The Martial Arts Kid

These types of movies always make me wonder. First of all you go in to these no names with low expectations so that's a good safe guard. They get so much yet they ruin all their hard work with lazy acting pieces and poor acting cues. So much of this movie was a surprise one min only to be undone by the next scene. Some great training one on one moments with don the dragon Wilson. The lead actor Robbie showed a lot of promise.

This is the most silliness movie ever , acting is very poor and I don't know what were they thinking while filming this nonsense , the only thing that was good is the car *yeah there is a cool car in the movie* apart from that car nothing is worth watching , just some human being with very poor ability to act are jumping and screaming.

I've been a fan of Don "The Dragon" Wilson and Cynthia Rothrock for a long time and when I heard about this film, I was quite excited. They were perfectly cast as Glen and Cindy, a couple who take in troubled nephew Robbie and soon become his mentors in the martial arts when he is bullied.

The film does convey its anti-bullying message, but in a way, the film also changes the way people may perceive martial arts as a whole and that is what also stands out between Wilson's Glen and T.J. Storm's Coach Kaine. Their differences of opinions as to how martial arts should be conveyed is truly personified not only by them but by Robbie and Kaine's student Bo, who is the one who bullies Robbie.

Jansen Panettiere and Matthew Ziff really break out in the film as they did great jobs in their roles of Robbie and Bo respectively. Plus if you are a martial arts fan, you will see most of the cast is comprised of martial artists with some legends of the field and world champions playing themselves as mentors.

This truly is marketed towards the family and speaking not only as a film fan, but as a parent as well, this is one that is suitable for families and is a break away from your generalization of martial arts films. Definitely worth checking out!

Well, I have to say that I wasn't really harboring much of any expectations to this 2015 movie "The Martial Arts Kid", as I happened to stumble upon it here in 2023. In fact, I had never actually heard about the movie prior to getting the chance to watch it. And with it being a movie that I hadn't already seen, of course I opted to watch it.

I have to be honest that I was figuring "The Martial Arts Kid" to be a knock-off of the 1984 movie "Karate Kid". And it definitely is in the same league as "Karate Kid" no doubt about it, and yeah it is heavily influenced by it, I would say. And there was even a nice nod towards the 'wax on, wax off' sequence in "Karate Kid" as well, which brought me to laughing.

The storyline in "The Martial Arts Kid", as written by writers Michael Baumgarten and Adam W. Marsh, is pretty straight forward, which makes for an easy viewing experience. This wasn't exactly rocket science, nor was I expecting it to be. The storyline is straight forward, but rather similar to the 1984 movie "Karate Kid".

The acting performances in the movie were for the majority adequate. There were some rather toe-curling performances throughout the course of the movie. But I will say that most of the cast did perform well enough. The movie has Don Wilson and Cynthia Rothrock on the cast list, so there is something for us that grew up watching martial arts movies in the 1980s and 1990s.

With "The Martial Arts Kid" being a martial arts movie, of course you will have lots of martial arts fight scenes, duh. And most of these scenes and sequences were actually nicely performed and looked good on the screen. But then there was that cringeworthy fight scene between the two dojos. Ugh, that was just painful to watch.

All in all, then director Michael Baumgarten delivered a watchable enough movie, though it is lacking in originality. If you enjoy martial arts movies, especially those from the 1980s and 1990s, then give "The Martial Arts Kid" a chance.

My rating of "The Martial Arts Kid" lands on a five out of ten stars.

Family-friendly martial arts films seem to be making a slow comeback, THE MARTIAL ARTS KID among them. This isn't an action movie, but a coming-of-age drama with a martial arts backdrop. Like most intentionally "wholesome" movies, it provides plenty of opportunities for eye-rolling , but it's also charming in key moments and actually features some good fight scenes.

The story: A troubled teen (Jansen Panettiere) is sent to live with relatives in Florida, where the guidance and tutelage of his martial arts-practicing uncle (Don Wilson) and aunt (Cynthia Rothrock) help him overcome bullying and gain the confidence to turn his life around.

The film focuses on drama and character development, in which regard it's a mixed bag. Though it addresses real-world problems, this is not a very realistic movie: to keep the relationships between the good guys as healthy as possible, the producers avoid nuance and grit to the point that they make THE KARATE KID seem like a hardcore drama. Nevertheless, this is part of the movie's charm, and it's kind of refreshing to see characters embrace goodness with such gusto. Wilson and Rothrock are clearly into their mentor roles, and while some of Panettiere's scenes can be pretty cringe-worthy, most of his shortcomings are the fault of the script and he remains a likable hero.

The martial arts are afforded a lot of reverence, with the filmmakers going out of their way to present a realistic picture of the hero's development. It gets a little preachy, and MMA fans may not appreciate the portrayal of "practical" fighting as a means of bullying, but I think the movie gets its point across. (It could have managed this even without the endless parade of cameos from real-life practitioners, but oh well.) Also, while the seven full-length fight scenes aren't the centerpiece of the picture, their quality exceeded my expectations. Panettiere's a good little fighter with potential, but I was more appreciative of the comebacks staged by his costars. Rothrock has a pretty good match with taekwondo champ Inga Van Ardenn, while Wilson has arguably the best fight of his career against T.J. Storm. They're not the best fights you'll see this year, but definitely not the worst.

I'm not sure whether Wilson & Co. can get through their remaining careers doing crowd-funded family flicks, but at least in this case, the picture was worth it. While not timeless, it's a fun movie that may encourage an interest in martial arts among younger viewers. Treat it as a rental, but don't be terribly surprised if this inspires a purchase.