Title: MORE THAN MIYAGI: THE PAT MORITA STORY
Director: Kevin Derek
Featuring: Ralph Macchio, William Zabka, Martin Kove, Henry Winkler, James Hong, Sean Kanan, Marion Ross, Esai Morales, Tommy Chong, Don Most, Anson Williams, and more.
Movie length: 1 hours 29 minutes
What a wonderful and somewhat tragic look into the life of film icon Pat Morita. Most people know Morita for his role as Mr. Miyagi from THE KARATE KID franchise and some know him as Arnold from HAPPY DAYS this documentary takes a look at the people in his life that called him a friend or family.
I love to watch documentaries and learn about people, places, and things that I had no prior knowledge of. I recently watched season three of a little show called COBRA KAI, and it’s somewhat sad to not see Pat Morita on the show, I’m sure he would have loved to reprise his role as Mr. Miyagi. This documentary digs deep into Pat’s life behind the scenes of movies and
television, it shows us that this legend of a movie star had some issues much like anyone else in life. So many people that worked with Pat over the years gathered together to help make this documentary, which Pat’s wife said was something she promised him she would do before his passing in 2005.
We get to see how Pat went from being a stand-up comedian to making Hollywood film history with his character of Mr. Miyagi, not to mention how he came to be Arnold and almost lost the role on Happy Days. I had wanted to watch this since it’s release was announced and was so glad that I got the opportunity to screen and review it before it’s release. If you are a fan of anything Pat Morita did in his career then you should watch this, but make sure you go in whole heartedly because there are some moments that will make you reach for the tissue box. As far as documentaries go, I give this film a 9.5 out of 10, it was a fantastic history lesson on a great actor that will always be remembered for “waxing on and waxing off”.
MORE THAN MIYAGI: THE PAT MORITA STORY will be available on February 5th on Video on Demand services including iTunes, Amazon, Vudu, Google Play, as well as on DVD and Blu-ray.
Do you plan to see the movie? Have you already? Let me know in the comments or chat with me on Twitter.
