The Karate Kid (1985 film) Reviews

• Does it get better than this?

  
  By AAJGG0PD8C7GU on 2005-01-20
  The only thing that even approaches this cd in terms of sheer enjoyment is "Du" by Hasselhoff, but there has never been a cd better than "Du". This soundtrack is my life's soundtrack because I've lived Daniel Larusso's story. I moved to Memphis and enrolled in a new high school. My mom and I shared an apartment above an asian guy who raised trees. For some reason I rubbed everyone the wrong way right off the bat. I'm playing beach volleyball hitting on a girl named Liz and all of the sudden like 8 karate kids start whooping the ever loving crap out of me. So I'm going school each day and instead of just minding my own business, I dump a bucket of kool aid on Derek as he's lighting up his spliff. Derek is only the top karate kid in Memphis, but I totally think I can outrun them on my bike. So I'm booking it, but kids who know karate can evidentally ride bikes like they're little E or something because in no time flat I'm getting pummelled again. I come to find out the next morning that Mr. Wu, our crazy neighbor beat all of them up and told them to leave me alone until the tournament. Now Mr. Wu was on drugs half the time, but I asked him what kind of stash he was in to enter me in a tournament when I didn't know any karate. Sure enough in a week I was a black belt in karate because I did chores at the crazy man's house. My training montage was survivor songs.
  
  So now I'm at the All Bluff City karate tournament and the Cobra Vai's(named after legendary guitarist Steve Vai) are all wanting to whoop me. Liz is there and she holds up a boombox and plays "The best around" and it was go time. I ended up beating up all of the Cobra Vai and kicked the final guy in the head and won the tournament. They all respected me than and Liz gave me some. Mr. Wu asked me to go to Japan with him and I told him he was creepy and to leave me alone. Anyway, this soundtrack is awesome.
  
  

• great soundtrack but incomplete

  
  By on 2003-10-06
  11 years after hearing the soundtrack to the Karate Kid on LP I had to have it. Unfortunatly it was not on cd at the tine, For the most part most the soundtrack is here on the cd with a few noteable exceptions the following songs WERE NOT included

  1.Broken Edge Please answer me unavailable elsewhere only featured in the film

  2.Bananarama Cruel summer it is rumored that the first batch of cds featured this song on the soundtrack but is easy to find

  3.Matches The Ride the song is briefly played during the scene Johnny and co arrive at the beach on their dirt bikes in the movie and sadly is only heard for a few seconds and again this is not available anywhere

  Lastly theres the pan flute music performed by Gheorghe Zamfir I don't think this was EVER released anywhere although I could be wrong. This would be a great addition to anyone's 80's cd collection (big fan of the 80's myself) What needs to be done is a re-release remastered edition including the missing tracks and sleeve notes.
  
  

• Excellent Top Class Music

  
  By on 1999-03-17
  I found this soundtrack excellent as the film itself the music reminded me of the first time I saw "The Karate Kid".And at the age of 25 I still love the movie and its soundtrack but there is a downside the Bananarama song "Cruel Summer" wasn't featured in the OST, and also the wonderfull pan flute music played by Bill Conti should have really been included, but overall I recomend this OST, And I really do hope that the soundtrack to The Karate kid II does come out on CD very soon........
  
  

• Anthology

  
  By A2GA6F5H70UEL7 on 2001-06-26
  The first soundtrack to the Karate Kid movies is the best of the four... even though it is missing the ever popular Bananarama hit, "Cruel Summer" and "The Ride" (played when the Kobra Kai rode onto the beach on their motorbikes) and does not include ANY of Bill Conti's fantastic score. But a CD that has "Moment of Truth" and "You're The Best" on there is alright in my book. What they really oughta do is release "The Karate Kid Anthology" with the most popular songs from all 4 movies, the highlighs from the scores, and the songs that were missing from the original soundtracks. Glenn Mederios has a song called "High Wire" in the 3rd movie played in the dance club and it is not on the soundtrack and is not on any of his solo albums. The only way to get it is on the b-side of the out-of-print cassette single of "Listen To Your Heart" by Little River Band (the theme from Karate Kid III). This too should be included on that anthology. It would be fitting too, since Part II and III are coming out on DVD on July 10.
  
