List of The Karate Kid characters
The List of The Karate Kid characters are fictional characters from the films The Karate Kid, The Karate Kid, Part II, The Karate Kid, Part III, The Next Karate Kid, and the 2010 remake.[1][2][3]
Daniel LaRusso
Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) The main character of The Karate Kid film series, with the exception of the fourth installment, The Next Karate Kid. LaRusso's mother is Lucille LaRusso. Some time before the events of the series, Daniel's father died of an unknown cause. This event is what caused Daniel and his mother to move to Los Angeles where Daniel became bullied by the Cobra Kai, a gang of karate students from the Cobra Kai karate dojo. After nearly being killed by the Cobra Kai's best student and gang leader Johnny Lawrence, Daniel is saved by his apartment's maintenance man, Keisuke Miyagi. After saving Daniel, Miyagi begins to teach him the ways of karate. Daniel later defeats Johnny at the "All Valley Karate Tournament". Daniel seems to have won the respect of the Cobras. In the later movies of The Karate Kid Series, Daniel eventually learns more from Mr. Miyagi about karate and faces new and more highly skilled enemies.
Mr. Kesuke Miyagi
Mister/Staff Sergeant Kesuke Miyagi (Pat Morita) The main supporting character through the entire The Karate Kid film series. Mr. Miyagi teaches Daniel karate in the first three movies and goes on to teach karate to Julie Pierce in the fourth installment. Mr. Miyagi is a veteran of the United States Army, having served in Europe during World War II and decorated with the Medal of Honor. His wife and newborn child died at the Manzanar Relocation Camp on November 2, 1944 while he was fighting in Europe.[1][2][3]
John Kreese
Sensei John Kreese (Martin Kove) The main antagonist of the original trilogy. Kreese is an ex-Special Forces Vietnam Veteran and the sensei of the Cobra Kai dojo. Kreese has an unethical and vicious way of teaching karate because he tells his students that an enemy deserves " No Mercy". In the first movie, his best student, Johnny Lawrence, has made enemies with Daniel Larusso(the main protagonist), who is being taught karate by an Okinawan immigrant named Mr. Miyagi. When Daniel and Miyagi try to resolve the conflict in the Cobra Kai dojo, Miyagi suggest that Daniel fight the Cobra Kai students at the All Valley Tournament. Kreese agrees. At the tournament, Kreese shows his vile nature when he instructs his compassionate student, Bobby Brown, to deliver a vicious blow on Daniel's leg. He also tells Johnny to sweep Daniel's leg, an unethical move. Daniel defeats Johnny using the crane kick and Kreese becomes furious and attacks Johnny in the parking lot. But Miyagi saves Johnny and immobilizes Kreese. This act of abuse causes Kreese to lose all of his students, providing him with no income. In Part 3, Kreese becomes financially ruined and visits his Vietnam War comrade Terry Silver, the wealthy owner of a toxic waste disposal business. Silver helps Kreese gain revenge on Daniel and Miyagi and re-establish Cobra Kai. Silver sends Kreese to Tahiti and hires Mike Barnes to harass and beat Daniel at the next All Valley Tournament. At the tournament, Barnes lost to Daniel and Silver walks away in disgust. Cobra Kai was shut down for good.
The Referee
The Referee of the ring is played by Pat E. Johnson in the first three Karate Kid films. He was seen outside his tournament duties in each of the three films, the first when he stops an impending assault on Daniel from Dutch in the locker room, by ordering him out or he is disqualified, the second where he is commending Daniel for gaining the championship after the tournament's conclusion, and the third where his voice is heard on an answering machine asking Kreese if he will be enrolling anyone in the forthcoming tournament.[1][2][3]
The Karate Kid
Ali Mills
Ali Mills (Elisabeth Shue) The main love interest of Daniel LaRusso in the first film. During the events of the first film, she seems to take an instant liking to Daniel and the two begin to date and eventually fall in love, much to her ex-boyfriend Johnny's dismay. It is revealed later in The Karate Kid Part II that Ali left Daniel for a football player from UCLA.
