The Karate Kid is a better Rocky movie than Rocky is. As relatable and sympathetic as Rocky Balboa is, the motivations of Daniel to defend oneself from high school bullies, is even more relatable and relevant, even today. TKK has aged better, and it's not just the bullying. Many of the issues confronted in TKK were common high school struggles across the country, not just wealthy areas of California. There's the fact that Daniel is poor, and attempting to date a very wealthy girl clearly out of his league, been there done that myself. There's the issue of embarrassing moments with parents, who hasn't faced that?
Rocky is different. Rocky gets a once in a lifetime chance to do something big and becomes a better person for it, because he's really just a leg breaking bum up until his meeting with Apollo's promoter. Apollo himself doesn't have evil motivations either. Rocky is motivational, but not as realistic.
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