SCREENPLAY: Robert Mark Kamen, Christopher Murphey
CAST: Jaden Smith, Jackie Chan, Taraji P. Henson, Wenwen Han, Rongguang Yu, Zhensu Wu, Zhensu Wu, Zhiheng Wang, Zhenwei Wang
DISTRIBUTOR: Columbia Pictures
RUNTIME: 126 min.
RATING: PG
YEAR: 2010
First off, WHY!. The biggest problem with the 2010nThe Karate Kid is that it’s called “The Karate Kid.” Calling The Karate Kid “The Karate Kid” is misleading because the 2010 film has nothing to do with the classic franchise with Ralph Macchio as Daniel-san and Pat Morita as Mr Miyagi. It’s not a real remake. For starters, it’s not even karate (it’s Kung Fu!). It also happens to be set in China. Sure, it borrows from the goodwill of the 1984 original and allows them to throw in a few homages to some of the more memorable scenes between Daniel-san and Mr Miyagi, but I think it does a disservice to both the original and the new film to use the same name. They should have gone with “The Kung Fu Kid” or something like that.
12-year-old Dre Parker (Jaden Smith) could've been the most popular kid in Detroit, but his mother's latest career move has landed him in China. Dre immediately falls for his classmate Mei Ying - and the feeling is mutual - but cultural differences make such a friendship impossible. Even worse, Dre's feelings make an enemy of the class bully, Cheng. In the land of kung fu, Dre knows only a little karate, and Cheng puts "the karate kid" on the floor with ease. With no friends in a strange land, Dre has nowhere to turn but maintenance man Mr. Han (Jackie Chan), who is secretly a master of kung fu. As Han teaches Dre that kung fu is not about punches and parries, but maturity and calm, Dre realizes that facing down the bullies will be the fight of his life.
If the plot sounds formulaic, that’s because it is. But having said that,The Karate Kid still has a fair bit of heart. It’s targeted at a younger audience and I think they’ve hit the mark — it has an underdog story, it’s fairly entertaining, lightly amusing, and there’s a good message hidden in there somewhere. It’s way too long at around 140 minutes. The kiddy fight scenes were done pretty well, and most of it looks pretty legit, however the fight scenes are violent for a PG film.
Smith's performance is the worst of the bunch. The joke about this Karate Kid when it was in early preproduction was that it was one of the most extravagant gifts producer/actor Will Smith could give his son. Now that the film is a reality, that joke is not nearly as funny as it used to be. Jaden can't help the fact that Dre whines his way through most of his scenes any more than he can help being a lifeless and mostly unremarkable performer. This is especially apparent in scenes like the one where he first plants one on Meiying. The scene itself is canned as all get out, but that artifice is even more obvious because of the way that Smith tries and fails to look convincing as a flustered tyke in heat. It might be his age or it might just be the fact that he got a part because his daddy's a mega-star celebrity. Either way, the kid just doesn't have it.
The thing with Jackie Chan is that you always know what you’re going to get. Charismatic, good jokes, nicely choreographed fight scenes, and the ability to pull the heart strings when necessary. He’s clearly getting on in age but can still kick some butt when he has to.
I believe that that this film should have not been made. The Karate Kid should have been just left alone. It is a film that no-one should have remade, but especially change the name of the characters.
Rating 2.5/5
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