Johnny Lawrence
Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) Daniel's first enemy, the main antagonist of the first film. He is Ali's ex-boyfriend, and defending All Valley Karate Tournament Champion.[4] He is also John Kreese's top student at the Cobra Kai dojo and gang leader of the Cobra Kai. Although he plays the role of an alpha-male bully, when Kreese told Bobby to put Daniel out of commission, Johnny looked at Kreese in disgust. At the end of the film during the final round of the tournament, being the last Cobra Kai member defeated by Daniel, Johnny shows respect to him and says "You're all right, LaRusso" and personally gives Daniel the trophy himself, thanking him for the good match. In the second film, Kreese gets angry at Johnny for getting second place, but Johnny stands up for himself against Kreese, stating that he still did his best whether he won or lost. However, Kreese attempts to beat Johnny up after breaking his second-place trophy, making it clear to Johnny, Daniel, Miyagi, and the rest of the Cobra Kai students that Kreese is really a sore loser. Fortunately for Johnny, Miyagi comes to the rescue by defeating Kreese, and Johnny and the rest of the Cobra Kai students decide to leave Kreese's dojo for good.
Darryl Vidal
Darryl Vidal (Darryl Vidal) is the highly skilled opponent beaten by Johnny with 3 unanswered points in the semifinals during the All Valley Under 18 Karate Tournament. He is known to be a highly skilled master and is implied to have reached at least the semifinals in all the previous tournaments that he enrolled in. He is the only opponent who Johnny shakes hands with in respect after their match.
Bobby Brown
Bobby Brown (Ron Thomas) A friend of Johnny's and a fellow student at the Cobra Kai dojo. Bobby is Kreese's second-best student and was runner-up to Johnny in the All-Valley Tournament the previous year, though Johnny's most prominent "right hand man" appeared to be Dutch. Although one of Johnny's gang (he slide tackles Daniel at the first day of school soccer tryouts, prompting Daniel to tackle him and land a punch to his face, thus getting Daniel kicked out of the tryouts), Bobby is seen as a more compassionate character than his friends. He tries to stop Johnny from ruining the beach party, stop him from harassing Daniel, and from doing further damage to Daniel during the fight behind the South Sea apartments during the Halloween party. During the Semi-finals of the tournament, Kreese orders Bobby to put Daniel "out of commission," which Bobby reluctantly attempts to do by landing a kick to Daniel's knee, severely injuring him. After the kick, Bobby drops down and profusely apologizes to a pain-writhen Daniel. Then, Bobby is pulled off Daniel by Mr. Miyagi and is disqualified. Because Daniel was unable to continue at that time and Bobby being disqualified, he is the only Cobra Kai member that Daniel does not defeat. In a supposed deleted scene, Bobby, remorseful for injuring Daniel and disgusted at not being able to fight him fairly, walks over to Kreese and throws his black belt onto the floor. He then quits the Cobra Kai and leaves the arena. In the parking lot confrontation following the tournament, Bobby defends Johnny from an angry Kreese, stating that Johnny has apologized for his performance. When Kreese attacks Johnny, Bobby attempts to intervene but is assaulted by Kreese.
Tommy
Tommy (Rob Garrison) Another friend of Johnny's and a fellow student at the Cobra Kai dojo. He is known for being the most vocal and sarcastic of the Cobra Kai gang. He is the third Cobra Kai member to be defeated by Daniel in the All Valley Karate Tournament and afterwards he is heard cheering Johnny on from the sidelines during the final match with Daniel. His most memorable line in the movie is "Get him a body bag. Yeah!" after Johnny re-aggravates Daniel's leg injury. He also had another memorable quote when Ali is seen walking with Daniel at school; he yells out in anger towards them "It must be take a worm for a walk week". Though Tommy delights in the endless hazing of Daniel by the Cobra Kai, he is clearly shocked when Bobby injures Daniel's leg on Kreese's command. In the parking lot confrontation following the tournament where Kreese scolds Johnny for losing, Tommy pleads with Kreese to release Johnny from the chokehold that he has him in, agreeing with Mr. Miyagi's demands to let him go. Kreese refuses and even strikes Tommy in the face knocking him to the ground.
Dutch
Dutch (Chad McQueen) Another friend of Johnny's and a fellow student at the Cobra Kai dojo. Dutch is one of the more brutish. His mannerisms and cadence suggest he may have sociopathic tendencies. Dutch enjoys picking on Daniel. He can be seen hopping up and down whenever the Cobras confront Daniel as they are about to beat him, even confronting him in the locker room before the start of the All Valley Karate Tournament and telling Daniel he is "dead meat." He is the fourth Cobra Kai member to be defeated by Daniel during the tournament before facing Bobby in the semi-final round. It is rumored that a deleted scene exists of Dutch becoming angered by Daniel scoring a point on him, resulting in him tackling Daniel to the mat in a scuffle and being pulled away by tournament officials, leading to his disqualification. This would explain why it appeared that Daniel won their match after only scoring a single point. Dutch also appears with the other Cobra Kais when Kreese assaults Johnny for coming in second place. Despite pleas from the others for Kreese to stop, Dutch is notably silent, his face is partly hidden under a baseball cap and he turns away once Kreese places Johnny in the chokehold.
Jimmy
Jimmy (Tony O'Dell) Another friend of Johnny's and a fellow student at the Cobra Kai dojo. Jimmy is known for being the most quiet member (having only said one or two lines in the movie) and the only brown belt in Johnny's quintet group. He is the second Cobra Kai member to be defeated by Daniel in the All Valley Karate Tournament. Jimmy expresses shock when Bobby is ordered by Kreese to injure Daniel and is present when Kreese attacks Johnny following his loss and second place showing. Although he does not physically nor verbally intervene, he shows disgust at Kreese.
Freddy Fernandez
Freddy Fernandez (Israel Juarbe) He is a high school student that lives in the same apartment building that Daniel and his mother move into. He briefly becomes Daniel's friend and invites him to a beach party. However, when Daniel is defeated by Johnny on the beach for "getting in Johnny's way", he hesitates to talk to Daniel and makes fun of Daniel at school and does not try to stop his friends from ridiculing Daniel. He is next seen in the crowd at the All Valley Karate Tournament cheering for Daniel. At the end of the film, he is seen cheering for Daniel and along with some of his friends, picks Daniel up and cheers.
Mr. Mills
Mr. Mills (William Bassett) Ali's father. He is shown to be somewhat friendly but strict at the same time. He does seem to look down upon Daniel's family somewhat, seeming disappointed at the country club dance that his daughter wants to go out with "that boy from Reseda" again.
Lucille LaRusso
Lucille LaRusso (Randee Heller) Daniel's mother. She is portrayed as being a loving and hardworking mother. She is considering becoming a manager through a "two nights a week" training program, with her dialogue implying she is going away from a job in computers to pursue said management career. Lucille is very easygoing, upbeat and positive, allowing Ali to call her by her first name rather than Mrs. Larusso upon meeting her and taking in stride the stalling of her station wagon requiring her and a visibly embarrassed Daniel to push it manually in front of Ali's wealthy parents. She is very protective and nurturing to Daniel. In the third film, she is shown to be taking care of her sick brother, Louie. In the 2010 remake of the movie, this character is called Sherry Parker.
Jerry Robertson
Jerry (Larry B. Scott) Another student at the Cobra Kai dojo; however, he is not a part of Johnny's gang. He is the brown belt student who is defeated by Bobby in a sparring match at the dojo. He was also the first Cobra Kai member defeated by Daniel in the All Valley Karate Tournament.[5]
Susan
Susan (Julie Fields) One of Ali's best friends. She seems to have a disliking for Daniel. She refers to Daniel as "fungus" during the Halloween dance. She is later seen at the All Valley Karate Tournament in the crowd cheering. At the end of the film, she is seen walking onto the ring, along with Freddy and several others cheering for Daniel.
Barbara
Barbara (Dana Andersen) Another one of Ali's friends. Like Susan, she does not care much for Daniel at the beginning, but is seen cheering for him in the end.
The Karate Kid, Part II
The Announcer
The Announcer (Bruce Malmuth) The announcer for the All Valley Karate Tournament. He appeared in the first three Karate Kid films. He seems to have a deep respect for Daniel.
Chozen Toguchi
Chozen Toguchi (Yuji Okumoto) Daniel's second enemy, and the main antagonist of the second film. He is Sato Toguchi's nephew and best student, as well as a street fighter. Like Johnny Lawrence from the first film, he is portrayed as a bully to Daniel, constantly tormenting him. Unlike Johnny, however, Chozen seems more highly skilled. His sense of honor does not extend to the natives of Tomi Village, however, as he cheats farmers by using rigged weights, which Daniel later exposes, causing the villagers to gain respect for Daniel and more disgust for Chozen's dishonesty. Chozen also goes so far by refusing Sato's orders to help Daniel rescue a child from the typhoon, prompting an angry Sato to disown him. Feeling more humiliated, Chozen runs off into the storm, vowing to get revenge. In the end, Chozen returns and forces Daniel to face him in a death match while holding Kumiko hostage (despite Miyagi and Sato's protests). Chozen proves to be a more difficult opponent, but in the end, he is defeated by Daniel, who then gives a chance to either live or die. Chozen chooses to die, but Daniel refuses to deliver the blow and instead honks his nose (the same humorous way Miyagi did to Kreese at the start of the movie), sparing his life. Kumiko has stated that Chozen was always known to be a bit of a bully, going back to when they were children.
Toshio
Toshio (Joey Miyashima) One of Chozen's cronies who helps torment Daniel.
Taro
Taro (Marc Hayashi) Another one of Chozen's cronies who helps torment Daniel.
Sato Toguchi
Sato Toguchi (Danny Kamekona) Sato is the enemy of Miyagi. He was once Miyagi's best friend, as during their childhood, Miyagi and Sato had a strong brotherly friendship. Their friendship was so strong that Miyagi even asked his father to teach karate to him and Sato both (even though traditionally it had only been taught from father to son). However, when the two grew older, Sato had been arranged to marry a girl named Yukie. Although Yukie was arranged to marry Sato, she had instead fallen in love with Miyagi. Their love was so strong to one another, that Miyagi had announced that he would break the tradition of arranged marriage and marry Yukie anyway. Sato however, felt disgraced and challenged Miyagi to a fight to save his honor. But Miyagi left Okinawa the next day. When Miyagi returned to Tome village with Daniel, Sato had become a rich industrialist and had been eager to face his old friend in a death match. However, the two became friends again when Miyagi saved his life during a typhoon, but his relationship with Chozen is now destroyed because Chozen has refused to aid Daniel in rescuing a young girl from the typhoon. He later returned the titles to all the villagers' homes and helped rebuild and repaired his friendship with Miyagi. Sato is not a villain per se, but however more along the lines of the tragic anti-hero. All of Sato's actions against Miyagi were out of anger of his former friend dishonoring him, though he does show signs of sympathy and respect by letting Miyagi and Daniel see Miyagi's father for the last time and honoring a lost bet between Daniel and Chozen. Sato is a highly skilled and respected karate master who appears to be more rigid and firm in his technique than Miyagi. He runs a dojo in Naha City that instructs American military police in karate.
Kumiko
Kumiko (Tamlyn Tomita) is Yukie's niece. When Daniel and Miyagi arrive at Tome village, Daniel and Kumiko begin to spend time together. Kumiko expresses her desire to become a dancer, although there are no schools for dancing where she lives. After hearing this, Daniel tries to convince her to come to America with him. After Miyagi accepts Sato's challenge to fight to the death, she and Daniel express their true feelings to one another by performing the tea ceremony which ends with a kiss, showing that the two are falling in love with each other. It seems that Chozen has a lust for Kumiko, which is further shown in one scene when Kumiko pelts Chozen's shirt with a tomato after Chozen threatens Daniel. Instead of returning the favor, Chozen smiles at Kumiko and takes his shirt off, saying "You keep, for your collection. I know you like it". Kumiko is last seen performing an O bon dance at the old castle outside Tome village. It is there she is taken hostage by Chozen in order to get Daniel to fight him. Daniel accepts, and Kumiko makes an effort to intervene by choking Chozen with a piece of cloth before being pushed away by him. Daniel wins the fight, and the two romantically embrace as the crowd cheers. It is revealed later in The Karate Kid Part 3 that Kumiko was offered a dancing career in Tokyo that she could not refuse.
