the RLM review posted earlier makes a pretty good point that because Karate Kid is so thoroughly established in culture, that nearly everyone recognizes the references and phrases, that you probably don't need to watch it. Also, the show runs a lot of clips of the old movies, to very explicitly draw direct connections to what they are doing (it's actually kind of annoying and they shouldn't do that; but I suppose it is meant for people that haven't/don't want to see the old stuff)
There are a lot of tiny little references that you wouldn't get, though, but that doesn't really ad much to the TV show.
That RLM review is spot-on, though. Pretty much detailed everything I thought about the show and exactly why it works--they even mentioned my point about how bizarre it must be to live in a town that is regularly terrorized by angsty highschool karate dojos, like it's Westside Karate every other day, lol.
The thing I wrote in my post above is more or less how movies work - as kids, we're all emotional, the world is small, and everything is about how you feel & how life impacts YOU, personally. Politics, bosses, deadlines, all of those things don't exist. The world exists solely of you, your family, and your teachers. So running into an old guy who takes you in & teaches you how to beat kids up isn't creepy, it's the opportunity of the lifetime! So that's the thing, you can't employ logic for these types of movies, you have to employ emotion, and a very specific frame of reference: being a kid where you're the center of the universe, the world is small & consists of your family & your town, and everything kind of centers & circles around your experience.
It's not selfish or even self-centered, it's just how we operate as kids. I remember some kids hit this point in like 5th grade & got super-jaded because they could see what was up with life & had matured mentally sooner than everyone else. For me, it was probably more like early college lol. Good movie directors are more careful to work hard to integrate a show that will suck adults in as well as kids. Like, the first Ironman did a
fantastic job of that - a superhero movie that kids could enjoy, but that adults would also love. Not cheesy like the Batman & Robin with the Terminator, but really tailored to hit both age group audiences.
Plus, the thing is, a movie doesn't have to be technically "good" as long as it's entertaining, because those are the movies we fall in love with. Some of the best movies have some of the dumbest premises when you really dissect them: