Karate Kids' Kids

I love a good movie. I like movies more than television shows because I can give them all my attention for a couple of hours and be done with them or wait for the sequels. I like the bios, docudramas, and limited series events too. I enjoy game shows and all kinds of things. My issue with television is that I have to keep up with the episodes and avoid spoilers. The movie it is. Or was.

When my nephew declares it a movie night, we might pick some strange movie that no one in the family has previously heard of. I won’t even discuss those. It would be like those movies I watch when nothing else looked good. I don’t recommend them to anyone, but I describe them and tell my friends I watched them. Instead, we might pick something that we have seen and know we will enjoy like Mowgli. Personally, I prefer something I have already seen since my nephew will talk through the whole thing.

Personally, I choose my movies based on a mood or genre. If I want action, I like something like superhero movies or the Die Hard movies. Occasionally, I don’t mind a gory flick like Rambo: Last Blood or something by Tarantino. If I want drama, I prefer a bio to something like The Notebook. I would even go for an old-school drama like An Affair to Remember.

I like a good documentary such as Fed Up or Supersize Me. I am recently into The Food That Built America. Some of those are good enough that I can get the point the first or second time. Once in a while, there is a movie that I can watch every time it pops up, and it can keep my attention.

In spite of all that, I am surprised to say that my top pick is actually a Netflix series. I have to pace myself and watch only half a season at a time, so I don’t go through them all too fast. Let me tell you why I like Cobra Kai. I am invested in the old characters since I grew up with their story. I love that when they come back in this series, they are just the average people living average people lives. The characters are relatable rather than larger than life. The new characters grow on me just a well. This series is nostalgic as well as freshly relevant. My niece and nephews enjoy it as well. It has drama and plot twists to keep me hooked. Some of the storyline is predictable. There are parts that have predictable choices coming. I must keep watching until the revelation of a choice changes the storyline. Will the underdog win this battle? Will that character go back to his old ways or change? But then, there are the amazing plot twists that I don’t see coming that really keep me coming back for more.

I like the cheesy drama and the love stories laced between. I like the escalation to action and fight sequences. The fight scenes look like what is expected from students and middle-aged people rather than a polished Jackie Chan sequence. Five episodes later, I am not still waiting for the climax. We have progressed beyond that to the next event. I like watching the characters grow and change. Some learn to empathize; some gain confidence; some realize the better person they can be; some learn to overcome difficulties.

On a deeper level, the story is telling. I can see a difference in the details of dealing with people’s complex issues and feelings compared to demonstrating these things in the 80s movies. Even the original characters have more of their backgrounds exposed in this current series to show how they became who they are. These things also make the story very relatable and modern. Each aspect of the series – drama, romance, themes, violence, and so on - is mild enough that the entire series can be enjoyed by people with a broad range of viewing interests. I would recommend Cobra Kai to almost everyone.