Il ragazzo dal kimono d'oro

I used to love this movie when I was a child, I used to compare it to karate kid but now that I'm watching it again I noticed all the differences, bad acting, terrible story.

I am all for low budget and so bad its good movies as long as they are entertaining. This has MST3K written all over it but Ive no idea if they have picked this one apart.

Its the usual white guy goes abroad, annoys the local thugs, gets beat up with martial arts and then undergoes a training montage with an elderly martial arts master and guess the outcome? No spoilers mind.

The only novel thing about this version is its an Italian made movie and the hero is actually really annoying so at certain parts you are quite happy to see him being bashed. He seems to have this belief he is morally superior being from the USA and the locals really should fall in line when he spouts how things should be. Even though he is basically a tourist.

The dubbing is not just bad from a synching point of view but the dialog at times sounds hilarious. The fight scenes are fairly poor with ridiculous whacking noises for blows even though hits miss by miles. Also karate is an odd choice when this seems to be set in the Philippines.

There is a ridiculous goof in the final act, when the hero is having his showdown with the bad guy in a boxing ring, the camera cuts to the crowd.....and the bad guy is seen sitting in the crowd....apparently watching himself fight. That is quite a martial arts skill.

There is some stuff about animals (a la kung fu) and magic (from God knows where) shoehorned into the story to add some mysticism. Again more odd choices as karate has nothing to do animals or magic.

Is it worth watching? Maybe if you have caught the start on TV and are curious about the final act but this genuinely isn't worth seeking out.

There are some odd reviews on here saying they enjoyed this as a kid, but some of the violence is too bloody for kids. I doubt I will see another movie from this director or see these actors in anything else again but that wont be a bad thing.

I guess you could boil it down to that, though to be honest there are far more things that are "wrong" with this copycat. Karate Warrior - what you can say in a positive light, the movie is not just an exact copy of Karate Kid. It does have a bit of a different story. It also is way more violent than the movie this based it's idea and "success" on.

And yes while this can not be considered a good movie in any way of the imagination, it was successful enough to spawn a few sequels (which I have not watched ... yet). So not having seen them I can't say if they are as muddled, have the same history when it comes to dubbing or "original" audio (which kind of doesn't really exist, everyone talking in their native language I assume, even if Italian is named as main language here) or the pacing issues.

If you don't mind the countless flaws and relish in the b-movie nature of it all (with surprises along the way, whatever that may mean), you can be quite entertained by this

Most people have seen the International, English dubbed, non-restored version. That version is forgettable. But having seen the new bluray of "Karate Warrior," in it's original Italian, (it's intended language), with the beautifully restored, widescreen print, it's quite different. Apparently when North American distributors bought the rights to this movie, they decided American audiences could only be entertained by a comedy. Because of that, the English dubbing, aside from being completely rotten, is also completely inaccurate. They changed what the characters were originally saying, dumbing it down with stupid lines and lame comedy. Seen in the original, the characters sound like real people, You also get to see some great photography of the exotic city of Manila. As a Martial Arts movie this isn't much, as there are barely any actual fight scenes to speak of, and actor Kim Rossi Stuart was obviously hired for his extremely pretty looks, and not his fighting skills. (He is shirtless for 80% of the film.) However, as a picturesque travelog, and as a standard exotic action-adventure film, "Karate Warrior" turns out to be an enjoyable film. It also serves as an example of how different a movie can appear once it has been restored to it's original quality. Sometimes it makes a big difference..

I found Karate Warrior at my video store for $.99. It's a poorly made "young guy learns karate from old Asian master in order fight his arch nemesis over a girl" type movie. The plot is lifted from The Karate Kid 2, but Karate Warrior expands on this by adding magic to the mix. Really, really stupid magic.

The funniest thing about this movie is the acting. It seems like the sound was recorded in a studio after filming had taken place, because all the performances are extremely stiff, and the characters all have rubber lips. They also all repeat the same words or phrases over again constantly.

All in all, this film is a piece of crap. But when you buy a movie called "Karate Warrior" you're probably not expecting Citizen Kane anyway.

3/10