The Karate Kid, Part III (1989)
This film takes much undeserved flak. First, it allegedly violates the "rule" of storytelling that says each subsequent story in a franchise must "up the ante". The argument among its critics is that this third film lowers the value of the franchise after the first two installments had Daniel first fighting for respect and then for his life. Also, the film (in their opinion) provides an unsatisfactory sub-plot with the female character, Jessica (they "only" end up as friends); Daniel is supposedly more annoying than ever; Ralph Macchio is too old to play Daniel in the movie's story setting; and there are serious loopholes in the story in regards to the All-Valley tournament. I disagree with all, except maybe the age of the actor in lieu of the storyline (you can find story loopholes and "convenient writing" in just about any film if you really want).
Life is full of peaks and valleys--and I'm talking just experiences here. Are all the post-war experiences of a veteran's life really of lesser value? How about those of a retiree? Or someone who goes bankrupt? What about the aftermath of a new child born to a family? And how often do we defeat one enemy, but never fully kill it? Unknown to us at that time, it lives to challenge us again. True this enemy may not be as potent as the one that tried to take our life on a foreign horizon, but it is a severe challenge nonetheless that must be dealt with.
Daniel has an experience in a foreign world (being Okinawa in Part II) and then returns home, where villains from his world want revenge. So they're not gunning for his life, but there is certainly much at stake by the time the film hits its climax.
The relationship between Daniel and Jessica never blooms into a romance. Does every encounter with the opposite gender in a story need to become more than friendship? Daniel and Jessica are true to their characters: Daniel having been dumped twice in a year, and Jessica has apparently just gone through her own rough waters. The characters seem content to leave there interaction at a friendship and so should we. The fact that they don't become an item frankly is refreshing!
Ultimately, this film is far more about Miyagi and Daniel. Their friendship has progressed to a point where Daniel is the son Miyagi might have had, and Miyagi is the father figure every young man Daniel's age needs. They have gone through much together over the two year span of their story, but their father-son connection had not yet stood the Test of Wills or disappointment.
What the critics seem to miss is that Miyagi agrees with them--he doesn't want Daniel to compete in "another tournament"! He believes that Daniel should be above that. Of course, Daniel thinks like any hot-headed college-age male who's pride has been dinged. What Daniel hasn't yet realised is that Miyagi's teaching has never been about tournaments. The first tournament was about self-respect and earning that on neutral ground in a public setting. In the old days one would have a duel, but since those have have long gone out of fashion by these days (a pity), the tournament was the only place Daniel could go to establish his manhood.
Part III is about maturing that manhood. Miyagi never buckles as it concerns Daniel's participation in the tournament, even when it threatens a deep friendship. Like every good parent, he allows Daniel to make mistakes on the hope that the boy will own up to them and make the unsolicited effort to solve them. And eventually, he does. Daniel only ends up in the tournament when Miyagi discovers the odds that Daniel is pitted against, and that disgracing Kreese and Silver on a public stage would do the best good since a battle against them would be inevitible.
But for a father like Miyagi, Daniel's progression in maturity over the course of the story's events is more than enough.
GRADE: A
stunt by her betrothed, the Crown Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell, A Knight's Tale, The Legend of Zorro). 