  

• Great soundtrack, but incomplete

  
  By on 1999-09-28
  Unfortunately the soundtrack is missing the beautiful pan flute music as well as a couple of songs such as Cruel Summer. But despite this, it's still a great sountrack which should please any fan of The Karate Kid and 80's music.
  
  
• One of the best '80s soundtracks ever heard
  By AQIS9UXA8Q2U1 on 1999-12-30
  If you are a fan of "The Karate Kid," this soundtrack is definitely for you. Excellent pop music from the movie. Listening to it really gets ya' thinking about the movie itself. Very strong. I only had one regret: that they didn't add "The Ride," by the group called The Matches. This was the music heard in the beach scene when Johnny and the Cobra Kai were riding their bikes down the path to talk to Ali. Being that this was (even though brief) one of my personal favorite songs in the movie, and that they did not include this, is a big disappointment. If anyone has any information abou the group "The Matches," please e-mail me at:rockyblboa@aol.com
  
  
• NEEDS PANFLUTES
  By on 2000-03-04
  This is a pretty ok soundtrack with good 80's songs but like so many others out there, I was really hoping for some instrumental music, the panflute music that was played in the movie is heavenly. It is what really makes the movie work. If they ever release the instrumental music to the Karate Kid trilogy I will snap it up in a second.
  
  
• Not a Soundtrack
  By A2GD4VV59O1525 on 2005-06-01
  This album should be called "Songs from The Karate Kid".
  I expected to see some of the songs on this album but not 'only' the songs. Where is the beautiful instrumental music from Bill Conti? A major disappointment.
  
  
• I bought this soundtrack for just one song...
  By A235NA61RC6YC1 on 2005-12-21
  What's the 4-1-1?
  If you were just a kid in 1984, chances are you loved this movie. It was your typical `fish out of water' story. Young Daniel (Ralph Macchio) moves to a new neighborhood and gets picked on by the high school bullies. At the same time he's fallen for the most popular girl in school (Elizabeth Shue), who just happens to be connected to the main bully Johnny that keeps kicking the crap out of Daniel. All the bullies belong to the local karate studio the Cobra Kai's. They train for `no mercy' and that's just what they give to Daniel. Eventually his landlord Mr. Miyagi takes him under his wing.
  
  Sure, the first thing you start to think is, he's clearly going to teach him karate so he can fight back. I mean he is from Okinawa and all. Nope, Mr. Miyagi makes Daniel wax his car, sand his deck, paint his house, and paint his fence. However, there's a plot twist. All these hard labor tasks are actually karate blocks. Once that is discovered (and all of Mr. Miyagi's house chores are completed) Daniel begins training for the big karate tournament. Ironically enough he makes it to the finals to face Johnny. Just when you think he's down and out, Daniel breaks out the secret `crane technique' to win the match, get the girl, and earn Johnny's respect.
  
  As for the soundtrack, I'm not sure that The Flirts and Jan & Dean were relevant at the time, but their song "Bop Bop (on the Beach) made it to the soundtrack. It's been a while since I've seen the movie, but this probably played during the beach party scene. Why they included this instead of "Cruel Summer", I'll never know. What's an overcoming the odds movie without a song by Survivor? The Moment of Truth is more keyboard oriented than their past guitar heavy anthems. The song builds to an over-the-top chorus. "No Shelter" by Broken Edge adds a little new wave sound to things with its muted riffs and driving keys.
  
