More Than Miyagi: The Pat Morita Story

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More Than Miyagi: The Pat Morita Story is a wonderful story about Pat Morita - a man most of know as Mr. Miyagi. I grew up watching The Karate Kid franchise on free cable every weekend. I did not know Pat Morita had other films either than Karate Kid thus this was pleasant to watch. It's sad how alcoholism ravaged his life and how he did not care about his life towards the end of his life. This was enlightening.

More than Miyagi 2021 is a documentary about the actor who played the role of Miyagi in The Karate Kid. The documentary is an old interview with the deceased Pat Morita and a couple of people coming together to give their opinions on him. And as I watched it, I was getting a 'how much can we still profit off of this guy' vibe If somebody disrespects your family in public, I don't care who was in the wrong, your loyalty and love is evident by who you side behind. Pat Morita's wife seemed to have moved on before his death Evelyn Guerrero then proceeds to paint herself as the victim? There is no interview from Pat Morita's children or his 2 ex-wives (17 and 19 year old marriages). Though, I honestly can't see them on good terms with Evelyn Guerrero. Evelyn is so fake, and I'm not talking about her face Pat Morita had a lot to drink about and never got a good and healthy outlet to channel his pain and regret, the people around him failed to offer him that too. That is my impression at least. Hell, after watching this, I need a drink. More than Miyagi 2021 is the video they needed to promote Pat Morita's unfinished manuscript... That will then be finished by Evelyn Guerrero?

"More Than Miyagi: The Pat Morita Story" is a well made movie. It tells Pat Morita's story with great affection. You can tell that Morita was loved by many people. There were a couple of stories that I'd never heard of before. The overall package is a fast moving, enjoyable experience. I will watch "More Than Miyagi" again. Honorable mentions: Tommy Chong and Henry Winkler.

I think anyone who saw the Karate Kid immediately fell in love with Pat Morita. His life story is definitely something of a miracle and this movie told the story really well. The story was told unapologetically but with love.

Inspirational, sad, interesting and a tragic story. There are a few new things I learned about Noriyuki from this story. Thank you to those involved for bringing this to us.

I only knew of him through Karate Kid. Being Irish and living in Ireland, I never saw all his other renditions. Thankfully, through this documentary, I didn't. There is nothing worse than having to lower oneself to the lowest common demoninater, to achieve employment. His acting skills were demonstrated in the Karate Kid movies. While he was depicted as a comic, that was for show. He was a showman but, he also wasn't. There is a difference between being a comic, and portraying being a comic. Having viewed the documentary, he was a skilled actor. Unfortunately, only for The Karate Kid series, he was just another asset, to be used and abused, at will; by the powers to be. And that is what happened. Not only that? What a bloody waste.

I consider 1984's "The Karate Kid" to be one of my favorite films of all time. Pat Morita's iconic Mr. Miyagi character is a large part of that. Outside of Miyagi, however, I had very little knowledge of Morita. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine his life would be so inspiring/tragic/interesting, and "More Than Miyagi" captures it all perfectly. As the title would indicate, the goal of this documentary is to portray the real life of Morita outside of the Miyagi character. While Karate Kid is touched on a bit (it's too big a part of his story not to be), director Kevin Derek stays true to that overall mission. Viewers are treated to such information as: -Morita's spinal tuberculosis, which confined him to a hospital for most of his childhood. -His time spent in an internment camp during World War II, and how shameful of an experience that was for all involved. -The building of an acting career, with bit parts in Green Acres, Columbo, MASH, and Sanford & Son. -His big break portraying "Arnold" on Happy Days. -The post-Karate Kid era, in which Morita succumbed to alcoholism in a downward spiral that likely facilitated his kidney-failure death in 2005. Morita's story is equal parts inspirational and tragic. As a Japanese-American, he had to overcome a tremendous set of circumstances to attain the level of success he ultimately achieved. But in an equal and opposite way, seeing/hearing accounts of his later years was incredibly sad. Overall, "More Than Miyagi" is one of the best celeb docs I've watched in some time. A perfect balance of material on a life that deserves the telling.

Greetings again from the darkness. Mr. Miyagi not only taught Daniel-san how to stand up for himself in THE KARATE KID (1984), but his "wax on, wax off" entered our lexicon as his philosophy educated us on how seemingly unrelated pieces of life can fit together. Pat Morita embraced the iconic role of Mr. Miyagi, and also appeared in the three sequels. Filmmaker Kevin Derek is here to tell us the rest of the man's story. Using a straightforward and traditional biographical profile structure, Mr. Derek takes us through the life of Pat Morita. We see photographs of him as a young boy who spent many childhood years immobilized - held captive in a body cast after extensive spinal surgery. Once healed, he joined his family in one of the internment camps during WWII. At age 30, Mr. Morita's professional goal as a stand-up comedian was to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show sporting one of the more politically incorrect nicknames, "The Hip Nip". Though he never played 'Sullivan', his career turned out just fine thanks to support from Red Foxx. Laura Marr, Lenny Bruce's mother, became Morita's agent, and not only did his stand-up career take off, but he also secured his early acting gigs. It was his "Happy Days" role as Arnold that took him mainstream. Many of the leads from the cast provide memories of working with Morita. Ron Howard doesn't appear, but Marion Ross, Anson Williams, Danny Most, and Henry Winkler all do. They speak fondly of Morita and call him a "sweet guy." Although Morita's first shot at leading his own series ("Mr. T and Tina") didn't succeed, he was securing regular acting gigs. Of course, it was being cast as Mr. Miyagi in THE KARATE KID that made him a star. Fellow 'KK' cast members Ralph Macchio, William Zabka, and Martin Kove all tell stories about working with Morita, and more importantly rave about what a generous and kind soul he was ... referring to him as a "lovely man." So you might be wondering, where's the story? Well it's Morita's personal demons that may surprise. He died in 2005 at age 73, but he spent most of his life as an alcoholic - often working while inebriated. His wife Evelyn is interviewed here, but his daughters did not participate. Much is made of his being born and raised in America, but spending his career bouncing from Japanese to Chinese roles, and masking the inner turmoil. We see clips from his wedding at Elvis Presley's Las Vegas mansion, and his personal assistant also provides insight into working with him. One of the lowest points of his career is retold by Henry Winkler and Evelyn as they remember his struggles with alcoholism during a televised "Happy Days" reunion. It's painful to hear. Kevin Derek also directed THE REAL MIYAGI (2015), which was a profile of Fumio Demura, often recognized as the greatest karate master of a generation. Demura was also Morita's stunt double in THE KARATE KID. Here, Derek simply allows Morita's story to unfold - the ups and downs. Only a few actors get to create such an iconic character as Miyagi, and Morita actually played him in four films. His star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is shown, and the current day successful spinoff "Kobra Kai" is discussed, yet we are left with a feeling of sadness for a man who accomplished so much, while never achieving his own inner-peace.