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30 years later, one fan still fights for the honor of 'Karate Kid Part II'

 
Tampa Bay Times
Published June 20, 2016

Am I the only one out there who likes Karate Kid Part II? Released June 20, 1986, Karate Kid Part II pulls a Rocky and picks up right where Karate Kid left off - the All-Valley Karate Tournament where uber-tool John Kreese picks a fight with Mr. Miyagi after Daniel-San's upset win over Johnny.

Ah. It just FEELS good to write about this movie! (Speaking of Rocky, we should all know by now that Peter Cetera's Glory of Love was originally written for Rocky IV, not this movie.)

I know the reviews of Karate Kid Part II were mixed. The movie maintains a miserable 43 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but it managed to pull in more at the box office than the original 1984 movie. Maybe it's Cetera's crazily '80s theme song. Or maybe it's the removal of the totally unplausible relationship between Daniel and Ali. Or yeah. Maybe I'm just a sucker for seeing the "clown nose bit" twice in the same movie. I will stand for the honor of Karate Kid Part II any day.

Here are five more things you probably didn't know about Karate Kid Part II on its 30th anniversary, according to IMDB.com.

1. The opening scene, involving the fight in the parking lot, was actually in the script for the 1984 movie but it wasn't filmed. Work on Karate Kid Part II actually started just 10 days after the original movie was released.

2. Though set in Okinawa, the boyhood home of Mr. Miyagi, the movie was filmed in Oahu, Hawaii for convenience.

3. When the writers sat down to write this sequel, they were divided on what topic to tackle: Miyagi's return to Okinawa or the revenge of John Kreese. Eventually it was decided to tackle both - saving the Kreese storyline for Karate Kid Part III.

4. Why did Elisabeth Shue not reprise her role as Ali? Turns out the actress told a break from movie making to continue her studies at Harvard. She was supposed to return for a break-up scene with Daniel, but it was never filmed.

5. Did the actress playing Yukie look familar? Nobu McCarthy also played the fiancee to Pat Morita's character Arnold 10 years earlier on TV's Happy Days. That's the glory of love.