  "Young Hearts" by Commuter is a catchy power-pop love theme. You know, the kind of song that plays in the background of a montage where the guy and girl are shown doing things together. I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that Gang of Four is a punk band. 1984 must have been the year they sold out because "Desire" is more of a pop song. I guess their could be another Gang of Four. Finally, the big tournament anthem "You're the Best" by Joe `Bean' Eposito rounds out the soundtrack. I love the songs energy and emotion, but damn it's short.
  
  The Verdict
  I bought this soundtrack for just one song ("You're the Best"), hoping that the other songs would be just as good. I was wrong. There were one or two that I liked, but the rest were just crap. I didn't even recall most of them from the movie.
  
  Did You Know?
  The name `The Karate Kid' was actually a character in a D.C. Comic book series. Special permission was given by D.C. for the term to be used. Ralph Macchio passed on the role of Marty McFly in Back to the Future.
  
  
• K-Kid fans bind together and DEMAND the pan flute music!
  By A35SWFO5GPTVR8 on 1999-12-03
  Yes, I like the sound-track - but the main reason I ordered it is for the music by Zamfir (the pan flute stuff)...does anyone have any ideas on how to pursue it? I know Zamfir played it...perhaps it's on an album he did in the past? If anyone has ideas, pls advise.
  
  
• Average at best
  By AJP44QXY4JBOZ on 2005-08-23
  I bought this CD in anticipation of hearing most of the good songs from the film the Karate Kid. This CD features a number of good songs, but is lacking many songs from thne film. Cruel Summer, The Ride, the song from the beginning of the film, the song when Daniel was in the dance floor in the shower, and several others are missing on this CD. On top of that some of the songs are not even the originals featured in the film.
  
  The song "Feel the Night" is one such example. The version of this song from the film is missing in this CD. It was good to hear some of the classics from the 1980's, but only how I wish this CD had all the songs from the film.
  
  
• Underappreciated Masterpiece
  By AKT9FWGGFPZZV on 2000-04-15
  I live in Australia, and here it is quite easy to find a copy of this cd. Actually, it can be found permanantly reduced in most record stores since it doesn't seem all that popular. What I can't find in stores are copies of the soundtracks for the other two movies. I thought "The Karate Kid" was a fantastic film, especially since I saw it when I was a kid and I was really into all the karate stuff, but today it's really the music that tops it off for me. It was disappointing how "Cruel Summer" wasn't present, and another song that I can't remember ("The Ride"?). It also seems weird that the pan flute music wasn't in there, since it kind of ties in with the obvious Japanese theme. I strongly recommend it for anyone with a liking for popular 80's music and fond memories of the film. Y'know, it seems that most of the soundtracks for films starring Elisabeth Shue are pretty good - check out "Leaving Las Vegas", with music by sting. It's a great recording.
  
  
• ELIZABETH SHUE HAS A CRACKING ARSE!!!!!RESPECT
  By A2BDXYURM6P72E on 2000-10-17
  "YOU'RE THE BEST" was the climax to what was a brilliant film. But the song just made the final scene when the wimp Ralph Macchio is told "You're O.K. Daniel" by Johnny "sideparting" and Liz Shue becomes moist at the size of Daniels trophy. Mr Miaghi's frail, helpless and quite frankly girly student somehow manages to become Area champion through a mixture of washing cars and sanding the floor. Stunning. Elizabeth Shue deserved an Oscar for her arse alone and giving hope to millions of ugly wimps everywhere that there was a goddess awaiting them. Likely story guys.

  Classic film,classic catchphrases, amazing soundtrack and that arse guys..........wax ONE off.
  
