Taking an amusingly formulaic “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach, Karate Kid: Legends echoes the plot of both the 1984 original and the 2010 Karate Kid films with its familiar underdog story of a kid whose single mother moves him to a new city where he’s bullied by a martial arts expert before entering a tournament to prove himself by facing that very same bully. Even as you can roll your eyes at several of the expected events occurring, this sixth film does take one very notable zig when fans of the 41-year-old series expect a zag before reverting to the template in the second half, which gives it some novelty – even as it will no doubt frustrate many returning fans in how long it takes to see the team-up the trailers promise.

There are moments where Legends is able to recapture some of the original’s endearing nature, including in the way it eventually brings in not one, but two familiar mentors. At the same time, it never quite locks in like it could, thanks to what feels like a misguided attempt to maintain an unrelentingly high energy from start to finish that ends up making it feel emotionally hollow because it almost never takes time to slow down and breathe.