Movie Review: The Karate Kid (2010)
Before I walked into the movie theater to see the new The Karate Kid film, starring Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan, I was very pessimistic. Would this movie rape my childhood by making an incredibly horrible film with the name of one that I love so dearly? I mean, there’s not even karate in it – it’s China, they’re all about the kung fu!
“There’d better be an homage to wax-on, wax-off in this movie, that’s all I’m sayin’,” I quipped on Facebook as I sat down in the theater (don’t worry, there was). I was ready for the movie to suck, for it to be a parody of the original rather than a remake or an homage given Jackie Chan’s usually somewhat crazy and comedy-oriented shenanigans. I was ready to hate the movie before it even began.
"Not only was this a good homage to the original, it was a good movie."
I walked out of the theater a changed person. Not only was this a good homage to the original, it was a good movie.
The basic story of The Karate Kid is pretty much identical to the 1984 original with just a few changes. Dre Parker (played by Jaden Smith), whose father has died, and his mother (played by Taraji P. Henson) relocate to China because of her job. Dre feels out of place and has trouble adjusting to his new surroundings. He finds a girl he likes who likes him – but he also runs into a bully that doesn’t like him and continues to pick on him. Dre spends a good deal of time running from the bullies or getting his butt handed to him until the maintenance man, Mr. Han (Jackie Chan) intervenes. He reluctantly helps Dre learn kung-fu to defend himself and a strange and unexpected friendship forms between the two.
There are a few great nods to the original movie, but The Karate Kid definitely tries to take the story and make it into something of its own. “It’s not karate, Mom. It’s kung-fu,” Dre quips at one point, at least giving the audience – and an internet full of complainers such as myself – acknowledgement that the movie isn’t about karate despite the title. It’s not a perfect movie, mostly because it’s too long; they could have easily condensed the beginning of the movie (the part before the kung-fu) and chopped out about 30-45 minutes and it would have been an excellent movie instead of just a really good one.
Jackie Chan's acting was superb.
The most amazing thing about The Karate Kid, for me, was seeing Jackie Chan play the acting card. We’re all used to seeing Jackie pull out the crazy, over-the-top martial arts moves – and, yes, he does do this at one point in the film – but he’s primarily in a support role in this movie. The friendship that forms between Dre and Mr. Han is something believable, and there’s actually a scene in the film where Jackie Chan made me cry – because the scene was heart-wrenchingly sad and Jackie’s acting was shockingly amazing.
Let’s not forget about Jaden Smith. The kid’s got spunk, and he’s definitely got the acting gene thanks to his parents. I’m pretty certain that this kid is going to be a big star one day. His performance in The Karate Kid is great in both his acting and his martial arts.
I learned from this movie to never pre-judge a remake by its cover. Sure, there’s no karate, and there’s no Mr. Miyagi, but that’s okay. This is a great movie in its own right, definitely worth seeing if you loved the original or if you want to see a great, heart-warming movie that involves lots of punching (and kicking) things.
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