  

• The Best Soundtrack Ever! And It's Missing The Best Songs.
  By A2S98ETQC3UZYP on 2002-02-28
  This soundtrack is as good as it gets for 80's music. "Your The Best" is a great song. "Young Hearts" by the commuters is also a top notch 80's song. The thing about this soundtrack is it is missing some of the best songs on the movie. "Cruel Summer" by Bananarama is a must for any die hard 80's music fan and it is absent from this soundtrack, but it can be gotten easily off Bearshare or other mp3 file sharing sites. Unfortunetly the best song in the entire movie, "The Ride" is absent from the soundtrack. This is the song from the scene where the Cobra Kai are riding there bikes onto the beach. When I was younger I thought this song was as cool as it got and now that i am a collecter of good 80's music i want it even more. This song is not as easy to get off Bearshare and as of today I still do not have it. If anyone has it as an mp3 or knows where i can get please email me and let me know. Anyway if you are thinking of buying this CD it would proabaly be a good idea. You won't regret it...
  
  
• karate kid sound track
  By A2ISLR91C2O67U on 2004-11-08
  they did leave out some good songs on first movie the ride cruel,
  summer.when napster was was still working got 11 instrumental
  music from the first two movies most are from first one, be nice
  if they put them all on sp,edtion cd have 3rd movie sound track
  on cd but never found 2rd on cd not sure if it was ever put onto
  a cd
  bob
  
  
• the best album ever!
  By A3D6KI4C00LU9Y on 2000-01-26
  The song "You're the best" is the best song in the hole world! Just this song made me bought this record....so don't hesitate to buy it!
  
  
• THIS SDTRK IS STILL THE BEST AROUND!
  By on 1999-11-08
  7 yrs after hearing this on vinyl I finally found the cd (atamazon.com of course). The only flaw I can think of is that they neverreleased the great pan style music but I hope they do soon.
  
  
• I'd give it FIVE stars, but they're gipping us!!
  By A3R8BJD8NT77AN on 2002-10-29
  I KNOW The Karate Kid and following sequels BY ROTE (yes, I admit, I'm a geek) with the exception of The Next Karate Kid. While they HAD to include the song from the tournament, they just had to (I'll also admit that I play this song when I'm doing my own martial training-long live Larusso!!)! But they FORGOT or NEGLECTED to include "Cruel Summer" by Bananarama. That's played when Daniel's riding his bike to school with his shades on to hide his first doses of whoop-@ss.

  I DEMAND that The music label RE-RELEASE this soundtrack WITH "Cruel Summer" by Bananarama on it, NOT omitting a single track. For [the price]I think that's more than reasonable! Feel free to e-mail me with your feelings and/or input.
  
  

• 3 1/2 stars
  By A1KDGSZEJXSE9S on 2005-01-03
  There was a time in the 80's when alot of the best movies
  were supported by really strong soundtracks and The Karate
  Kid is one of them.... Granted, the songs for the most part
  are on the softer side... But it's still a good soundtrack
  with the awesome cut "You're the Best" as the feature track.
  
  There is also Surviors "Moment of Truth" that is yet another
  great song by a band that had become known for making good
  sountrack songs. "Young Hearts" is also a good pop cult and
  the rest of the tracks support this album fairly well.
  
  
• Basicaly 80s and other pop music
  By A7Y6AVS576M03 on 2005-12-15
  I wanted Bill Conti's music but instead we get pop music here. On the Beach by Jan & Dean is good or should I just say I like it. However, if you want Conti's music look elseware.
  
  
• Bill Conti Karate Kid collection released
  By A2YFJ09TB99POX on 2007-03-31
  I'm such a fan of the Karate Kid films -- at least the first two -- that I'll take anything I can get. This is a great set that reminds me of the film, but it's missing Bill Conti's music. However, Varese Sarabande has just released (March '07) a 4-CD set containing Bill Conti's score to ALL FOUR Karate Kid movies. It's a limited press run of 2000 copies, available only on their website. It's fantastic. Now all I want is a CD of the Karate Kid Part II soundtrack that I had on cassette, containing Dennis DeYoung, New Edition, Carly Simon, et al. -- that would make me deleriously happy.
  
