-
The Action: This REALLY blew me away. Things definitely got better as they went along, but all the while it was way better than I thought. I originally expected there'd be tons of cutting to wide-shots to constantly hide the stunt-fighters, y'know, cheesy B-movie stuff, and I wouldn't have even been mad at it, but WOW, these people did work! Towards the end, especially, as the fights get bigger and there's more single-shot scenes with lots of complicated choreography and fewer edits... it was really impressive. Once again, Hawk and Miguel really blew me away with some of the stuff they got to do, Robby too. But everything was really good, from everyone. Lots of brutal hits and throws, and the choreography of the moves always made sense, or at least looked like it did.
-
Music: Perfection. Not just in choice of music, but
use of music, as in placement and meaning. They use the music from the original film in just the right ways, but also "remix" and reinterpret some of it at times in some creative ways as well. They always know exactly which song to use where in order to get the perfect emotional reaction, whether it be to reinforce a joke or set up a somber moment, or whatever. Really great job, here.
-
Humor: I gotta admit, I laughed way more than I expected to, but it always felt earned. Even the lowbrow stuff was perfectly-executed; I never thought "dick-in-the-mouth" jokes had any place in this franchise, BUT, apparently it can be done skillfully and actually be hilarious.
But it's not TOO over-the-top; Some of the funniest bits are just Johnny being such a brick, or so unbelievably deadpan.
"Nice shirt." "Thanks!" "I'm joking, it sucks." It's definitely funnier than the movies ever tried to be, but not in a bad way. Some of Stingray's antics in the Season 2 finale were a bit much, but I feel like that was a producers' suggestion as a way to balance out the violence and super-dark ending of the episode.
I laughed a lot, but I never felt bad about it. It's legitimately funny.
-
Production Values: They don't try to do too much, but it's definitely of a far higher quality than I ever expected. There's a reasonably grand sense of scale to it all, and it doesn't feel like it's "cramped" or anything; they do a great job with multiple settings and set pieces and making everything feel organic and real. It feels much "bigger" than it ought to, given what it is. The visuals and music tie everything together. These people put a LOT of work into this show.
---------------
All in all... I really have NO complaints whatsoever... other than the wait for Season 3 is gonna KILL me! Worse than that, I'm definitely gonna want to own the disc for that, but they'll probably wait until after Season 4 to release that! Aaaaargh!
I really can't say enough good things. A+ all-around, one of the best shows I've ever seen. And it could have been terrible! That's what really kills me. By rights, it should have been lame. At best, it could have been Pretty Good. But GREAT? Dude, I love Karate Kid, but I never in a million years thought we'd get such a gift as this. This should not be possible.
Execution Is Everything.