Despite having a successful career outside of The Karate Kid franchise, actor Ralph Macchio is destined to forever be remembered as Daniel-san. With the series having become a staple of many a childhood, the popular franchise is now etched into the cultural zeitgeist and was the product of a reboot back in 2010. Macchio has recently addressed the modern take on The Karate Kid, which starred Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan, with the famously pleasant actor slyly praising the movie for continuing the famous martial arts franchise.

"It enhanced the legacy of the original."

While this is incredibly kind, and debateable, Ralph Macchio could not help but point out a particularly glaring error in the reboot's title.

"Also, there's no such thing as karate in China, so it should have been called The Kung Fu Kid."

While the 1984 movie The Karate Kid follows Macchio's Daniel LaRusso after he meets Mr Miyagi and learns karate in order to defend himself from some local bullies, the 2010 version kept the same title but changed the martial art and located to China, with Jaden Smith's character, Dre, learning kung fu in order to stand-up to the local bully, Cheng, a rebellious kung fu prodigy. So, it is difficult to argue with Macchio on his logical title suggestion. Besides, you shouldn't argue with him anyway, as he may well crane-kick you in the face.

Directed by Harald Zwart, The Karate Kid reboot stars martial arts action legend, Jackie Chan, as Mr. Han, Dre's teacher, mentor and friend. The casting of Chan in the new Mr. Miyagi role was a stroke of genius, and the movie went on to be a financial success making $359 million on a $40 million budget. Despite this, the new Karate Kid did not manage to reach the heights of the 80s original, and is unlikely to ever be remembered as fondly.

Macchio has always enjoyed his association with The Karate Kid and has even resurrected the role of Daniel in the sequel series, Cobra Kai. Set 34 years after the first Karate Kid movie, the series re-examines the narrative from Daniel's rival, Johnny Lawrence's point of view. Now a struggling alcoholic, Johnny decides to reopen the Cobra Kai karate dojo, leading to the rekindling of his old rivalry with Daniel LaRusso.

A third season is now on the way, with the recent confirmation that it will not be delayed due to the ongoing global situation. Thankfully, the series was able to wrap production and get everything necessary finished before the entertainment industry was put on indefinite hiatus some months ago. Showrunner Josh Heald said, "Thankfully with season 3, we wrapped production before the end of 2019, and we wrapped post-production... I think there was a little bit of overlap." He also noted that, "we finished our final mix, the last big piece of post-production in person."

In addition to Ralph Macchio, Cobra Kai also sees the return of William Zabka as Johnny. The series also stars Courtney Henggeler, Xolo Maridueña, Tanner Buchanan, Mary Mouser, Jacob Bertrand, Gianni Decenzo, Vanessa Rubio, Peyton List, and Martin Kove. The series was created by Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg, and Josh Heald. Seasons 1 and 2 of Cobra Kai are available on Netflix from today, with the third season due to land on the streaming service sometime in 2021. This comes to us from The Guardian.