  
• The Karate Kid is the best ever
  By on 1999-04-08
  The Karate Kid could be one of the best movies of all time and I would love to have the soundtrack. The only problem is that I have no idea were to find the CD. I saw the list of songs and wonder why the hell Cruel Summer isn't on it. But I'm sure the rest of the CD rocks. I hope that Amazon can re-stock it as soon as possible before I die.
  
  
• Your the best
  By on 1999-10-30
  Try to be best cause your only a man and a man's got to learn to take it. Try to belive that when the going gets tuff that you've got to be tuff to make it. Histroy repeats it self try and you'll scueed never doubt that your the one and you can have your dream. Your the best around nothing going to ever keep you down. Your the best around nothing going to ever keep you down. Fight till you drop you'll never stop you can't give up unitl you reach the top fight. Your the best around a little bit off all you got will never bring you down. Your the best around. Best moive of all time. The pan flute stuff is nice but the only song you truly need is the BEST.
  
  
• The best movie from the 80's!
  By on 2000-10-18
  I love the first Karate Kid film out of all three the others suck. But I am still trying to find this soundtrack. Because every music store I go to doesn't have the Karate Kid CD in stock and I don't know why. But if I find the score accidently I wouldn't mind having it because the music is beautiful and it's originally played by Bill Conti and the songs are awesome. I was quite disappointed that they didn't have the song Cruel Summer on there from the track listing. But I don't have to worry about that song since it's already on the Romy and Michele's High School Reunion soundtrack that I got. I hope they re-release a Karate Kid 2 soundtrack because I like that song Glory of Love. The Karate Kid is a great movie and it's better than the others. The others are kind of dumb stick with the first one.
  
  
• What ever happened to "Broken Edge"
  By A14MMOCAP8OE7A on 2005-07-20
  Look I love the karate kid. It siginfied a glory time in my life. That year I saw the Outsiders, Eddie and the Cruisers and the Karate Kid...need I say more. It was awsome. However this soundtrack needs a bit of help. Number one no Cruel Summer by the infmaous Bananarama. Everyone (mostly chicks) always think of this tune and poor little Daniel son weaving in between busses when they think of the "karate Kid". Also why isnt Broken Edge's "Please answer me" on the soundtrack?? In the infamous dance scenes listen closely to the hook of this tune right before Ali (with an I) trips the Cobra Kai, and you'll get the money shot of all dance tunes. Yep folks it's up there with the Plimsouls role in Valley Girl. Nonetheless what ever happened to Broken Edge?? I'd love to know, apparently they were a Reseda band that got lucky and were in the movie and the soundtrack. So if ya know email me at chrisnope@yahoo. Im a musician/producer myself now and I want the chords/lyrics!
  
  
• I like the Karate Kid soundtrack.
  By A1XY3LPWCWDBPI on 2005-08-17
  This was a good soundtrack. Hard to find and well worth the effort. The last song on the soundtrack was the most motivating song i have ever heard. I recommened people try this album out if u r a 80's fan.
  
  
• The best
  By A1ATHLFAHT5TDF on 2000-05-14
  This CD is one of the coolest CD around! and its not that easy to find. IF your a true KK fan then this CD is just for you. I highly recommend it. Even if you don't like the karate kid you'll love most the tracks on the cd.
  
  
• It Brought back a piece of me I thought I lost forever!!!!!!
  By on 1998-10-29
  A truly remarkable soundtrack. One of the best. Brings you back to the day of Mr. Miyagi and Daniel-San and brings back the Karate Kid in you!!!!
  
  
• great music, but missing a bit.
  By on 1998-10-31
  The sountrack is almost as good as the movie, except for the fact that it is missing Cruel Summmer by Bannanarama and it doesn't have any of the cool instrumental music played during the movie. I loved the pan flute but was dissapointed to find out it wasn't on the soundtrack.
  
  
• A great blend of eighty's pop that evokes strong passion
  By on 1998-09-24
  The songs on this album have been mixed to perfection, allowing the listeners to feel the huge surge of energy that every musical artist strives to obtain.
  
  

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