Watched the 1st one and I liked it. Then I watched the 2nd one, but it took me 3 days to finish it because it sucked. And then it was so anticlimactic, I can’t believe an actual Hollywood studio approved that script. Wtf. Is Part 3 even worth watching?
perfectlybaked
I liked them (the initial 3)... but found it comical when Jackie Chan mentored a kid for Kung Fu in a supposed remake and they called the movie "Karate Kid" lol.
So sloppy.
Blue nose
No because I don't fancy them!
LilyRT
loved the first. when I was a kid, I loved the second, but when I tried to rewatch it as an adult, it did not hold up well. it made me cringe a lot. the third is completely unwatchable. it's trying to incorporate katas, but it just doesn't work. I wouldn't recommend watching it even to just complete the trilogy.
Entropy
The 1st one was a solid movie. Standard underdog sports/bully movie. Absolutely nothing unique or anything, but just a solid execution of a worn premise. By the way, watch the original closely, and you'll notice that Daniel is actually ALMOST ALWAYS the aggressor. He's usually the one escalating things.
The 2nd one really never needed to be made. I think 'sucks' is a little harsh, but yeah, it suffered from pretty much ALL of the usual failing of sequels.
I never saw 3 either, but given it's 5.2 IMDB rating, I would strongly suggest that 'no' it's not worth watching. You have to be a hugely awful movie to get a 5 on IMDB. 8 is excellent, hard to get higher. 7 is solid. 6 is poor. 5 is 'Oh my god! Kill it! Kill it with fire!'
One thing you MIGHT want to consider is the YouTubeRed production Cobra Kai. This focusses on the adult life of the guy who was the teen villain from the original movie. How the loss affected his life. You see Daniel LaRusso owns a car dealership and trades off his karate win. I watched the free episode and it was OKAY. A friend who watched the whole thing really spoke highly of it.
Steel
I really enjoyed the first one. While it had martial arts as a main theme, I would still categorize it more as a drama than an action movie. The second one, while okay, didn't have the same sentiment as the first, and took a turn into being a bit more outlandish and action oriented; another extreme example of that would be comparing "First Blood" to "First Blood Part 2" - just a sign of the times for 80s movies sequels! "Daniel,-san, this no tournament. This for real." Ooh! Ahh!
Part 3 feels very tongue-in-cheek to me, but not as if it were intentional. If you thought part 2 was anticlimactic, I'd hate to get your feeling on the ending of part 3! There are some continuity issues therein as well, such as Yukei (Miyagi's love-interest from part 2) being absent with no explanation, and apparently Cobra-Kai being a chain of schools instead of one stand-alone run by Kreese. And frankly, taking place a year after the original film after Daniel has graduated high school and is an adult (is he still the Karate "kid"?), and the sorts of attacks and torment that he faces, one would wonder if and when the police should be involved at some point. I think you could pass on it and not really have missed out on anything...
Follow David4life's advice and don't even bother with The Next Karate Kid. It is so outlandish and corny that even Hillary Swank's acting chops couldn't redeem it.
The remake is meh. I like Jackie Chan, and his scenes are amazing, but the Jayden Smith character, Trey, is seemingly more arrogant and less relatable in that vein. His final move in the tournament is pretty far-fetched too. I did enjoy the fight choreography overall, though.
EDIT: I guess we can't comment any more, but Entropy brought up the series "Cobra Kai" (which started on YouTube but is moving to Netflix for season 3) and I wanted to agree and add on to the mention of the program. This is a fantastic show. The first season is the better of the two currently out, but both are fun and delve deeper into the long-running theory that Johnny was the real Karate Kid who only acted in defense. It fleshes out his character so you see his perspective and how not everything is so black and white with regard to heroes and villains.