The Karate Kid

There seem to be a lot of remakes coming out in the last 5 years. I have since then wondered whether Hollywood was running out of ideas or not. There are obviously sequels made for the wrong reasons such as Garfield, Alvin and the Chipmunks, and Sex and the City. Others you just need to like Meet the Parents, Toy Story, and Pirates of the Carribean. But sometimes people make remakes to relive the times of the original release. Examples of this are the upcoming Wall Street, Star Trek, and now the Karate Kid. These usually are better than sequels, because they don't try to expand on the story. They just try to spice up the original versions. Luckily this one didn't miss.

There were some changes made from the 1984 original starring Ralph Macchio. This movie is more about kung-fu. This also takes place in China, which the original didn't have much of. Anyways, 12 year old Dre Parker (Jaden Smith) is forced to move from Detroit to China, because his mommy got a job offer over there. Like any normal human being, Dre is not exactly pumped about this switch. Whatever. He has to go. Dre obviously has a tough time fitting in. He does hit it off with a local girl, but he is almost immediately accosted by a group of older kids that a pick a fight with him and beat him pretty bad. Dre is immediately ready to head back home, but he must stay. During another fight with the boys, one is about ready to lay the finishing punch on Dre when the punch is stopped by the maintenance man in Dre's building, Mr. Han (Jackie Chan). Then Chan proceeds to humiliate the kids and send them on their way. Han then decides to teach Dre kung-fu so he can defend himself. They then begin to train together, with Han's discipline clearly crossing paths with Dre's attitude. They struggle getting along, but when Dre has to sign up for a kung-fu tournament to keep the kids from attacking him, they begin to bond. They then have only a short amount of time to get ready before the biggest battle of Dre's life.

This movie was fantastic. If you can sit through the beginning and middle parts of plot setup, which isn't that bad actually, you will be greatly rewarded. The end tournament gave me chills and kept me on the edge of my seat. Jaden Smith is a star in the making, and has all the talents that his pops Will Smith had and has. This was just a smidge too long, but I think it needed all that time to set up everything else. It's great entertainment, and a great motivational movie.


Rating: 4 out of 4 stars (2nd perfect score this calendar year!!)