't contain the charm or energy of the first one, at least its better than the follow-ups.
Again, we follow both main characters, Daniel (Ralph Macchio) and Mr. Miyagi(Pat Morita). The movie begins after the tournament that ended the first film; this time, Daniel accompanies Mr. Miyagi back to his home in Japan to visit his sick father - Daniel feels that he can learn about the culture while keeping his friend company in his time of need, but, of course, there's got to be some Karate at some point or another. Miyago has to face an old friend and Daniel finds himself up against another set of bullies. The action isn't exactly "The Matrix", but for an 80's flick, it provides a few decently choreographed scenes.
The acting is still more of the same. Morita makes for an engaging, fun, intense presence as Miyagi; Macchio still remains a rather dull presence as Daniel. The film also goes on a little too long at nearly two hours - a good 15 minutes could probably have been taken out to improve the pace. The dialogue from the Robert Mark Kamen ("Fifth Element", "Kiss Of The Dragon") screenplay isn't too bad; it's somewhat cliched, but at least it doesn't become bad enough to be unintentionally amusing. I give the writer and filmmakers credit for coming up with an interesting enough idea to provide for a full sequel; it's not as entertaining as the first, but the movies probably should have stopped with this one.
The DVD
VIDEO: "Karate Kid 2" is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, with a full_frame option on the flip side of the DVD. The 15 year old film looks somewhat flat and slightly dated, but considering the film's age, still manages to look often rather pleasing. Sharpness and detail are solid, but unexceptional as the picture has somewhat of an intententionally soft feel. While some sequences had a decent amount of depth to them, most of the movie looks rather "flat".
There are a fair amount of flaws throughout the movie, but there wasn't anything that I would consider major wear. There's a moderate amount of grain in some sequences, but many of the film's scenes seemed free of it. The appearance of print flaws also was seen, but not consistently so. Slight marks, scratches and other such problems came up in the occasional scene, but didn't prove to be much of a distraction. Only very minimal edge enhancement in a scene or two and one or two traces of pixelation were the other problems that I saw.
Colors looked suprisingly pleasant, with rich, natural tones that looked smooth and never smeared or otherwise problematic. Black level is also fairly strong and flesh tones looked accurate and natural. Some scenes didn't look quite as good as others, but overall, Tristar has done a nice job with this sequel. Subtitles are provided in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean and Thai.
SOUND: "Karate Kid 2" is presented in Dolby 2.0. Bill Conti's fine score is really the only element besides the dialogue in the picture. Audio quality was suprisingly decent, with both the score and dialogue sounding clean and clear.
MENUS:: Menus are non-animated, with very basic film-themed images serving as backgrounds.
EXTRAS:: A short promotional featurette and trailers for "Karate Kid" 1 & 2, as well as "Godzilla 2000" and "Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles".
Final Thoughts: "Karate Kid 2" is a decent film and a moderately entertaining sequel, but like most sequels, it doesn't surpass the original. Tristar provides fine audio/video quality for the movie and at a $19.99 or less retail price, the disc should please fans of the film.
Certainly, one element of cinema has never changed - if the original was successful, the question is - "can you sequelize it?". "The Karate Kid" was one of those examples, as the success of the first film lead to not only one, but three additional sequels, the last of which involved a female (Hillary Swank). Although this sequel doesn't contain the charm or energy of the first one, at least its better than the follow-ups.
Again, we follow both main characters, Daniel (Ralph Macchio) and Mr. Miyagi(Pat Morita). The movie begins after the tournament that ended the first film; this time, Daniel accompanies Mr. Miyagi back to his home in Japan to visit his sick father - Daniel feels that he can learn about the culture while keeping his friend company in his time of need, but, of course, there's got to be some Karate at some point or another. Miyago has to face an old friend and Daniel finds himself up against another set of bullies. The action isn't exactly "The Matrix", but for an 80's flick, it provides a few decently choreographed scenes.
The acting is still more of the same. Morita makes for an engaging, fun, intense presence as Miyagi; Macchio still remains a rather dull presence as Daniel. The film also goes on a little too long at nearly two hours - a good 15 minutes could probably have been taken out to improve the pace. The dialogue from the Robert Mark Kamen ("Fifth Element", "Kiss Of The Dragon") screenplay isn't too bad; it's somewhat cliched, but at least it doesn't become bad enough to be unintentionally amusing. I give the writer and filmmakers credit for coming up with an interesting enough idea to provide for a full sequel; it's not as entertaining as the first, but the movies probably should have stopped with this one.
The DVD
VIDEO: "Karate Kid 2" is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, with a full_frame option on the flip side of the DVD. The 15 year old film looks somewhat flat and slightly dated, but considering the film's age, still manages to look often rather pleasing. Sharpness and detail are solid, but unexceptional as the picture has somewhat of an intententionally soft feel. While some sequences had a decent amount of depth to them, most of the movie looks rather "flat".
There are a fair amount of flaws throughout the movie, but there wasn't anything that I would consider major wear. There's a moderate amount of grain in some sequences, but many of the film's scenes seemed free of it. The appearance of print flaws also was seen, but not consistently so. Slight marks, scratches and other such problems came up in the occasional scene, but didn't prove to be much of a distraction. Only very minimal edge enhancement in a scene or two and one or two traces of pixelation were the other problems that I saw.
Colors looked suprisingly pleasant, with rich, natural tones that looked smooth and never smeared or otherwise problematic. Black level is also fairly strong and flesh tones looked accurate and natural. Some scenes didn't look quite as good as others, but overall, Tristar has done a nice job with this sequel. Subtitles are provided in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean and Thai.
SOUND: "Karate Kid 2" is presented in Dolby 2.0. Bill Conti's fine score is really the only element besides the dialogue in the picture. Audio quality was suprisingly decent, with both the score and dialogue sounding clean and clear.
MENUS:: Menus are non-animated, with very basic film-themed images serving as backgrounds.
EXTRAS:: A short promotional featurette and trailers for "Karate Kid" 1 & 2, as well as "Godzilla 2000" and "Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles".
Final Thoughts: "Karate Kid 2" is a decent film and a moderately entertaining sequel, but like most sequels, it doesn't surpass the original. Tristar provides fine audio/video quality for the movie and at a $19.99 or less retail price, the disc should please fans of the film.
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