Karate Kid: Legends

Wax on, wax off. Eff on, eff off.

Though it holds back on the emotional punches and occasionally plays it safe with crowd-pleasers, Legends remains a respectful, heartfelt, and surprisingly fresh fusion of everything that’s made the franchise endure.

Karate Kid: Legends is actually an enjoyable little film.

..."Karate Kid: Legends” feels at times like four or five different movies being chopped-and-screwed together, albeit at an enjoyably fast pace, and with a minimum of narrative drag.

I love the Kung Fu Karate training and fight scenes, and the whole thing, and this is true of the series, is played with an air of wholesomeness that's fairly irresistible. I came out with a spring on my step and... I cried.

I can’t imagine anyone remembering Karate Kid: Legends four decades from now. Or next week.

A shamelessly paint-by-the-numbers “Karate Kid,” but cute and fun, the romance is sweet, and the references to the previous franchise installments satisfactory.

Somehow, Karate Kid: Legends has enough to keep you watching, even if it’s a case of too many legends spoiling the broth. In truth, it desperately misses the LaRusso-Miyagi relationship that powered the original movie to glory.

[T]he proceedings are so rushed that neither of its two storylines are given any room to breathe or mesh with each other. The result is something unwieldy and unmemorable — a real missed opportunity.

Ben Wang is great as the new Karate Kid, but it's not enough to save a a film that is a weirdly in hurry, devoid of magic and doesn't justify its own existence. [Full review in Spanish]