Review: 'Karate Kid: Legends' brings together two threads of the franchise — Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio — and can't find interesting ways to use either of them

The test of a legacy sequel is when the current caretakers of the franchise try to figure out how to connect back to the original — and in “Karate Kid: Legends,” the fifth movie in the franchise, they make a complete shambles of the effort.

The effort begins with a prologue that begins with footage taken from the 1986 movie “The Karate Kid Part II,” when young Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) hears a story from his teacher, Mr. Miyagi (the late Noriyuki “Pat” Morita). The story involves a Miyagi ancestor who ended up in China, and learned kung fu from someone named Han — and how, together, they melded their martial-arts styles. “Two branches, one tree,” Mr. Miyagi tells young Daniel.

The story then shifts to the present day, in Beijing, where this century’s Mr. Han, played by Jackie Chan, is running his family’s kung fu school. His most promising student is Li Fong (Ben Wang), who’s leaving China with his mom (Ming-Na Wen), a doctor who has lined up a job in New York City. Mom disapproves of Li studying kung fu, and has made her son promise that he won’t fight ever again — for reasons that are explained later, and involve Li’s now-absent older brother, Bo (Yankei Ge). 

Li works to fit in at his New York school, and actually finds a friend in Mia (Sadie Stanley), whose father, Victor (Joshua Jackson), is an ex-boxer who runs a pizzeria. However, Li runs into Mia’s ex-boyfriend, the bullying Conor (Aramis Knight), who studies karate at a dojo run by O’Shea (Tim Rozon), who also happens to be the loan shark to whom Victor owes some money. 

Conor, we’re told, is the toughest karate fighter in New York — and the two-time defending champ of a tournament called “The 5 Boroughs.” From the moment this tournament is mentioned, any member of the audience can chart out the steps that end with Li and Conor facing each other in that tournament’s final match.

First-time feature director Jonathan Entwistle — who created the Netflix series “The End of the F***ing World” and “I Am Not Okay With This” — somehow manages to make a 94-minute movie feel tedious. Maybe it’s because the script (credited to Rob Lieber) feels hollowed out, as if entire sequences that would have explained things were removed and replaced with an endless string of lackluster montages. 

There are some small joys scattered through the film. Wang turns out to be a dynamic martial-arts performer, and one could imagine him taking on the kind of movies Chan made in his prime. And the inevitable team-up between’s Chan’s Mr. Han and Macchio’s Daniel generate some warm laughs, particularly when they debate the merits of kung fu and karate, using poor Li as a rag doll test subject.

It’s interesting to think about how “The Karate Kid,” a much-loved movie with some decent fight scenes and an Oscar-nominated performance by Morita, grew into a franchise with six movies and a fan-favorite TV series (“Cobra Kai”). Either audiences aren’t very demanding, or previous installments were better than this franchise filler.

——

‘Karate Kid: Legends’

★★

Opens Friday, May 30, in theaters everywhere .Rated PG-13 for martial arts violence and some language. Running time: 94 minutes.