Yukie
Yukie (Nobu McCarthy) Yukie is Mr. Miyagi's loving childhood girlfriend. Although she was arranged to marry Sato, she had already been in love with Mr. Miyagi, which is what caused Sato to challenge Mr. Miyagi to a death match to save his honor. Mr. Miyagi never fought him, however. The next day, he left for America. When Mr. Miyagi returned to Tome village, it was revealed that Yukie had never married Sato. During the events of The Karate Kid Part 2 it was shown that the two still had feelings for one another and they began to rekindle their romance.
Miyagi's Father
Miyagi's Father (Charlie Tanimoto) A karate master who trained him to use the art in the right way. At the beginning of the movie the audience finds out that he is still alive, however has become ill and later dies, but not before seeing his son one last time. As sensei to Miyagi and Sato, both men came to his side at his hour of death. His final act was to bring the two former close friends together.
The Karate Kid, Part III
Jessica Andrews
Jessica Andrews (Robyn Lively) She becomes Daniel's best friend. It was shown that Daniel has a brief crush on her, but when she claimed that she had a boyfriend and was going back to her home in Columbus, Ohio soon, Daniel had come to see them as just friends and the two began forming a close friendship. Later while the two are dancing at a club the last night Jessica is in town, the two are confronted by a guy who hits on Jessica, prompting Daniel into a fight. (It turns out that the guy was paid by Silver to egg Daniel into a fight.) Daniel ends up breaking the guy's nose; Jessica becomes mad at him and runs off. Later that night, however, as she is packing to leave the next day, Daniel shows up and apologizes for what happened, and she accepts, implying that the two will remain friends.
Terry Silver
Terence "Terry" Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith). Terry Silver is the secondary antagonist of the third movie. He is an acquaintance of John Kreese during his military days. Silver is the actual founder of the Cobra Kai dojo and gave the dojo to Kreese in return for saving his life many times in Vietnam. Silver is also the wealthy business owner of a toxic waste disposal business called Dynatox industries, in which Silver illegally dumps waste in the environment and has become very wealthy due to this activities. Silver is also a skilled and ruthless karate expert just as Kreese. In the third movie, Kreese becomes financially ruined and visits Terry, who offers to help him gain revenge on Daniel Larusso and Mr. Miyagi. Silver sends Kreese to Tahiti to rest while he hires " Karate's Bad Boy" Mike Barnes to beat Daniel at the tournament in exchange for 25%(later 50%) of his new Cobra Kai dojos he is going to open. Silver plans to torment Daniel using Mike and turn to him for guidance and betraying Miyagi. But Silver will make Daniel suffer while training him and set him up for a major fail at the All Valley Tournament. When Daniel refuses to train with him no more, Silver reveals his agenda and Barnes assaults Daniel. But Miyagi arrives and rescues Daniel. At the tournament, Silver and Kreese instruct Barnes to inflict pain on Daniel and then beat him at sudden death. However, in sudden death, Daniel does the kata and defeats Mike, causing Silver and Kreese to storm out in disgust.
Mike Barnes
Michael "Mike" Barnes (Sean Kanan) Daniel's third and final enemy. He is a highly skilled karate master who was brutal and excellent in tournaments and because of this, he got the nickname of "Karate's bad boy". Terry Silver hired Mike to defeat Daniel at the All Valley Tournament in exchange for 25%(later 50%) of his new dojos. Mike and his friends attempt to force Daniel to enter the tournament. When Daniel declines, Barnes threatens him and harasses him. Barnes finally gets Daniel to sign up for the tournament when he threatens to trap him and his friend, Jessica Andrews, on the bottom of a cliff. Throughout the film, however, Daniel could not land a blow on Barnes or even attack him, which makes Barnes more skilled than Johnny and Chozen and a very skilled karate expert. But he was no match for Mr. Miyagi. At the tournament, Barnes was instructed to inflict pain on Daniel and beat him on the sudden death round. Barnes does so, easily getting the upper hand and losing points. However, in sudden death, Barnes was defeated by Daniel and it ended up not going well for him.
Snake
Snake (Jonathan Avildsen) Snake is a minor antagonist in the third film. He is one of Silver's henchmen and one of Mike's cronies who helps torment Daniel. He is known to be the "bad boy" of L.A (implied by Silver). It is unknown if Snake has any martial arts skills, though he seems to have some skills when he tried to land a punch on Mr. Miyagi, which Miyagi later countered during a second confrontation on Miyagi's bonsai shop. Snake was last seen at the tournament. He was disappointed when Mike lost to Daniel there.
