In the overstuffed 'Karate Kid: Legends,' too many storylines compete for dominance

The occupation with “Karate Kid: Legends” is close determination successful the title: “legends,” arsenic successful multiple. Many beloved “Karate Kid” characters and icons of millennial sports movies participate the ring, but successful the ensuing melee, nary 1 emerges victorious.

Written by Rob Lieber and directed by Jonathan Entwistle, “Karate Kid: Legends” is different revamp of the franchise, which present boasts 4 movies from the 1980s and ’90s, an animated series, a 2010 remake starring Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan and a long-running Netflix spinoff series, “Cobra Kai,” pursuing the archetypal characters, present arsenic adults. This caller movie is simply a “lega-sequel,” if you will, combining characters from some the archetypal movie and the caller remake with a caller setting: the Big Apple.

The saying “two branches, 1 tree” is oft-repeated passim the movie to explicate the 2 antithetic kinds of martial arts grooming (karate and kung fu) that travel unneurotic to signifier our caller young fighter, Li Fong (Ben Wang). But “Karate Kid: Legends” doesn’t person a strong, dependable trunk to enactment these abstracted offshoots. Instead, it’s 2 movies astatine warfare with each other, fists and feet flying successful a whirlwind.

In 1 country and comprising the archetypal fractional of the film, you person a amazingly amusive and refreshing twist connected “Karate Kid,” successful which the martial arts pupil becomes the teacher. Young Li, grieving the decease of his kung fu champ older brother, is yanked retired of kung fu schoolhouse successful Beijing (where he’s being trained by Chan’s Shifu) by his parent (Ming-Na Wen) and uprooted to New York City.

There, Li befriends Mia (Sadie Stanley) and her father, Victor (Joshua Jackson), who tally a pizza associated and person tally afoul of a indebtedness shark, O’Shea (Tim Rozon), who besides happens to tally a mixed martial arts gym. Victor, a erstwhile boxer, has entered into a prize combat hoping to triumph the purse, and enlists Li arsenic his caller trainer, who agrees due to the fact that helium believes grooming Victor won’t interruption his “no fighting” committedness to his mother.

Now, a “The Fighter”-style comeback movie starring ’90s kids sports movie icon Jackson (“The Mighty Ducks”) would beryllium a large movie connected its own. Alas, this is simply a “Karate Kid” movie that promises “legends,” truthful the pizza store boxing-training movie is rapidly dispatched successful favour of Shifu and Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) descending connected New York from Beijing and Los Angeles, respectively, to bid Li to combat successful the 5 Boroughs tourney against sadistic MMA combatant Connor (Aramis Knight).

The movie is truthful divided successful its storytelling aims that there’s a series wherever Li’s tourney rounds and grooming are spliced successful with moments of quality and communicative development, connected by frantically accelerated drone shots that zip implicit the city. The pacing of this movie is breakneck connected speed; it feels similar watching a movie connected fast-forward astatine times. Much of the communicative enactment is executed during rapid-fire montages, utilizing acquainted archetypes and stereotypes to sketch retired the basal narrative. The frenetic combat sequences are truthful accelerated and fluid, ramping betwixt slow-motion and fast-motion, that your oculus tin hardly onshore anyplace oregon adjacent admit the choreography.

Despite being 2 movies smashed together, torturously twisted successful bid to get each these legends astatine 1 tournament, “Karate Kid: Legends” isn’t a wholly unpleasant experience, mostly owed to the charms of prima Wang, who has a bashfully appealing beingness that belies his earnestly lethal skills. He has a sparkling chemistry with Stanley and Jackson, further emphasizing that the filmmakers should person stuck with that 1 story, alternatively than falling backmost connected the aged karate kid tropes we cognize truthful well.

Alas, it seems originality was not the extremity with “Karate Kid: Legends,” adjacent if those hints of newness are the astir absorbing portion of the movie. Legends ne'er die, arsenic they say, for amended oregon worse, and successful the lawsuit of this film, it’s for worse.

Katie Walsh is simply a Tribune News Service movie critic.