The Karate Kid Part II Distributor: Sony Pictures Format: 4-Disc Box Set, Region 2 (PAL) Length: 113 min. Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Audio: English, French, Spanish, German, Italian Subtitles: English for the hard of hearing, Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish Extras: Multi-level Interactive DVD Rom Games: Featurette - The Sequel; Filmographies Sound: Dolby Digital

Year of Release: 1986; Origin: United States; Studio: Columbia Pictures, Delphi V Productions

Director: John G. Avildsen; Producer: Jerry Weintraub; Script: Robert Mark Kamen; Action Director: Pat Johnson; Cast Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita, Daniel Kamekona, Yuji Okumoto, Tamlyn Tomita, Nobu McCarthy.

Alternative Titles: N/A

If the original film merely flirted with the cross cultural divide between contemporary America and traditional Japan, then this sequel is the full bed and breakfast.

Just to hammer the point home, our location switches from California to Okinawa as Miyagi and Daniel travel to the Sensei’s spiritual home to pay their last respects to his dying father. It quickly falls into a long winded rehash of the first film when Miyagi runs into a boyhood rival called Sato, now a cruel Karate property developer still relinquishing a desire to cave Miyagi’s head in, while Daniel has to contend with their rival’s bullying nephew.

Miyagi’s back story is cross examined to the detriment of his disciple, now looking a lot taller, who spends the film preoccupied with a new Japanese girlfriend while we learn intimate details of Miyagi’s lost love and his former fishing village with a few anti-American jibes thrown in for good measure.

Clearly lacking the feel good energy of the first film, this is a much more tempered engagement and a lot less memorable.