Dennis
Dennis (Christopher Paul Ford) Dennis is a minor antagonist in the third film. He is one of Silver's henchmen and Mike's cronies who helps torment Daniel. He is a karate practitioner who is assigned to help Mike with his training. But Dennis is not as skilled as Mike nor Daniel, due to the fact that Daniel easily defeated him during a second confrontation on Miyagi's bonsai shop and a sparring match against Mike on the Cobra Kai dojo, in which he lost. Dennis rarely speaks. He only has two lines throughout the entire movie.
The Announcer
The Announcer (Rick Hurst) Makes the announcements at the All Valley Karate Tournament.
Mrs. Milo
Mrs. Milo (Frances Bay) The negative old lady that lives in the same apartment building as Daniel.
Uncle Louie
Uncle Louie (Joseph V. Perry) Daniel's uncle. During the events of The Karate Kid part 3 he becomes ill and Lucille returns to New Jersey to care for him.
Milos
Milos (Jan Triska) Terry Silver's butler.
Margaret
Margaret (Diana Webster) Terry Silver's secretary.
The Next Karate Kid
Julie Pierce
Julie Pierce (Hilary Swank) A troubled teenage girl who lost her parents in a car accident. This time, she is the main character. Like Daniel, she is also bullied by a gang, The Alpha Elite and their leader, Ned who hits on her at her school. Mr. Miyagi takes her in as his student when he sends her grandmother (her only known living family member) away for a vacation and proceeds to train her in karate. At first, she wanted nothing to do with him, but learns to accept him as a teacher after being taught a few familiar techniques that Mr. Miyagi once taught Daniel. With the skills and self-confidence that Mr. Miyagi instills in Julie, she is able to stand up to Ned when a fight at the docks takes place (while the rest of Ned's gang and Col. Dugan watch on) and comes out victorious. When Ned loses, Col. Dugan tries to get the other members of the Alpha Elite to fight her, but they all refuse, thus showing that they finally gained respect for her.
Colonel Dugan
Col. Dugan (Michael Ironside) Leads an JROTC-style program, the Alpha Elite, at Julie's school, and his style of instruction and morals he instills upon his students are very similar to those of John Kreese from the earlier films. In the last scene at the docks after Miyagi and Julie rescue Eric from being beaten up anymore, Col. Dugan and Mr. Miyagi engage in a fight. Mr. Miyagi easily defeats him, and as it seems that Mr. Miyagi will land one last fatal blow to Col. Dugan, he humorously blows on his nose and lets him drop to the ground (in the same style that Mr. Miyagi defeated Kreese at the start of the second movie).
Louisa Pierce
Louisa Pierce (Constance Towers) Julie's grandmother and only known living family member. She and Mr. Miyagi knew each other for many years since her late husband was a good friend of Miyagi during and after World War II. She was later sent to stay at Miyagi's home in Los Angeles, so that he could look after and teach her granddaughter the techniques of virtue and discipline through karate and she also makes Tacos for Julie's birthday.
Eric McGowen
Eric McGowen (Chris Conrad) A new student who joins Col. Dugan's group to someday become accepted into the Air Force Academy. He shows infatuation when in Julie's presence, even up to occasionally teasing her at times just for her to warm up to him. Although Julie initially disliked him (on account of him being part of Col. Dugan's ruthless group), she begins to bond more with him after he watches over her hawk, Angel as a favor when she was away for training. While he and Julie are at a school dance, he is confronted by Ned after a stunt gone wrong. Ned then challenges him in front of the school, and while Eric wants to fight, Julie stops it. Later that night while Eric is dropping Julie off at home, Ned breaks the windows of Eric's car. While Julie runs inside to get Mr. Miyagi, Eric drives to the docks to confront Ned, however is ambushed by Col. Dugen and the rest of Ned's gang. They all then have a hand in beating Eric, he is then saved by Miyagi and Julie as they arrive.
