I love The Karate Kid! It is my second favorite movie. I loved it when I saw it in the movie theater in 1984 when I was 11, I loved it when I watched it over and over on vhs then dvd then streaming, I loved it when I went to the screening two years ago and met Ralph Macchio (who I’d been in love with since I was 10) and I still love it now at age 45 watching it in the movie theater following the first two episodes of the new YouTube Red series Cobra Kai. I was excited for the new Karate Kid spinoff series because it was The Karate Kid and of course Ralph Macchio, but I really didn’t expect too much. Boy was I surprised! The new Cobra Kai series is fantastic!

I went to the theater in my Daniel Larusso Karate Kid t shirt and had my popcorn and cherry coke dinner ready to hunker down for over three hours of pure Ralph Macchio and Karate Kid enjoyment! Like the 40th Anniversary showings of Grease the week before, there was Karate Kid trivia on the screen before the movie, but this time it was videos of Ralph and the cast answering the questions. The first two half hour episodes of Cobra Kai were shown first then the original Karate Kid movie followed. The first two episodes of Cobra Kai were great, a perfect mix of the old and the new with great references to the original movie. It is a very well written drama with some funny parts. Cobra Kai picks up 34 years later, but this time Daniel is the rich one living in Encino going to the country club while Johnny is the poor one living in Reseda. The entire Cobra Kai series (10 episodes) debuted on YouTube Red the following week and was just as fantastic as the first two episodes – actually they were better. I love that they used the original Karate Kid soundtrack in the movie, as it’s one of my favorites and still listen to it today. I still have my original record from 1984 (and it is downloaded on my iTunes).