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Right, let’s get one thing straight: Karate Kid: Legends has the audacity to bring together Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio – two actual legends of martial art movies – and then only give them about 20 minutes of shared screen time. Excuse me? That’s like getting Mohammed Rafi and Kishore Kumar in the same recording room and making them sing backing vocals for Bappi Lahiri.

Directed by Jonathan Entwistle and written by Rob Lieber, this latest instalment doesn’t so much reinvent the wheel as polish it with a slightly new wax. Our hero this time is Li Fong (Ben Wang), a Beijing-based teen already skilled in Kung fu – yes, Kung fu, not Karate – whose mother (Ming-Na Wen), a doctor and niece of Mr Han (Jachie Chan), the shifu from 2010 remake, gets a job in New York. Cue relocation, culture clash, and the inevitable “Oh no, the pretty girl has a macho ex who just so happens to be a local Karate champ” drama. Sound familiar? That’s because it is. It’s the plot of the first Karate Kid movie and the remake as well, which was set in China.

But wait – things almost get interesting. Since Li isn’t starting from scratch as a martial arts novice, the film flips the script a bit. Instead of waxing on and off, he ends up helping Mia’s dad (Joshua Jackson), a washed-up boxer with debts and dreams. For a hot second, it feels like we’re watching The Karate Kid by way of Rocky, and honestly, that mash-up had potential. We can only dream about Mr Miyagi training Rocky Balboa and this segment shows us what could have been. Both Stanley and Jackson are charming, Wang is an instant star, and we’re thinking, “This could be so much fun.”

But no. This is still Karate Kid, after all, so the boxing subplot gets kicked aside (pun intended), and we’re back to training montages, a Five Boroughs Karate Tournament with a suspiciously generous $50,000 prize, and a final showdown with a secret kick. Because of course there’s a secret kick. There always is.

Let’s talk about the elephant in the rooftop dojo: Jackie Chan’s Mr Han and Macchio’s LaRusso – two titans of the franchise – show up only in the last 20 minutes and barely get a look-in. Honestly, their scenes are so brief and hurried, you’ll be checking your watch wondering if you dreamt them. The training sequences? Rushed. The logic of a lifelong Kung fu student mastering Karate overnight? Don't even start. It feels like director Jonathan Entwistle just wanted to neatly wrap up things in a 90 minute package.

Still, it’s not all bad. Ben Wang has charisma by the bucketload, and Sadie Stanley does a solid job of the “torn between two boys” routine. When Chan and Macchio do appear, their on-screen chemistry, not to mention charm and stardom, instantly lifts the film, making you wish the whole thing had been about them passing the torch – slowly, meaningfully, and with more than a few wisdom-filled one-liners.

In the end, Karate Kid: Legends is less a legendary reboot and more a mildly entertaining fan vehicle. It hints at greatness, flirts with fresh ideas, then scurries back to safe, familiar territory. If there’s a sequel, here’s hoping they actually let the legends do something legendary. Because frankly, we didn’t wait 15 years for a hurried pep talk and a fast-traced training montage. Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio deserve a better vehicle than this, what’s more, their fans deserve to see them in a better film…

See Also: Everything We’re Watching This Week: Karate Kid: Legends & more