Abbot
Abbot (Arsenio "Sonny" Trinidad)
Ned
Ned (Michael Cavalieri) is a skilled academy student and gang leader of the Alpha Elite with bullying tendencies (nearly the equivalent of Johnny Lawrence) and an antagonist of the film. He constantly tries to flirt with Julie, only to be rejected by her multiple times. As a response to the rejections, he does whatever he can to make Julie's life miserable like getting her almost suspended from school by lying to Col. Dugan that Julie was smoking. Later, after he sees Eric with Julie at the dance and when he sees them kiss in Eric's car, he smashes the car windows and challenges him to a fight. After he and the other members of his gang beat up Eric, Julie and Mr. Miyagi find them and leave with Eric, only to be stopped by Ned who tries to grab Julie. They both fight and Julie manages to defeat him. When Col. Dugan tries to force the others to fight Julie, they all refuse, as they have gained respect for her.
Charlie
Charlie (Walton Goggins) One of Ned's friends and a fellow student of the Alpha Elite. After witnessing Col. Dugan putting so much pressure onto Ned of severely beating Eric McGowan at the docks, he sympathizes to Ned that he doesn't have to keep going at it. Col. Dugan then tries to force him to fight Julie (along with the other members) but he also refuses to fight after Ned is defeated by her. He is much like Cobra Kai student Bobby Brown from the original film.
Tall Monk
Tall Monk (Jim Ishida)
Monk
Monk (Rodney Kageyama)
Buddhist Monk
Buddhist Monk (Seth Sakai)
Mr. Harold Wilkes
Mr. Harold Wilkes (Eugene Boles)
School Clerk
School Clerk (Kenna Keel)
Gabe
Gabe (Tom O'Brien)
Morgan
Morgan (Thomas Downey)
The Karate Kid (2010 remake)
Dre Parker
Dre Parker (德瑞帕克 Déruì Pàkè, Jaden Smith) The main protagonist of The Karate Kid Remake. Like Daniel LaRusso, he goes into training for self-defense after being bullied. Dre was originally from Detroit, Michigan. However, Dre and his mother moved to Beijing, China to start a new life after the death of Dre's father. Dre's mother was thrilled about Beijing, although Dre wasn't particularly thrilled about the move. Shortly after moving to Beijing, Dre immediately fell in love with a pretty young violinist named Mei Ying. Soon after in the movie he kissed her as well. It was obvious that she had mutual feelings for Dre; however, a local bully and kung fu prodigy named Cheng attempted to keep them apart. Afterwards, Cheng continually tormented Dre until he was stopped by Mr. Han. After Mr. Han's interference, Dre began to learn kung fu from Han when Cheng's shifu, Master Li, challenged them to a fight, which forced Dre to compete in the upcoming 'Open Kung Fu Tournament.' At the tournament Dre managed to defeat Master Li's students and ultimately Cheng himself. After his victory, Dre had earned the respect of Cheng and his friends. Like Johnny in the original movie, Cheng personally presented the trophy to Dre.
Liang
Liang (梁子浩 Liáng Zǐhào, played by Shijia Lü 吕世佳 Lǚ Shìjiā) One of Cheng's friends and the second best student at the Fighting Dragons studio who antagonise Dre Parker in The Karate Kid Remake. Like Bobby Brown, he is the most caring of the group. He is also the one who tries to beg Cheng to spare Dre after he throws dirty water at them. He is also the one who gets slapped by Master Li for showing mercy to his opponent when they were sparring in the studio. He is the also the one who injures Dre's leg during the semifinals of the tournament on Master Li's orders and deeply regrets his actions afterwards. As a result of severely injuring Dre's leg, Liang gets disqualified. In the end, Liang, along with Cheng and their friends, develops a newfound respect for Dre and Mr. Han after Dre fairly defeats Cheng in the tournament. But sometimes he also has pity for Dre and shows mercy.
Wu Ping
Wu Ping (吴 平 Wú Píng) One of the young competitors competing in the Kung Fu competition Dre Parker competes in. He is easily distinguished by his mohawk, which he slicks upwards before a match. He managed to make it all the way to the semi-finals only to lose to Cheng, who defeated him with an elbow to the chest.
Mr. Han
Mr. Han (Jackie Chan) A Chinese maintenance man who becomes Dre's shifu. He is based on Keisuke Miyagi from the original films. The film follows the same story line as the original, and several lines and actions are repeated from the original. Unlike Miyagi, he has a car in his living room and is fixing it. However, Han is a practitioner of kung fu, and elements of his backstory differ from Miyagi's, such as the circumstances surrounding his wife's and son's death. In this version, Han tells Dre that he was distracted by an argument with his wife while they were driving in his car, and they crashed, killing them, and misses them terribly as a result. He continues to train Dre for the Kung Fu tournament.
Cheng
Cheng (陆伟程 Lù Wěichéng, Zhenwei Wang) Dre's opponent and the main antagonist of the film. He is 3 years older than Dre, and continually harasses him throughout the film for Dre's interactions with his [Cheng's] possible love interest, Mei Ying. He is the top student at the Fighting Dragon studio run by Master Li, who teaches his students to treat their enemies and opponents without mercy. He also goes as far as drastically beating him in the secluded back entrance of Dre's apartment before being stopped and defeated by Mr. Han. Cheng is much like Johnny Lawrence: being the bully of the school, wealthy, well-known, and distressing and thrashing the protagonist. Similarly as in the first 'The Karate Kid' film, Dre earns Cheng's respect when he beats him at the finals of the 'Open Kung Fu Tournament' and Cheng personally awards Dre the trophy and he and his friends showed Mr. Han respect. In the alternative ending, Cheng is about to get beaten up by Master Li for failing the tournament and showing respect towards Dre and Mr. Han, but luckily, Han comes to the rescue by defeating Master Li in a match. This is similar to the opening scene in Karate Kid, Part II (Miyagi rescues Johnny from John Kreese) and is implied that this is how the remake of the sequel will begin, on the account that there will be a Karate Kid 2 with Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith reprising their roles, respectively.
Meiying
Meiying (Wenwen Han) Dre's (and possibly Cheng's) love interest. Like Ali Mills, Meiying has an interest in music (notably playing the violin exceedingly well) and gets admittance into the fictional Beijing Academy of Music (which Dre refers to as 'BAM!'). She briefly breaks contact with Dre under her father's directions, becoming a couple with him after she kisses him and after Dre rehearses a written apology to Meiying's father which Mr. Han had translated into Mandarin. At the end of the film, she is seen cheering loudly, keeping her 'pinky promise' to Dre, which was for her to be the loudest fan to cheer for him when he would win the Kung Fu tournament.
Master Li
Master Li (Yu Rongguang) Cheng's Kung Fu instructor. Like John Kreese, Master Li teaches his students to be ruthless and merciless towards their enemy, as well as using cheap shots to injure their competitions at the Kung Fu tournament. When Cheng told him that Mr. Han and Dre bullied him while the two protagonists arrived at the Fighting Dragon studio to make peace, Li forces either Mr. Han or Dre to fight Cheng. Mr. Han promises Li that Dre will compete at the opening Kung Fu tournament. During the tournament, Master Li instructs Liang, one of the most daring fighters of the group, to deliver an illegal strike to Dre's leg, disallowing him to continue the tournament and allowing Cheng to win the tournament by default. Ultimately, Dre returns to the ring and ultimately defeats Cheng, much to Li's anger.
In the alternate ending, Master Li was about to punish Cheng by beating him up for failing the tournament and developing a new respect towards Dre and Mr. Han. Luckily, Mr. Han stops Li from doing so and defeats him in a match. Dre's mother would then later slap Master Li in the face as retribution for ordering Liang to deliver the illegal strike on Dre's leg. (This entire scene is similar to the beginning of Karate Kid, Part II, and is implied that this is how the remake of the Karate Kid sequel will begin, if possible.)
According to Mr. Han, Master Li does not teach his students real Kung Fu; he instead is a "bad man teaching them very bad things". Also, unlike Cheng, who is known to accept loss fairly and gives a new-found respect towards his opponents, Master Li is ruthless and merciless towards his opponents. As a result, Cheng, Liang, Zhuang and all of Li's students became Mr. Han's students and Dre's friends, while Master Li loses them.
References
External links
- The Karate Kid (1984)
- The Karate Kid, Part II (1986)
- The Karate Kid, Part III (1989)
- The Next Karate Kid (1994)
- The Karate Kid (2010)
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||